Saturday night October 25, 2025, Dream Theater will do their first ever show at Nassau Coliseum. As Long Island natives, that must be pretty special. I recently spoke to guitarist John Petrucci from the band about that upcoming show, their new album “Parasomnia” and more. John did mention the fact that Dream Theater have played Jones Beach, Radio City Music Hall and even Madison Square Garden but that they are excited for their first time at the Coliseum. “Since I was a kid, I would go see concerts at the Coliseum. You know, Rush, Maiden, everything.”
We spoke a little bit about the new album and Mike Portnoy being back in the band added to this first time show at Nassau Coliseum. John expressed how everyone is happy that Mike is back and how it is great for the fans who’ve missed him as well. This tour is also their 40th anniversary tour. John spoke about this leg of the tour includes “Parasomnia” in its entirety.
We got into the fact that it is a concept album about things that happen while you’re asleep. I mentioned how the album opens with the track “Night Terror” and how they dove right into it with that. John told me “It’s a very disturbing album.” John explained how Parasomnia encompasses all kind of sleep disturbances. “Just messed up things that happen, you know, sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, night terrors and you know seeing the hat man in the corner of the room.” Despite saying it is a creepy and dark album, John also expressed that it was fun to make. The stage set up is designed to bring concert goers “Into that whole world.” The vibe of that disturbance should be able to be felt as soon as you enter the Coliseum on the night of the show.
John said he was very involved in the production of this entire show. At this point in our conversation John gave props to Hugh Syme who is responsible for many of the album covers for Rush. John mentioned the art book for “Parasomnia.” He said that artwork gave them a lot to choose from for the video content “to bring that stuff to life.”
I commented how Majesty, the name the band went by before Dream Theater, was played on the air here at WBAB. John said, “You don’t know the half of it.” He was kind enough to say that he would not be the guitar player he is, and Dream Theater would not be who they are without having grown up listening to the station. He even said that the first time he heard Rush or Yes was on WBAB. We even covered how John, Mike Portnoy and John Myung and Al Pitrelli of TSO all taught at Focus II guitar here on Long Island. John took some time to reminisce about growing up on Long Island.
We also discussed how even sixteen albums into their career that Dream Theater are still making albums thinking everyone is going to sit down and listen to the entire album. That is all despite a world of social media and streaming. Vinyl, art books and concept albums are something that is fun for the band and for their fans.
The Coliseum show will not only include “Parasomnia” in its entirety, but it also serves as the 30th anniversary of their EP “A Change Of Seasons,” and the 20-minute title track of that EP will be in the show, plus it’s the band’s 40th anniversary. “We will have a bunch of revolving sets that will change throughout the show.” John took some time here to explain that another aspect of Mike Portnoy’s return to the band was that John very willingly gave him back his old job of writing the set lists for the shows. “He’s really into approaching it from a fan mentality.” John promised a different show from when they played Radio City Musical Hall in the spring. He said this will be a completely different show.
Of course, I had to mention gear and talk a little about guitars. We also spoke amps and specifically John’s partnership with Mesa Boogie. Which ran into a discussion about a distillery that John has partnered up with for his first signature Bourbon “Rock The Barrell.”
With the show less than a week before Halloween, we discussed how the show would fit the feel of the season. We spoke about a haunted house type of atmosphere for the show.
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