JOHN PETRUCCI

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, JOHN PETRUCCI HITS THE ROAD — SOLO

- JOE BOSSO

JOHN PETRUCCI MAKES no bones about it: He loves to tour. If he’s not in the studio, he’s always hot to hit the road, be it with Dream Theater or as a long-running guest on one of Joe Satriani’s G3 excursions. “Live performance is something I can’t get enough of,” he says. “Making a record is one kind of thrill, and it’s something I take very seriously and find a lot of joy in. But for me, nothing replaces the magic of bringing my music to audiences. There’s just no substitute for it.”

Shortly after completing the first leg of Dream Theater’s Top of the World tour this past spring (dates that had to be rescheduled twice due to the Covid pandemic), Petrucci got the road itch again. But the tour he’s embarking on this fall differs from anything he’s ever done before. This time he’s taking the stage as a solo artist. “It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time,” he says, “but there was never room in the schedule because Dream Theater is always so busy.” He also admits it wasn’t until recently that he felt as if he had enough of his own material to fill a solo set. “There was a 15-year gap between my first album [2005’s Suspended Animation] and my second one, Terminal Velocity, so it took a while for me to feel like I had enough of my own music to do a whole show,” he says. “With Dream Theater not doing anything in the fall, I looked at the break and said, ‘OK, if there was ever a time to do this, it’s now.’”