DREAM THEATER / OPETH One-Off Acoustic Collaborative Performance Scrapped

May 16, 2008

DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy has issued the following update from the Progressive Nation 2008 Tour, which also features OPETH, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME and 3:

"We were asked by Roadrunner [Records, DREAM THEATER and OPETH's record label] to do a special unique one-off performance for a few limited fans on one of our days off (in between Albany [May 18] and Boston [May 20], to be precise) with a few DREAM THEATER members and a few OPETH members combined to do like a little intimate, unplugged-type performance.

"Myself and Mikael [OPETH mainman Mikael kerfeldt] had already decided the six-piece band lineup (three guys from each band) and picked the songs to play, but in the end it was just too difficult to pull off (logistically, not musically, of course).

"Now, of course, you all want to know the lineup and songs picked....but, man, I have to leave SOMETHING to the imagination, don't I?????

"Yes, indeed, it would've been VERY cool...but in the end was just too hard to put together because of gear, rehearsals, crew guys, re-routing the tour buses and hotels, etc, etc.

"The good news is Mikael and myself are STILL planning on someday collaborating (along with [PORCUPINE TREE's] Steven Wilson)....so it's not like my [previous post on the subject] implied that THAT was no longer happening...."

As previously reported, DREAM THEATER recently recorded a cover version of the IRON MAIDEN classic "To Tame a Land" for a forthcoming MAIDEN tribute album that is being released via Britain's Kerrang! magazine. No further details are currently available.

DREAM THEATER's first-ever best-of collection, "Greatest Hit (& 21 Other Pretty Songs)", was released through Rhino on April 1 at all physical retail outlets and www.rhino.com for a suggested retail price of $19.98 and at all digital retail outlets for a suggested retail price of $12.99. The collection contains three newly remixed versions of tracks from DREAM THEATER's breakout 1992 album, "Images And Words": "Pull Me Under" as well as "Take The Time" and "Another Day". The collection's 22 songs are split evenly between two discs, which are divided into "The Dark Side" (the metallic) and "The Light Side" (the melodic).

OPETH will be IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson's guests on Friday, May 30 during Bruce's weekly BBC 6 Music radio show, aptly named "The Bruce Dickinson Friday Rock Show". Listen to the program live via the Internet between 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. U.K. time at BBC.co.uk.

OPETH's new album, "Watershed", is scheduled for release on June 3 via Roadrunner Records (one day earlier internationally). The CD, recorded in the band's native Sweden and produced by frontman/guitarist Mikael kerfeldt and Jens Bogren, is a masterwork that follows the time-honored OPETH tradition; its modern yet timeless, progressive yet paying homage to the sounds of classic rock.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).