Interview: John Petrucci On 40 Years Of Dream Theater

There is a lot of excitement for the Dream Theater 40th Anniversary tour, even more so on the back of the news of Mike Portnoy rejoining and a new album is underway. MetalTalk’s Steve Ritchie caught up with guitarist John Petrucci, a man eager to get going but with a lot of work still to do.

Their first show on the tour is at The O2 in London. “I mean, what better place to start than in London,” Petrucci said. “For us, we’ve always had a very international presence, and I’ve done a lot of touring all around the world since the beginning. The first leg of the tour does begin outside of the US, in Europe. We were trying to think of a way to start this thing off with a bang. It was like, let’s start in London, man.”

The eyes of the Metal world will be focused on Dream Theater London for that first show. Forty years is a massive achievement. The 02 will be packed, and it is a great venue to start things off. Historic has been the the word used a lot. Is that how John feels? 

“I do,” he says. “First of all, we love playing in London. The fans are great. We have so much history there, and I love the city. Being a New Yorker, I’m a fan of metropolis’. We’ve played a lot of venues in London and in the UK, but we’ve never played The 02. So that’s exciting for us.

“Celebrating 40 years is one of those head-scratching moments. Like how did that happen? But it’s fun because we got our new old drummer. It’s exciting with Mike back. The sort of setlist that we could do… It’s an evening with Dream Theater, so we’ll have plenty of time to play a lot of songs. It will be exciting.”

With John’s old school buddy back, you sensed the emotions and excitement when they got together for the first time to begin preparing for this tour were huge.

“Yeah,” John smiles. “We’re still working on the new album, so we’re not preparing for the tour yet. We will in a couple of months. But the first time with us back in the studio together, just playing the first note and writing music again together, was just awesome. It was amazing. It was such a great feeling.”

That must have been very, very special. “Yeah, for sure,” John says.

While the new album is not finished, and production for the tour is yet to start, John says the setlist for the tour is written. “We know exactly what we’re gonna be doing,” he says. “All this time in the background, as we’ve been working on the record, we are, of course, preparing for the tour and the show. This is a big deal with not only the setlist but with the preparation of production and everything else that goes on to put on a show like this.

“With that amount of time in the evening, with the 40th Anniversary theme of this, we’ll be able to go back and just play a bunch of songs from our catalogue. Even if it’s a song that maybe people have heard us play many times before, it will be the first time them seeing us play with Mike again in, like, 15 years. They’ll all be special, for that matter, just because of that.”

An Evening With Dream Theater will consist of two sets each night, with an intermission. Following The O2 show, the band head over to mainland Europe.

In a busy schedule, how does John cope with touring? I ask if he likes to explore the cities they visit, or if his family leaves him a list of presents they want brought back.

“A little bit of both,” John laughs. “Speaking of family, if they’re with me, that’s when I’ll do most of the exploring. For example, I’ve played in Japan many, many times and in Tokyo many, many times. It was only recently, when my daughters came over that we actually went to Mount Fuji and did this whole incredible sightseeing.

“When I’m by myself, I’m a little less adventurous. On a day off, I just like to relax, find a gym and find a good place to eat. But, yeah, if my wife’s with me or the kids… it’s one of those perks of being a touring musician to be able to see so many parts of the world that so many people never really get to see. So if you can take advantage of that and check it out, then do for sure.”

John says that he and his family have not yet planned which cities to sightsee on the 40th Anniversary Tour. “We’ll figure that all out,” he smiles. “It’s a little hard for me. I’m producing the record. I have to fast forward my head to the fall to think about that. I’m still in album-making mode. Eventually, I will get there.”

It’s certainly a busy time for John Petrucci, but that’s the way he likes it. “We started working on this album in February,” he says, “and it’s really been nonstop since. Just thinking about this record and the completion of it and delivery will lead right up to preparing for the tour. That tour will be an extensive world tour.

“It’s busy, busy, busy. But you know what? This is what we do. This is what we love to do. Dream Theater, as the tour title suggests, is a band that’s been around for four decades. So we wouldn’t continue to do this if we didn’t love it. So, being busy and getting out there and playing and making new music, that’s what we love to do. That’s the life we chose and we love it.”

So, on 20 October 2024, it all begins at The O2. “We can’t wait to see everybody in London,” John says. “Obviously, everybody from the UK will be there, but I know people will be flying in from all over the world. So we look forward to that as well. It reminds me, as a New Yorker, of a lot of times when we play in Manhattan. It’s just such an international showing, even though you’re just like in New York in the US.

“You have people coming from South America and Europe and Asia, and I have a feeling that this monumental first show at The 02 is gonna be much like that.

“To everybody out there, we’re looking forward to it and it’s gonna be a magical evening. We can’t wait.”

John Petrucci joined by James LaBrie, John Myung, Jordan Rudess, and Mike Portnoy at The O2. Five mates on the road. “Exactly,” John smiles. “Exactly.”

Ticket details and VIP packages are available from the band’s website: https://dreamtheater.net/tour.