I'm still feeling both, to be honest. Portnoy's drumming is fantastic, and he really brought a lot to DT's sound. I'm thrilled with Mangini in the band, but I still have a sense of sadness and trepidation about hearing a new DT album with someone other than him on drums. Again, I'm thrilled about Mangini, and the documentary has just been the most incredible way to get to know him and be comfortable with him. It worked. But as even Mangini has acknowledged, Portnoy has a legacy with this band that I for one will miss despite my excitement about hearing how their sound will evolve with Mangini on drums.
If you want to break this off in another thread or not talk about it, that's fine, but since we both went there, and this is interesting to me, I'll go ahead.
I honestly feel like I wouldn't want to see a DT11 at this point. Right after Portnoy left, I would have agreed with you. It felt like something great ended that shouldn't have, and now we're gonna see this different version of Dream Theater that's less than what it was. Then three things happened:
- DT picked up all the PR slack very well. Rudess's online presence has grown in a nice way, JLB stepped up and has had some great interaction, and Petrucci's gotten more into it. All this has slowed down a bit at the moment and because the album's nearing completion, but I hope they keep putting themselves out there, because it's really good. A Mangini Twitter would be sweet. And a JM Twitter would be amazing. The ability of the band to relate to its fans through MP was huge to me, but the other band members have kept up the personality and openness.
- Almost everything Portnoy said after the interview indicated that the beginnings of a huge personal rift between him and the other four guys had developed. One thing he said that was true, if he hadn't left it would have worked terribly. His head space was completely different. He seemed to feel all these personal conflicts existed that no one else saw. He seemed genuinely baffled that the other four guys wouldn't give up their lives for multiple years just because he asked them to, which is something I still can't comprehend. But the biggest thing was that he really started to believe he was Dream Theater. Every time he talked about how he made the band great, it's like the other guys weren't there.
At the time, I didn't exactly think that I wanted him to rejoin after a couple years. I thought it would be a crappy thing to do to the eventual new guy. But I at least thought "Eh... Maybe. It would be cool. The band would be back together again." And then MP did what he did and said what he said. And I realized that this basically needed to happen. It would have blown up at some point, and fortunately for everyone, including himself, Portnoy left so everyone could have the healthiest outcome possible.
His legacy with the band isn't "The one true drummer who should be with us but isn't." Not to me. His legacy with the band is being the first drummer, crucial to shaping their sound and who they are, and ultimately leaving because he decided DT was no longer best for him.
Ironically, the same as Kevin Moore.
- Then Mangini joined the band, and he is awesome.