Mike Portnoy, the original drummer, wanted a long break from touring. Think he said the band should go on a hiatus for about 5 years because they were running out of innovative ideas and becoming stale but the rest of the band disagreed. A change was needed in my opinion. There albums from mid 2000s started to become quite derivative of each other.

Mike Portnoy is the man! I met him backstage in '07 and he was more into meeting his fans than the rest of the band.

I know people have said this is a medley of sections from regular songs, which is true, but there are also a couple sections from Liquid Tension Experiment, which is an instrumental side project the guys did. It has the guitarist, drummer, and keyboardist with a different bassist. You should check that out too. When The Water Breaks is a classic live performance. And if you do it, before you ask, the bass player is playing a chapman stick, which is like a bass but you tap with your picking hand instead of pick/finger pick.

Absolutely love everything Dream Theater had written, pre and post Portnoy! They have been and continue to be the best hand in history to me!

Man, the whole live at Budokan is ridiculously good.

If the video game feel is what you are getting from this the you NEED to listen to their song called Rawdog. Its a track they exclusively wrote for the game God of War III. Its bonkers.

JOHN PETRUCCI IS HIS NAME,THE DRUMMER IS MIKE PORTNOY.

I've seen DT with both drummers and I can honestly say Mangini is a more spectacular drummer. John Petrucci and Myung have been with DT from the beginning and Mangini replaced Portnoy. Rudess has been with DT for 20 plus yrs.

The drummer Mike Portnoy is a founding member of this band. They split about 10 years ago the reasons depend on who you believe however they remain friends. In fact Portnoy played on John Petrucci’s new solo album. Also there a new album by a band named Liquid Tension Experiment a side project super group of sorts that has recorded two previous albums (the last one about 20 years ago!) anyway that group consists of Portnoy, Petrucci, Jordan Ruddess (keys) and legendary bass player Tony Levin. In fact it was shortly after the first album that Jordan Got invited into Dream Theater bc their cohesion was so great! Anyway highly recommend checking out liquid tension experiments 3 new songs that are out as the album drops in about 3 weeks. But in the meantime you should check out the live performance of LTE “When the water Breaks” live in L.A. one of the best live jams I’ve ever heard!!! It’s a long song (about 17 minutes) so if that’s too long you could also do Acid Rain from the same love in L.A. show!! Anyway great reactions!!

Drummer wanted a short break from the grind, band did not. That is the short story. Miss him being the drummer, even though Mangini (new drummer) is awesome.

Scene: DT band meeting once they learned they were gonna play Budokan

Probably the greatest group of musicians that ever played together at one time. Amazing!

Breaking All Illusions live in Boston! Trust me!🙏🏻

This is the original drummer (Mike Portnoy) During an interview he stated "One of the reasons I needed to leave Dream Theater was because I didn’t want to end my career as just the drummer in one band. I didn’t want to play with the same four musicians for the rest of my life. I needed to spread my wings, and I knew I had more to offer than just Dream Theater." He was replaced by Mike Mangini, they have a documentary around the try outs and selection that's interesting.

The Guitarist is the same, its just the beard & weight He's growth like you said. Lol

Hey brother checking out your vids, the original drummer here put in 25yrs as a founding member, was burned out non stop album and touring. Left for 10yrs now. However he played drums in John Petruccis new solo album. It's great to see them play together after that long.

I am a 30 year dream theater fan they all went to school for music, berkley school of music, the keyboard player went to guliard, that is why these guys are so gifted, u are actually watching some of the most amazing musicians in the world

You need to watch Beyond This Life (live at Budokan) by Dream Theater. The whole thing. It's ridiculously amazing with that improvised middle section.

This song was my introduction to DT…. The whole album is a masterpiece

in this song put together different songs in different albums and that is amazing!