Dream Theater have no plans to reunite with Mike Portnoy

Portnoy, who co-founded Dream Theater more than thirty years ago, abruptly quit the band in September 2010 while on tour with Avenged Sevenfold. He has since been replaced by Mike Mangini (Annihilator, Extreme, James Labrie, Steve Vai. Portnoy later revealed that he tried to rejoin Dream Theater, only to be rebuffed.

During a February 8 question-and-answer session in Tilburg, The Netherlands, Petrucci and Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess were asked by a fan if they would be willing to play with Portnoy again, possibly at a show celebrating a band anniversary. The Dream Theater guitarist responded  “There’s no plans to do anything like that. Mike’s great, and he’s doing many, many projects right now.”  jokingly added: “He’s too busy for us.”

Continued Petrucci: “Yeah, he’s in twenty bands. I don’t think he has time. But, yeah, this tour celebrating ‘Images And Words’, we won’t be having any past-member guests.” Dream Theater is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its milestone RIAA-gold-certified album “Images And Words” on a European tour, which kicked off on January 30 in Rome, Italy. Each performance sees the iconic progressive rock band delivering an unparalleled live set of “Images And Words” in its entirety along with fan favorites from their renowned catalogue.

In a 2016 interview, Portnoy stated about his time with Dream Theater: “I’m proud of everything I did for those 25 years. That was my life for a quarter of a century, my half of lifetime. Dream Theater was my baby. I formed it from the beginning, out of college and I lived a lifetime with them. So I’m proud of every one of those albums and every one of the shows. I left behind a legacy and there is a lot of people that still talk about seeing me with them. I don’t count on that happening. I wouldn’t count on it. I wouldn’t bet money on it. If it happens, then, sure, I’m up for it. Because I’m a very sentimental person and I still love the guys and I love the fans. But I surely don’t count on it and I don’t plan on it, and I’m happier than ever with everything I’m doing now.”