Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
Highly revered drummer Mike Portnoy, formerly of Dream Theater and now Winery Dogs / Flying Colors, etc., recently celebrated his 50th birthday. The main event of that celebration was a performance on the Cruise To The Edge outside of Tampa, Florida on February 7th.
The collective in which the iconic kit-man played was the Shattered Fortress project, but the material itself covered several bands he’s been involved with. That material includes Flying Colors, Transatlantic, Liquid Tension Experiment, along with the five-part “12 Step Suite“.
The five-part suite he originally intended to perform with Dream Theater, before his exit in 2010. The music documents the musician’s battle with alcoholism. The five-song ensemble, recorded by Dream Theater from 2002 to 2009, displays titles reflecting his struggles: “The Glass Prison“, “This Dying Soul“, “The Root Of All Evil“, “Repentance” and “The Shattered Fortress“.
Video footage of Portnoy‘s two appearances at this year’s Cruise To The Edge is found below and featured the following songs:
FLYING COLORS
01. Infinite Fire
02. A Place In Your World
03. Kayla
04. Mask Machine
TRANSATLANTIC
05. Into The Blue
06. We All Need Some Light
07. Stranger In Your Soul
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT
01. Paradigm Shift
02. Acid Rain
03. Universal Mind
MIKE PORTNOY’S THE SHATTERED FORTRESS
04. The Glass Prison (Ross Jennings on lead vocals)
05. This Dying Soul (Daniel Gildenlöw & Ross Jennings on lead vocals)
06. The Root Of All Evil (Ted Leonard on lead vocals)
07. Repentance (Mike Portnoy on lead vocals)
08. The Shattered Fortress (Ross Jennings on lead vocals)
SHATTERED FORTRESS:
Mike Portnoy – Drums
Eric Gillette, Richard Henshall, Charlie Griffiths – Guitars
Connor Green – Bass
Diego Tejeida – Keyboards
