Co-founder and drummer to the progressive rock band Dream Theater, Mike Portnoy seemed to encompass the music that mixes both heavy metal and rock. Although being with the band on and off for decades, he also performed with groups like Flying Colors, The Winery Dogs, Metal Allegiance, and even Sons of Apollo. While that doesn’t seem out of the ordinary for the musician, he recently revealed he once almost played a festival with Nickelback.
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Appearing on Drumeo, Portnoy humored the idea of playing a song he never heard. Of all the songs to pick, it happened to be Nickelback’s “Burn It To The Ground.” While not knowing the song specifically, the singer admitted the band once contacted him back in 2022 to play a gig. “Their drummer I guess was having surgery and they asked me to play a show with them. And I said ‘Yeah, that’d be a fun gig!’”
Knowing that Portnoy almost played with Chad Kroeger, the musician discussed receiving the music for the festival and not knowing a single song. “My daughter and my wife were like ‘You’re gonna know every one of these songs’ and I was like ‘I’ve never heard any of these songs!’ I don’t listen to the radio so I don’t know any Nickelback songs.”
Mike Portnoy Wished It Would Have Happened
Sadly, the performance never happened as the festival was canceled. But the idea of playing with the band always lingered with the musician as he believed the experience would have been fun. “I’m sure if I ended up doing shows or touring with them, it’d probably be the most fun shows I would ever play in my life. So I kind of regret that the gig didn’t happen, but we got a little taste of what would’ve been.”
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As for his take on “Burn It To The Ground”, fans seemed to love his cover, writing, “This is evidence that the presence of Mike Portnoy in your band, makes your music irresistibly fun and incredible.” Another comment included, “This is why Mike is one of the best drummers in the world. He made that song his own and it worked perfectly. You could stick this guy into a recording studio and he could lay down a drum track for an album like this within a day! Can’t wait to see what he does with Dream Theatre next.”
(Photo by Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images)
