Jordan Rudess recently sat down with Dean Delray and talked about Mike Portnoy’s reunion with Dream Theater.
“The way I’ve been describing it is that… hey we won a Grammy. We had 13 years. We made great albums. When Mike walked into the room and started to work with us, my first feeling was like, ‘Oh my God this person… He’s such a part of this,’” the musician said.
Rudess continued, “Not only his drumming which has its own feeling, sound, and personality but all the various talents that he brings into an artistic, in this case, band situation. Both in the audio world and in the visual world, the way he thinks is different.”
“These days even his knowledge of social media and the way he handles that. He’s so great at it. His understanding of the relationship with the fans, building setlists…” the rocker said before talking about the period before Portnoy’s return. “I mean we survived fine. We wrote some damn good music for many years but it feels so great to have Mike back because he’s a man who brings with him a lot.”
This isn’t the first time Rudess discussed the drummer’s reunion with the group. “But now that Mike is back, you realize that there is this magic, these talents that he has that nobody else in the world really has,” he told Goldmine earlier this month.
The keyboardist added, “He is passionate about what he does and he’s passionate about Dream Theater. He came into this very respectfully, because he hasn’t been there for years. But he came into it with full-on Mike Portnoy power, if you will, and I really feel like a lot of that has made its way into this work that we’ve created.”
Rudess then stated, “It’s going to be really meaningful to all of our fans because people will see this is somebody who has a lot to do with the whole Dream Theater sound, every element of it. So, he’s been completely welcomed back with open arms and, not only musically, but also he’s taking charge of the set lists that we’ll be presenting when we start touring. He loves that.”
The drummer returned to Dream Theater in October 2023 and will hit the road with the band for their 40th anniversary tour. It will start in the UK and Europe this fall. The tour kicks off in London on October 20 and wraps up in Amsterdam on November 24.