=Mike Portnoy said:DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy has posted on Facebook that he has left the band.

His post reads as follows:

“I am about to write something I never imagined I’d ever write:

After 25 years, I have decided to leave Dream Theater….the band I founded, led and truly loved for a quarter of a century.

To many people this will come as a complete shock, and will also likely be misunderstood by some, but please believe me that it is not a hasty decision…it is something I have struggled with for the last year or so.

After having had such amazing experiences playing with HAIL!, TRANSATLANTIC AND AVENGED SEVENFOLD this past year, I have sadly come to the conclusion that I have recently had more fun and better personal relations with these other projects than I have for a while now in Dream Theater.

Please don’t misinterpret me, I love the DT guys dearly and have a long history, friendship and bond that runs incredibly deep with them, it’s just that I think we are in serious need of a little break.

Dream Theater was always my baby and I nurtured that baby every single day and waking moment of my life since 1985 24/7, 365, never taking time off from DT’s never-ending responsibilities (even when the band was “off” between cycles), working overtime and way beyond the call of duty that most sane people ever would do for a band.

But I’ve come to the conclusion that the DT machine was starting to burn me out and I really needed a break from the band in order to save my relationship with the other members and keep my DT spirit hungry and inspired.

We have been on an endless write/record/tour cycle for almost 20 years now (of which I have overseen EVERY aspect without a break) and while a few months apart from each other here and there over the years has been much needed and helpful, I honestly hoped the band could simply agree with me to taking a bit of a “hiatus” to recharge our batteries and “save me from ourselves.”

Sadly, in discussing this with the guys, they determined they do not share my feelings and have decided to continue without me rather than take a breather. I even offered to do some occasional work throughout 2011 against my initial wishes, but it was not to be.

While it truly hurts for me to even think of a Dream Theater without Mike Portnoy (hell, my father named the band!!), I do not want to stand in their way, so I have decided to sacrifice myself and simply leave the band so as to not hold them back against their wishes.

Strangely enough, I just read an interview that I recently did that asked me about the future of DT and I talked about ‘always following your heart and being true to yourself’ – sadly I must say that at this particular moment, my heart is not with Dream Theater and I would simply be ‘going through the motions’, and would honestly NOT be true to myself if I stayed for the sake of obligation without taking the break I felt I needed.

I wish the guys the best and hope the music and legacy we created together is enjoyed by fans for decades to come. I am proud of every album we made, every song we wrote and every show we played.

I’m sorry to all the disappointed DT fans around the world. I really tried to salvage the situation and make it work. I honestly just wanted a break (not a split) but happiness cannot be forced, it needs to come from within.

You DT fans are the greatest fans in the world and as you all know, I have always busted my ass for you guys and I hope that you will stay with me on my future musical journey, wherever it may lead me….(and as you all know my work ethic, there will surely be no shortage of future MP projects!)

Sadly, your fearless ex-leader and drummer.”

http://www.metal-rules.com/metalnews/2010/09/08/mike-portnoy-has-left-dream-theater/

So I went to the show last night in Toronto, and it was really good. Stone Sour was awesome. Setlist was the same as the other one that was posted except they also played Digital. Corey was energetic as usual, and of course Jim, Josh, and Shawn did their more non-chalant casual headbanging here and there.

Disturbed was good as well, although maybe a little bit boring. This is the third time i've seen them in the last 2 years or so (Mayhem Fest 2008, and their headlining tour in 2009 before this), and they pretty much played the same songs with the 2 new songs added in, and a nice medley of old songs. They're kind of boring from a stage presence aspect I will say too, and sort of stand there and move around here and there, but hey, I guess whatever works. They also chose to open with "Asylum", and while I like that song, It seemed to be a poor choice since the crowd seemed pretty unfamiliar with it and seemed dead.

I skipped out on most of Avenged Sevenfold's set because Hail the Villain was playing on the Jager Stage at the same time. The Toronto show was set up differently from the other shows since they had to have both stages running at the same time, apparently for cost reasons. They also didn't have the Jager stage bands in the same order as the other shows I guess so they wouldn't have the popular bands playing at the same time (like HellYeah at the same time as Disturbed), so Hail the Villain actually played after HellYeah. It was pretty lame and a lot of people complained before the show, but whatever. Shit happens. So I caught Hail the Villain's set, bought their CD as they planned to do a signing later which got cancelled, so I headed back to the main stage and caught the last 30 minutes of A7X's set. I guess the one downfall of this whole thing was missing them play "Nightmare", which is the only song I really really like from them. They also didn't play Bat Country which is another decent song of there's.

Only other band I caught was Halestorm. They were ok. All in all it was a good day. Got out of the hospital that morning (had surgery last week), and went to the show somewhat last minute since my friends weren't able to sell my ticket. Blessing in Disguise. Stone Sour was definitely the band of the night.

If you have a profile, post it

http://www.last.fm/user/Anthony_G

First off, this band is awesome.

Secondly, I got the Coming Alive DVD in the mail today that I ordered from Amazon a few days ago (and it was released in stores yesterday), and it's awesome. 2 DVDs and 1 CD. 3 hour Documentary on one DVD that follows the band through the making of the Infection and the first part of the touring cycle for that album from the Dubai show through to the European tour they did last year. Other DVD is the full Chimaira Christmas show they did last December as well as a separate documentary based looking at the making of the Resurrection album (which is already released with the special edition of that album, but whatever, it's a nice bonus). The CD is the audio from the same Chimaira Christmas concert.

So yeah, even if you're just a casual fan of Chimaira, I recommend picking this thing up. I've only watched the three-hour documentary so far and listened to a bit of the CD, but it's awesome. And I'm expecting more awesomeness when I pop in the live concert. And obviously if you're a huge fan of the band like me, you won't be dissapointed.

And if you're from Ohio and are still butthurt about Lebron James leaving the Cavs, this band is a reminder that Cleveland still has some things to be proud of.

www.myspace.com/chimaira

Yeah, it was really only a matter of time before I got incredibly bored and decided to make a new account here. I'm sure there were a few people hoping I wouldn't, but here I am.

So yeah, i'm Anthony, I used to post on the old message board. Yeah.