Mike Portnoy to revisit Dream Theater’s Twelve-Step Suite at US festival

Mike Portnoy (Image credit: Getty)

Mike Portnoy has confirmed he’ll perform Dream Theater’s Twelve-Step Suite at next year’s ProgPower USA.

The two-day event in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 8-9, will see the drummer perform the material he wrote and recorded with his former band in full under the Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress banner.

Portnoy says: “I’m so excited to make my ProgPower debut in 2017. Between 2001 and 2009 I wrote five very personal interconnecting songs with Dream Theater and I never got to play them live… until now.

“I’m going to be playing this with an incredible band of some of the best musicians in prog today. We’ve got a lot of cool stuff in store and I can’t wait to be doing this exclusively at ProgPower 2017. See you there.”

The Twelve-Step Suite features the tracks The Glass Prison, This Dying Soul, The Root Of All Evil, Repentance and The Shattered Fortress.

They appeared on 2002’s Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, 2003’s Train Of Thought, 2005’s Octavarium, 2007’s Systematic Chaos and 2009’s Black Clouds & Silver Linings respectively.

The festival lineup will also feature Rainbow frontman Ronnie Romero’s Lords Of Black, Amaranthe and Katatonia. Read the full list below.

Earlier this year, Portnoy said he’d play the Twelve-Step Suite on his 50th birthday Cruise To The Edge which sets sail from Tampa, Florida, on February 7 and runs until February 11.

Portnoy and The Neal Morse Band are gearing up for the launch of the album The Similitude Of A Dream, which will be released on November 11. They made the tracks Long Day and Overture available exclusively via TeamRock last week.

Portnoy said of the follow-up to 2014’s The Grand Experiment: “After a career of almost 50 albums, I honestly consider this to be one of the defining works of my career.”

ProgPower USA lineup

September 8

Sunburst
Distorted Harmony
Lords Of Black
Angel Dust
Myrath
Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress

September 9

Teramaze
Dynazty
Snowy Shaw
Pain
Amaranthe
Katatonia

Mike Portnoy: I'm not a good drum teacher

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.