Mike Portnoy Congratulates Dream Theater on Grammy Win for Best Metal Performance

At the 2022 Grammy Awards, Dream Theater took home the win for Best Metal Performance for "The Alien," off last year's A View From the Top of the World album. The group's former drummer, Mike Portnoy, shared in the celebration and congratulated the prog metal icons on their victory.

On Instagram, Portnoy shared a screenshot of Loudwire's coverage of the news and wrote, "Congrats to my friends…Very happy for you guys!"

Keyboardist Jordan Rudess, who joined Dream Theater in 1999, commented back, "Thanks buddy!! Thanks for hiring me many years ago!!!!"

Portnoy was a member of Dream Theater from its inception, first when they were known as Majesty from 1985 through 1988 and, following the name change to the one we know now, from 1988 through 2010. While he has been out of the band for more than a decade, other fans were quick to acknowledge that the group's Grammy victory in 2022 was a decades-long payoff and that Portnoy's contributions to the Dream Theater legacy helped lay the groundwork that got the band to where they are now.

Public relations between Portnoy and his former Dream Theater bandmates have been especially good in recent years, from hanging out with John Petrucci on New Year's Eve heading into 2018 through plentiful musical collaborations — playing on Petrucci's 2020 solo album Terminal Velocity and regrouping with Petrucci some more, as well as Rudess, in Liquid Tension Experiment for the band's Liquid Tension Experiment 3 album, which came out last year and marked their first since 1999.

Again, congratulations to Dream Theater and hats off to Mike Portnoy for keeping things warm and friendly. Good vibes only!