Opium Events Announces Dream Theater to Perform in Mumbai & Dubai This October

by  Rachael Rajan Entertainment | August 11, 2017 | News

Opium Events Dream Theater Cyrus Gorimar Devraj Sanyal

Opium Events has confirmed that Dream Theater is coming to India and will play on October 8 at MMRDA Grounds, Mumbai. An audience of around 20,000 people is expected. In addition to the India leg of the ‘Images, Words & Beyond 25th Anniversary Tour,’ Opium Events will also be managing the Dubai leg, which will take place on October 6 at The Dome.

A progressive metal band formed in 1985, Dream Theater's current line-up includes founding members guitarist John Petrucci, keyboardist Jordan Rudess, bassist John Myung and singer Kevin James LaBrie, and the latest addition drummer Mike Mangini. Rumours of the India tour began in 2016 following a tweet by Myung. But now it's for real.

Sharing how the India tour came about, Cyrus Gorimar, Director, Opium Events & Production remarked, “We have been in talks with the band since April, and it got confirmed on July 29. The band is very particular about a lot of the arrangements and comes with around 9000 kgs of their own sound equipment including amps and cables. So there were a lot of aspects to take into consideration while planning this.”

Opium Events is an event production company that has in the past been responsible for international acts including Joe Satriani in 2005, Sepultura in 2007 and Michael Angelo Batio in 2015. Based out of Mumbai, the production company has also worked on a lot of corporate events as well as hundreds of events for VH1 Live Events. “Our passion has always been rock music, but there’s very little scope for that with corporate audiences. In India, only one genre of music gets promoted and that's Bollywood. You are exposed to Bollywood as soon as you are born, in school, college, at weddings; everybody just throws that in your face. It's time corporates realise the power of rock and start looking at more tie-ups with rock festivals in India. We’ve always been that bridge between the corporate world and rock music,” added Cyrus.

Talking about this development and what it means for the Indian live entertainment industry, Devraj Sanyal, Managing Director and CEO, Universal Music Group & EMI Music said, "I've been bandmates with Cyrus from 1993 in Brahma and he's done the Joe Satriani India tour and even helped me with the Sepultura India tour way back so he's an old hand at metal and rock. Now Dream Theater is an entirely different kettle of fish with them being one of the most sought after progressive metal bands in the world. Their India fan base is huge and it's a big deal that He is bringing the iconic DT to India. India is not just EDM and Bollywood but very much Rock and metal and this is a big step in the right direction of opening up the market for this kind of music."

All aspects of this tour are being managed entirely by Opium Events, right from the initial discussions with the band, artist promotion, and the logistics for the tour. Opium Events is headed by Cyrus Gorimar, who is a music professional entrenched in the live music scene in India.

Tickets go on sale on BookMyShow next week.