DREAM THEATER's JORDAN RUDESS: 'To Be Able To Perform At A High Level And To Share That With Everybody, It's A Big Deal'

In a new interview with Costa Rica's Backstage Magazine, DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess spoke about the touring cycle for the progressive metallers' latest album, "Parasomnia", which arrived in February 2025. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "Well, it's been a very exciting year. We've been on tour for over a year now… We've been having a great year. It's been wonderful to have [original DREAM THEATER drummer] Mike Portnoy back in the band after so many years. He kind of like came back home, if you will, which has just felt so good. So, the whole last — whatever it's been — 15 months of running around the world and playing shows and putting out our 'Parasomnia' album has been pretty, pretty awesome. It's been a great time in a very long career. And I guess to kind of like top it off, 'cause when we see all of you [in Central and Latin America], it'll be the last phase of the world tour, it'll be a nice way to do it because we know the fans are really great and they'll be excited. And I'm sure that'll just be a great celebration for everybody."

On the topic of DREAM THEATER's mindset while performing live, Jordan said: "What we do is pretty interesting because when you think about people like us, bands or any entertainer, artist being in front of large audiences and getting the kind of love and emotion and energy from the audience, plus the emotions that we feel just in our internal world, just the band by being together and making music for this many years and all that, you can really get hit with a big wave of kind of intensity, and it can be very joyful. It can be really amazing."

Rudess continued: "It's always been an interesting thing for me and something that I've tried to even share a lot with younger people, younger musicians or anybody who has to get in a situation where they have to be in front of the public and have to deal with emotions that are more than just sitting in their own home and just hanging out or being with a friend, because we all get kind of pushed into these situations where life can get kind of challenging and challenging not always in a bad way, but even in a way, like, something's happening, and it's a big emotion and you have to know how to kind of deal with it and keep thinking clearly and keep kind of being aware and, in our case, being able to play intricate music while there's a lot of stuff going on, whether it's the audiences cheering or there's noises or we're playing a really hard section of the music. So, for me, that kind of being able to focus and being able to absorb those emotions and still remain calm is probably one of the biggest lessons in life. It's allowed, I think, all of us in the band to kind of become the people who we are and to refine our craft in a way that we can get up there and we can play a complicated DREAM THEATER song. And I mean, we're human beings — we make mistakes certainly — but just to be able to perform at a high level and to do it and to feel the joy and to put out the energy and to share that with everybody, it's kind of a big deal."

On DREAM THEATER's upcoming spring 2026 tour of Latin America, the progressive metal giants are continuing their "An Evening With Dream Theater" run that celebrates DREAM THEATER's latest album, "Parasomnia", by performing the LP in its entirety, as well as playing the entire seven-movement masterpiece "A Change Of Seasons" for the first time since drummer Mike Portnoy's return as well as other classics and fan favorites from the band's catalog.

DREAM THEATER played its first concert with Portnoy in 14 years on October 20, 2024 at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom. The drummer, who co-founded DREAM THEATER, played on 10 of the band's albums over a 20-year period, from 1989's "When Dream And Day Unite" through 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", before exiting the group in 2010. Portnoy returned to DREAM THEATER in October 2023 after being replaced by Mike Mangini, who played with DREAM THEATER across five studio albums and accompanying world tours.

DREAM THEATER kicked off its summer/fall 2025 "An Evening With Dream Theater" U.S. tour on September 5 at Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The 30-city trek ran through October 25, when it wrapped in Long Island, New York.

DREAM THEATER launched the spring/summer 2025 leg of its "40th Anniversary European Tour" on June 3 at Logomo in Turku, Finland.

"Parasomnia" came out on February 7, 2025 via InsideOut Music. The LP was produced by John Petrucci, engineered by James "Jimmy T" Meslin, and mixed by Andy Sneap. Hugh Syme returned once again to lend his creative vision to the cover art.

"Parasomnia" is an eight-song, 71-minute set which was recorded at DREAM THEATER's DTHQ studio on Long Island, New York. It is the follow-up to 2021's "A View From The Top Of The World", which debuted at in the top 10 of Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums, Top Rock Albums and Independent Albums charts. Six songs on "Parasomnia" are over seven minutes and the closing epic "The Shadow Man Incident" clocks in at nearly 20 minutes.

The North American leg of DREAM THEATER's 40th-anniversary tour kicked off on February 7 at The Met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The trek was "An Evening With Dream Theater" and was the first tour of North America since Portnoy's return to the lineup,. The tour concluded on March 22 in New York City.

Portnoy, Petrucci and bassist John Myung started DREAM THEATER as MAJESTY in 1985, after meeting at the Berklee College Of Music in Boston. Singer James LaBrie came on board in 1991, while Rudess joined in 1999.

Prior to Portnoy's return to DREAM THEATER, the drummer and Petrucci worked together on the latter's 2020 solo album, "Terminal Velocity", and toured together. Portnoy and Petrucci also joined Rudess and bassist Tony Levin for a third studio album as LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT in 2021.