John Petrucci: discusses US V Europe shows at Pollstar

If we do more U.S. touring it would most likely be in the summer time.

You guys are huge overseas, maybe bigger internationally than in the U.S. Have you pinpointed a reason for that?

It’s a very good question. I’m not 100 percent sure why. It could be a cultural thing. When we tour in America, the shows are great, and the fans are just as passionate and excited as anywhere else in the world, but in other parts of the world, in parts of South America and in parts of Europe and Asia, the size of the venues and the amount of people we get at concerts is considerably more. Differences of playing to 20,000 people as a headliner as opposed to 5,000 or 6,000. Yeah, there’s a significant difference.

In some cases it’s something that we’ve built. Like the UK, for example. The first time we played in London we played a club. We built to the point where we were able to now headline and sell out the Wembley Arena. So sometimes it’s a matter of working hard and going back and building it. And in some countries you’re going for the first time, and there’s an amazing amount of people because there’s an anticipation possibly. Further into our career, if we hit a country for a first time, like a couple years ago going to Moscow in Russia for the first time, or wherever it may be, then having a developed career backing up it, then those initial shows are very big.

We’ve built from the beginning. I do remember the first couple of times coming to Europe, and we played clubs and smaller places.
In Europe, they do have the festival opportunities that we take advantage of, which we don’t really do in the U.S. So maybe we’re hitting a lot more people that maybe never heard of us in that sense. So that might be a reason as well. more pollstar interview

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Dream Theater - John Petrucci Interview