Watch: DREAM THEATER Covers PINK FLOYD’s ‘Echoes’ At Pompeii, Italy Concert

Progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER performed a cover of PINK FLOYD‘s “Echoes” during their concert Wednesday night (July 2) at Anfiteatro degli Scavi in Pompeii, Italy. A short time after the show, DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy took to his social media to share a photo of the band’s setlist for the Pompeii gig, and he included the following message: “So many emotions tonight…will share photos and stuff tomorrow…but just want to leave this here for now. This was tonite’s setlist here at Pompeii. Yes indeed: PINK FLOYD‘s ‘Echoes’ performed in its entirety (all 25 minutes of it!) on the same hallowed ground that PINK FLOYD performed it over 50 years ago!! It was indeed one for the books…a night I’ll always cherish! Wow…”

A few hours before the concert, Mike wrote: “Throughout my teenage years in the 80’s, I worshipped the film ‘Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii’. I wore out my VHS…(and then my Laserdisc of it, and then my DVD & Blu-rays…and as recent as a few months ago, now have added the newly restored and remixed version that was just released to the collection). Today I check off a MAJOR Bucket list venue for myself playing on the same exact hallowed ground that PINK FLOYD filmed that psychedelic masterpiece over 50 years ago… Tonight is going to be EPIC and I am going to soak in every moment of it!”

PINK FLOYD‘s 1971 performance at the ancient Roman amphitheater in Pompeii was captured for the 1972 concert film “Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii”, directed by Adrian Maben. The main footage in and around the amphitheater was filmed over four days in October 1971. The film was re-released in 1974 with additional studio material of the band working on “The Dark Side Of The Moon”, and interviews at Abbey Road Studios.

“Echoes” is the sixth and last track on PINK FLOYD‘s 1971 album “Meddle”. It is 23 and a half minutes long and takes up the entire second side of the original LP.

Back in July 2014, Portnoy was critical of David Gilmour‘s decision to release a new PINK FLOYD album, “The Endless River”, without Roger Waters‘s involvement, writing in a post on his Facebook page: “What’s this about a new PINK FLOYD album? Last I checked, Waters is no longer in the band and [Rick] Wright and [Syd] Barrett are dead. If these are leftovers from ‘The Division Bell’ sessions, then just put ’em on a ‘The Division Bell’ special-edition release! It’s disrespectful to Roger and everything he built for all those years! Just do a solo album, Dave.”

He added: “In my opinion, the PINK FLOYD heyday was ‘Atom Heart Mother’ through ‘The Wall’, and those were mainly driven by Roger (conceptually, musically, everything). ‘A Momentary Lapse Of Reason’ and ‘The Division Bell’ are essentially David Gilmour solo albums ‘as’ PINK FLOYD (granted, just as ‘The Final Cut’ was a Roger Waters solo album ‘as’ PINK FLOYD).

“If you really want, I’ll meet you, Gilmour fans, halfway and at least concede with saying, okay, ‘real’ PINK FLOYD is really only when Waters and Gilmour work together.”

In a 2011 interview with Greece’s Rock Hard magazine, Portnoy compared his departure from DREAM THEATER to the split between Waters and Gilmour. Commenting on some DREAM THEATER fans’ opinion that the “magic is gone” from the band’s sound and songwriting chemistry now that he is no longer part of the group, Portnoy said: “I always thought that the strongest elements and personalities in DREAM THEATER were me and [guitarist] John Petrucci. And in the early days Kevin Moore [former DREAM THEATER keyboardist] was a big, big part of that chemistry, and then in the later days Jordan Rudess was a big part of that chemistry. But at the end of the day, it was always me and John [Petrucci]. And John Myung, of course, but he’s a quieter person, so he’s not as strong of an element because he’s quiet by nature. But yeah, John Petrucci and myself were, and I think will always be, the sound and the style and the heart and the soul of DREAM THEATER. And I think if you take either one of us out, I think it’s like when Roger Waters and David Gilmour split. David Gilmour carried on PINK FLOYD without Roger Waters, but as far as I was concerned, it was never the same. Roger Waters was a big part of the [sound on] all the classic PINK FLOYD albums, and once he left, I think PINK FLOYD sounded like a David Gilmour solo band. I honestly think if John Petrucci came to me [in 2010] and said he needed a break, I wouldn’t have continued DREAM THEATER without him; I would have absolutely respected his desire for a break and I would have put the band on hold and waited for him. So it saddens me that he wouldn’t do that for me, because I think DREAM THEATER, at the end of the day, was always about the chemistry between me and him.”

Portnoy rejoined DREAM THEATER in October 2023 after a 13-year absence.

DREAM THEATER‘s sixteenth studio album, “Parasomnia”, came out in February via InsideOut Music. It marked DREAM THEATER‘s first release with Portnoy since 2009’s “Black Clouds & Silver Linings”.