DREAM THEATER: North American Tour Dates Announced

DREAM THEATER has annouced a second North American leg of a world tour in support of its acclaimed and globally successful album "A Dramatic Turn Of Events" (Roadrunner). The progressive hard rock icons, who've sold in excess of 10 million records and DVDs worldwide, will launch their summer dates June 15 in Rochester, New York and wrap July 21 in Chester, Pennsylvania. The tour includes stops at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles and the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey plus a two-night engagement at the Paramount Theater on Long Island, New York.

Joining DREAM THEATER, starting June 16 in Columbus, Ohio and for the rest of the tour, is special guest CRIMSON PROJEKCT featuring Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Markus Reuter, Julie Slick and Tobias Ralph. They'll be performing the songs of progressive rock legends KING CRIMSON.

For the past few months DREAM THEATER has been touring around the world including visits to Europe and Mexico and are set to begin an Asian tour on April 19 in Seoul. The tour will bring the group to Japan, China, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan and will conclude May 8 in Bangkok Thailand.

DREAM THEATER North American tour dates:

June 15 - Rochester, NY - Main Street Armory
June 16 - Montebello, QC - D-TOX Rockfest
June 17 - Lewiston, NY - Artpark
June 19 - Columbus, OH - The LC Pavilion
June 21 - Cleveland, OH - Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
June 22 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore
June 24 - Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theater
June 26 - Minneapolis, MN - State Theater
June 27 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
June 28 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theater
July 01 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre
July 02 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheater
July 03 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove of Anaheim
July 05 - El Paso, TX - Abraham Chavez Theatre
July 06 - San Antonio, TX - Majestic Theater
July 07 - Austin, TX - ACL Live
July 09 - Grand Prairie, TX - Verizon Theatre
July 12 - Richmond, VA - The National
July 13 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
July 14 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
July 16 - Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion
July 18 - Huntington, NY - Paramount Theater
July 19 - Huntington, NY - Paramount Theater
July 21 - Chester, PA - Harrah’s Chester Downs

DREAM THEATER's new album, "A Dramatic Turn Of Events", sold 36,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to enter The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 8. The band's previous CD, 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", opened with 40,000 units to land at No. 6. This was roughly in line with the first-week tally registered by its predecessor, "Systematic Chaos", which shifted 36,000 copies in 2007 to enter the chart at No. 19. 2005's "Octavarium" premiered with 27,000 copies to debut at No. 36.

DREAM THEATER was among the nominees in the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category at the 54th annual Grammy Awards, which was held on February 12 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

When asked for his opinion on illegal music downloading, guitarist John Petrucci told Cotonete in March, "I think it is hurting — it is hurting the industry, for sure. I mean, it's a question of intellectual property. If you're an artist — if you write music, you write books… whatever it happens to be… you write movies — and you're professional, you want to be compensated for your art, for your work; it's property, just like anything else. So the Internet has obviously made it really easy for people to get their hands on things, illegally download stuff for free. I don't think it's right. I think that the industry has always been playing catch-up to the technology, and the technology is just really moving so rapidly. The bills and the laws that are in place are very antiquated at this point and it's hard to really catch up. And even with our album, the very latest one ['A Dramatic Turn Of Events'], it was so hard to keep a leak from getting out there. Once it happens and everybody has the album before it even comes out and they're all commenting on it, and then... Honestly, if you have a band's album already before it comes out, why are you gonna download it from iTunes, why are you gonna go to the store [and buy it]? You already have it. So it's hurting the industry, and you can see it. Recording studios are closing, record companies are folding, bands aren't as successful. Sales numbers for bands are nothing like they used to be — nothing. So bands are more reliant on merchandise and live touring and things like that."