Dream Theater‘s show in Croatia on Tuesday carried some extra emotional heft, as drummer Mike Portnoy learned that his sister, Samantha, had passed away from cancer just 30 minutes before the concert.
In a Facebook post, Portnoy notes that the performance “was one of the hardest shows I’ve ever had to play.” He also shared a photo of the crowd shining their phone flashlights in honor of Samantha during a rendition of “The Spirit Carries On,” which Dream Theater dedicated to her.
“I wept like a baby the entire time,” Portnoy writes. “[Guitarist] John [Petrucci] even came and sat beside me at my kit for the ending solo which meant so much to me.”
Portnoy adds that Samantha was “always one of DT’s biggest fans and supporters,” and that his reunion with the band “meant sooooooo much to her.” Portnoy got back together with Dream Theater in 2023 after leaving the band in 2010.
“I will be thinking of her each and every night on stage throughout this tour when we play ‘The Spirit Carries On’ knowing that she now gets to watch every show, every night, everywhere,” Portnoy writes.
Dream Theater will be touring through Europe into late November before heading to Latin America in December. They’ll come to the U.S. in February.
A new Dream Theater album, Parasomnia, drops Feb. 7. It marks the group’s first record with Portnoy since 2009.
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