Progressive marvel, Neal Morse is setting foot at one of the biggest college festivals across the country and guess who is playing drums for him? Yes! Mike Portnoy! The Neal Morse band, along with the legendary drummer Mike Portnoy, will be headlining the 2013 edition of the annual cultural fest of IIT Bombay, Mood Indigo. Earlier featuring the likes of Porcupine Tree, Karnivool and Simple Plan, the student organizers decided to make it even bigger this year by pulling in an artist of such stature. The performance takes place on December 20, 2013, which is the first of the four day festival.
Neal Morse, who is mostly known for a successful solo career, has often teamed up with Mike Portnoy in projects like Transatlantic and Flying Colours among collaborations which have taken place between these two. Flying Colors is a supergroup composed of Mike Portnoy, Dave LaRue, Casey McPherson, Neal Morse and Steve Morse whereas Transatlantic features the two with Flower Kings’ Roine Stolt and Marillion’s Pete Trewavas. The other members of the Neal Morse band are Randy George on bass, Eric Gillette on vocals and Bill Hubauer on the synth and vocals.
Mike Portnoy, the co-founder of the progressive giants Dream Theater, departed from the band in mid-2010 and left the fans around world in shock. Mike is known for his highly complex drumming patterns, the innovative ideas which he puts in building up songs and his dedication which is clearly illustrated by the number of collaborations he has done; The Winery Dogs, Liquid Tension Experiment, Transatlantic, Flying Colors and Avenged Sevenfold to name a fews