
Mike Portnoy stopped drinking in 2000, giving rise to the 12-Step Suite – a set of five songs inspired by his Alcoholics Anonymous experience, delivered across five Dream Theater albums. But by the time he felt ready and able to perform them together, he’d been out of the band he co-founded for nearly seven years. At the end of 2016 he told Prog why his 50th birthday was the right time to bring the Suite to life.