Originally published in Cash Box magazine · February 1995
Dream Theater Survives Kansai Region Earthquake
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OSAKA, JAPAN—As the sun rose Tuesday (17) morning, EastWest recording artists Dream Theater were in Osaka’s Nankai South Tower Hotel when the Kobe earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale rocked the Kansai region of Japan.
The following is a statement from the band’s drummer, Mike Portnoy: “...Dream Theater had played our first of two shows in Osaka and spent the night at the Hard Rock Cafe after donating a Platinum disc and an autographed drum head. After heading back to the hotel to retire for the evening, the earthquake hit at 5:46 a.m. It was absolutely the most frightening experience of my entire life. My room was shaking so violently, I thought a bomb had gone off. It felt like it lasted for a good 30 seconds... After it stopped, the band and crew ran into the hallway in complete panic and confusion – the scariest part of it was being stuck on the 27th floor with the lights blown out as the hotel continued to rock back and forth for about five minutes. . .It is a horrible tragedy for the people of Japan and our hearts go out to them being that we went through the experience as well.”