MIKE PORTNOY And JOHN PETRUCCI Reunite For 2019 'Holiday Gathering'

Mike Portnoy reunited with John Petrucci earlier this week for what the former DREAM THEATER drummer called "the annual #PortnoyPetrucci Holiday Gathering".

On Wednesday, Portnoy took to his social media to upload two photos of him and the DREAM THEATER guitarist, along with their respective families, at what appears to be the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center in New York City. He wrote in an accompanying caption: "Happy Holidaze from MP & JP! Good times tonight in NYC for the annual #PortnoyPetrucci Holiday Gathering"

Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER more than 30 years ago, abruptly quit the band in September 2010 while on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD. He has since been replaced by Mike Mangini (ANNIHILATOR, EXTREME, JAMES LABRIE, STEVE VAI).

After Portnoy posted a photo two years ago of him hanging out with Petrucci, many DREAM THEATER fans expressed hope that it represented a thawing of tensions between the two musicians who had been friends for more than three decades. But John played down the photo's significance, telling Music Radar: "Mike and I have maintained a relationship and have been friends all these years. Our families are all good friends, and we've gotten together several times. That just was the first time we took a photo and posted a photo. [There's] nothing to read into, other than it's good to maintain good relationships. That's really all it is."

Portnoy told "The Metal Podcast" that he and John had "actually reconnected" in recent years "and actually gotten together many times and had dinner together with our families." He added: "The reality is he and I have been friends since the first week in college back in September of 1985, so it's a relationship that goes back [34] years. And our families are all friends, our wives and our kids are all friends, we all grew up together, and that's never gonna go away.

"After I left DREAM THEATER, there were some years' worth of drama and bullshit," he admitted. "But the reality is you put all that aside and friends are friends and family is family and John and I will always be friends and family."

Mike told Loud that he left DREAM THEATER because he wanted to expand his musical horizons. "[I didn't] want to go to my grave and just be the drummer from DREAM THEATER," he said. "I knew there was way more to what I had to offer."