American prog band Dream Theater. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Nearly a decade after they last performed in India, American progressive rock/metal band Dream Theater have announced two shows in Bengaluru and Kolkata in January 2026 as part of their 40th Anniversary tour.
Part of the Asia and Australia leg of a global tour celebrating four decades, Dream Theater’s India shows take place on Jan. 30, 2026, in Bengaluru at Phoenix Market City (back arena) and on Feb. 1, 2026, in Kolkata at Aquatic Ground.
Tickets are expected to go live on Skillbox on Sept. 5, 2025. Prices, categories, and further details are yet to be announced.
“We can’t wait to return to India,” the band said in a statement on social media, which also mentioned Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, and Japan.
Dream Theater made their India debut back in October 2017 in Mumbai amid a storm, when they were marking 25 years of their second album Images and Words. Since then, however, the major change has been the return of co-founder and drummer Mike Portnoy, who had left in 2010 and rejoined in 2023. Since his rejoining, Dream Theater have gone on to release Parasomnia, their first album with Portnoy since 2009.
The band’s 16th album was released in February 2025, preceded by singles like “Night Terror,” “A Broken Man” and “Midnight Messiah.” “Everything we’ve been writing sounds like every classic Dream Theater song or album,” Portnoy told Rolling Stone in a 2024 interview. “The style is here. The chemistry is the same. The people and the elements are the same. It all just feels and sounds so familiar.”
While Portnoy has performed in India with prog artist Neal Morse Band at 2013’s cultural festival Mood Indigo at IIT Bombay, Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess to has had past connections to India, collaborating with artists including Kerala fusion band Thaikkudam Bridge on their song “Salaikal” and producer Mahesh Raghvan.
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