Hi Ayreonauts! Time to get out those calendars again and save some dates!
To continue celebrating the 20th anniversary of the classic Ayreon album Into the Electric Castle, it will be performed live, in its entirety, for 4 exclusive shows in September 2019.
Arjen and his trusty sidekick, Joost van den Broek (who co-produced the Ayreon Universe shows in 2017), have already spent the past year working on bringing Into the Electric Castle to the stage for you to enjoy. In fact, not even 30 minutes into the backstage party after the final Ayreon Universe encore last September, they were already scheming about what to do next!
Electric Castle Live will feature nearly the entire cast of the original album, plus some very special guests.
Original cast:
Fish (ex-Marillion), Anneke van Giersbergen (VUUR), Damian Wilson, Thijs van Leer (Focus), Ed Warby (Ayreon), Edward Reekers (Kayak), Edwin Balogh, George Oosthoek (ex-Orphanage).
Special guests:
Simone Simons (Epica), Mark Jansen (Mayan), John Jaycee Cuijpers (Praying Mantis), Marcela Bovio (Mayan), Dianne van Giersbergen (Ex Libris), Jan Willem Ketelaars, plus a super-secret extra special guest who we’ll be announcing later.
Instrumentalists:
Johan van Stratum (VUUR) – bass, Joost van den Broek – keys, Marcel Singor (Kayak) – lead guitar, Ferry Duijsens (VUUR) – guitar, Bob Wijtsma (Ex Libris) – guitar, Ben Mathot – violin.
To top it all off, Arjen himself will be singing his original role as “The Hippie.”
(We tried to talk him out of it, but he is pretty determined… 😉 )
The basic info is below, but be sure to visit ArjenLucassen.com/live for the most current, up-to-date info all in one place.
Electric Castle Live – 4 shows total
Dates: Friday 13 September, Saturday 14 September, and Sunday, 15 September (two shows!)
Location: Poppodium 013 – Tilburg, The Netherlands
Doors: TBA
Start show: TBA
Tickets go on sale to the general public on 26 October. Ayreon Universe sold out unbelievably fast, so we’ve created two opportunities for advance purchase for dedicated Ayreon fans:
People who’ve preordered the ITEC reissue through the Ayreon store (via Mascot) by 23 October at the latest will receive an email with a special link and code to buy tickets as early as 24 October (that’s 48 hours before the general public) CLICK TO PREORDER.
Subscribers to the Ayreon Newsletter (sign up here) will receive an email with a special link and code to buy tickets as early as 25 October (24 hours before the general public).
Looking forward to seeing you all at the show for what is sure to be one heck of an AMAZING FLIGHT!
Stay tuned for more news and surprises in the coming weeks.
Cheers from all of us here at the Electric Castle!