"I love programming all of the pre-show house music": Listen to the audience playlist Mike Portnoy compiled for the Dream Theater tour

Mike Portnoy onstage — (Image credit: Iwi Onodera/Getty Images)

Drummer Miker Portnoy has shared the playlist he's compiled for Dream Theater's 40th anniversary tour. Portnoy, who rejoined the band in 2023 after leaving in 2010, has traditionally been responsible for the music the audience hears before Dream Theater take to the stage.

Among the tracks on the playlist are the opening Lingus by fusion ensemble Snarky Puppy, Chris Cornell's epic Follow My Way, and two songs from electronic jazz-funk duo Knower, including last year's excellently-titled Do Hot Girls Like Chords? single.

"One of the things I love doing for all of the bands and tours I’ve ever done is programming all of the pre-show house music," says Portnoy. "Here’s what attendees of the DT40 shows have been listening to leading up Rooster and Psycho to start the show every night."

Snarky Puppy - Lingus
The Flaming Lips - Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung
Air - Playground Love
Frank Zappa - Fifty-Fifty (Basic Tracks, Take 7)
Knower - Do Hot Girls Like Chords
The Pillbugs - Thou Doth Warm Me (Like The Sun)
Biffy Clyro - Cop Syrup
Beck - Lonesome Tears
Sonoride - Vagabond Avenue
Chris Cornell - Follow My Way
Queens Of The Stone Age - The Vampyre Of Time And Memory
Muse - Sing For Absolution
Jack White - Lazaretto
Knower - It's All Nothing Until It's Everything
Opeth - To Rid The Disease
Mr. Bungle - Ars Moriendi

After this selection, the audience hears Alice In Chains' Rooster – a regular Portnoy choice during his first tenure in Dream Theatre – before the intro tape proper (the title theme of Bernard Herrmann's score for the classic Alfred Hitchcock horror movie Psycho) gets everyone in a celebratory mood.

The entire playlist is embedded below, apart from the Pillbugs track, which isn't on Spotify, so you'll have to imagine it. Dream Theater's DT40 continues - dates below.

Dream Theater 40th Anniversary Tour

Nov 21: Frankfurt Jahrhundderthalle, Germany
Nov 23: Paris Adidas Arena, France
Nov 24: Amsterdam AFAS Live, The Netherlands

Feb 07: Philadelphia The Met, PA
Feb 08: Raleigh Martin Marietta Center, NC
Feb 10: Nashville Opry House, TN
Feb 11: Atlanta Coca-Cola Roxy, GA
Feb 12: Biloxi Hard Rock Cafe, MS
Feb 14: Houston 713 Music Hall, TX
Feb 15: Dallas Texas Trust CU, TX
Feb 16: San Antonio Majestic, TX
Feb 18: Phoenix Arizona Financial Center, AZ
Feb 19: Highland Yaamava Theater, CA
Feb 21: Las Vegas Cosmo, NV
Feb 22: Los Angeles Youtube Theater, CA
Feb 24: San Jose San Jose Civic, CA
Feb 25: Sacramento Safe Credit Union Performing, CA
Feb 27: Seattle Moore Theater, WA
Feb 28: Portland Keller Auditorium, OR
Mar 02: Reno Grand Sierra, NV
Mar 04: Salt Lake City Maverik Center, UT
Mar 06: Denver Mission Ballroom, CO
Mar 08: Chicago Theatre, IL
Mar 09: Cleveland MGM Northfield Park, OH
Mar 11: Toronto Coca-Cola Coliseum, ON
Mar 12: Montreal Place Des Arts, QC
Mar 14: Wallingford Oakdale Theater, CT
Mar 15: Boston Boch Center, MA
Mar 17: Rochester Kodak, NY
Mar 18: Wheeling Capitol Theater, WV
Mar 19: Cincinnati Brady Music Center, OH
Mar 21: Washington The Anthem, DC
Mar 22: New York Radio City Music Hall, NY

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Artists

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.