DREAM THEATER's JORDAN RUDESS: 'We've Been Having A Lot Of Fun Playing All' Of 'Parasomnia' Album

In a new interview with Mexico's Monterrey Rock, DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess spoke about the band'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. Rudess said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "This is gonna be really, really cool, 'cause we've been touring for the over a year now. And we have our original drummer [Mike Portnoy] back, and so there's a lot of excitement and a lot of energy. And we've been enjoying ourselves. And now finally we're gonna be coming to Latin America, South America for this leg of the tour. So it should be really exciting for all of us."

Regarding the setlist for the upcoming tour, Jordan said: "We've been having a lot of fun playing all of 'Parasomnia'. Of course, that's our latest album, and bringing it to life was pretty special. Not only musically have we figured out how to present that, but also all the visuals that we have and all the special effects to really bring this to life and to make it something that is really strong and really special. So that's gonna be great. And then as far as playing 'A Change Of Seasons', this is an epic DREAM THEATER track. It's very important to the catalog of music we have. It's very personal to Mike Portnoy, 'cause he wrote it about his mother. And it's also a really great piece that we all really love playing. It's very dynamic. It gets very big and very grand and also [has] quiet moments. And not only is it something that's wonderful to play and also very personal and emotional to play, it also has an anniversary as well. So there's a lot of meaning behind it."

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 kicked off 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 DREAM THEATER guitarist Jphn 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.