I am happy to report that the inaugural run of Progressive Nation has indeed been an undisputed success in every respect!

The ticket sales were great all across the board, the fans all seemed to really enjoy themselves at all of the shows and all 4 bands had a great time playing together and hanging out everyday and night.
It all went by so fast….I guess time really does fly when you're having fun!!

So many highlights and memories….some of the immediate ones that come to mind for me:
— the "Percussive Nation" drum jam in NYC
— Mikael Akerfeldt joining DT in NYC for the only-ever (so far) live performance of "Repentance"
— the fire curtain coming down on Opeth and stopping the show in Miami
— hearing Joey Eppart's vocal warm-ups everynight (3 has got to write this into a song!)
— James joing Opeth for "In My Time Of Need" in Tampa
— the non-stop shenanigans throughout everybody's sets at the last show in Tampa (way too many things to mention but a few were: BTBAM on stage in their underwear during the end of Opeth's set, more fire curtain droppings during "The Drapery Falls", Mikael Akerfeldt's new accapella love song for me "Mike Portnoy is a bitch", all 3 bands opening bands getting completely covered in silly string, cocks drawn all over my drum heads, the golf ball driving range off stage left aimed at our heads throughout "Take The Time", etc etc…)

But most of all, getting to watch 3 of my favorite bands on the planet each and every night from 10 feet away was what made me smile!

We had so many friends come down and support the bands and check out the show throughout the tour: Charlie Benante from Anthrax in Chicago, Chris & Willie Adler and Mark Morton from Lamb Of God in Richmond, Jason Bittner from Shadows Fall in Albany, Jim Matheos, Frank Aresti and John Arch from Fates Warning in Albany/Boston, Rod Morgenstein from The Dregs in NYC, Richard Christy from Death (and the Howard Stern Show) in NYC, Ron Jarzombek, Charlie Z and Alex Webster from Blotted Science in Tampa, etc. etc.

So, now what?

After literally 1 year (and 1 day!) on the "Chaos In Motion World Tour", it's time for a well deserved break for the DT machine….
Myself, JP and Jordan will resurrect LTE for 5 very special shows later this month (we re-learned and rehearsed all of the songs at soundchecks throughout PN08 using Between The Buried And Me as our test audience each day!), and then I will begin work on assembling the upcoming DT DVD for a release later this year….but other than that, it's time to reconnect and spend time with our wives and kids all summer long! (and then when the kids return to school in September, we'll get back to work and enter the studio to begin work on our next album in order to be back on the road by Summer 2009!)

….which brings me back to Progressive Nation…..

Thanks to all of you great fans, PN08 was such a success that I intend to make this a regular event…
My wheels are already spinning (in constant motion!) with a great list of bands that I am already considering for Progressive Nation 2009 – coming to you sometime late summer '09!

C-ya then…

Your faithful founder,
MP