DREAM THEATER To Debut New Album Live In Its Entirety On European Tour

Progressive metallers DREAM THEATER have announced new tour dates for a momentous European headline run which is set to kick off February 18 at the Palladium in London, England. The winter run will see the prog-titans delivering a one-of-a-kind set in which they will be debuting their forthcoming album live in its entirety. The unique tour is set to make stops at prestigious theaters around Europe, including Amsterdam's Carre Theater, Oslo's Konserthus, Stockholm's Cirkus, Paris's Palais des Congres and Milan's Teatro Degli Arcimboldi, with additional dates to be announced. Presale tickets for select dates will be available on Wednesday, November 4 with general onsale for all dates beginning on Friday, November 6.

The European tour comes in anticipation of DREAM THEATER's forthcoming album which is expected to arrive in early 2016. The new material will follow 2013's worldwide smash album "Dream Theater", which earned a second Grammy nomination for the band, topping Billboard's "Hard Rock Albums" while simultaneously entering at #7 on The Billboard 200. The extraordinary chart position marked the group's third consecutive top 10 debut, and also saw "Dream Theater" making top 5 chart debuts in Japan, Germany, Italy, Canada, Argentina, Switzerland, Holland, and Finland, as well as top 10 debuts in Denmark, Austria, and Norway, with career high debuts in the United Kingdom and Australia. Rolling Stone touted the legendary collection as "the birth of a new era in the band's career."

DREAM THEATER has been working on the follow-up to 2013's self-titled album since January at Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove, New York. The band's guitarist, John Petrucci, told Revolver magazine: "The new album will be a further progression of the band's creative identity.

"Every time that we go into the studio, we always try to make something that's better than the last."

He continued: "Everybody in the band has this kind of attitude where we love doing what we do, we're very lucky to be able to do what we do, and we feel that the best is still to come. That's partially why we self-titled our last album, because it signified a new beginning, and the strength of the belief that we have in the future of the band."

Regarding the songwriting process for the new CD, Petrucci said: "A new album project is like a fresh and inspiring blank canvas, and I love that every couple of years you have the opportunity of reinventing, trying something new and starting from scratch. But given the history of the band, you do have to take all of that into account and consider what we've done already, what we haven't explored yet, and what will not only keep us interested and fired up, but will also keep people who listen to the band excited, as well. You really have to deliver the goods — you can't rest on your laurels, you can't get lazy."

DREAM THEATER European tour 2016 (additional dates to be announced):

Feb. 18 - London, England @ Palladium
Feb. 22 - Amsterdam, Holland @ Carre Theater
Feb. 28 - Oslo, Norway @ Konserthus
Mar. 02 - Stockholm, Sweden @ Cirkus
Mar. 05 - Paris, France @ Palais des Congres
Mar. 06 - Paris, France @ Palais des Congres
Mar. 18 - Milan, Italy @ Teatro Degli Arcimboldi