Ayreon/Arjen Lucassen Thread (Star Three on the way)

[Ben_Jamin]

After many years, I finally got round to buying an Ayreon album today: The Human Equation. I was already familiar with the first and last tracks, and Loser. I'm really enjoying going through the album.

Day 1: Vigil Or do you mean Day 2: Isolation?

[Herrick]

After listening to and enjoying The Human Equation for a year or so, I sampled the rest of the Ayreon albums and bought them all last week. Been listening to them almost non-stop. Good stuff 

[KevShmev]

This was too good to not do myself...

[Destiny Of Chaos]

That was fantastic! I'd love to see that for the entire album.

[Herrick]

Questions about the opening track of 01011001: who is the dude singing when the acoustic section starts and why do the singer(s?) sing 011010000?

[Adami]

Questions about the opening track of 01011001: who is the dude singing when the acoustic section starts and why do the singer(s?) sing 011010000?

1) From what I can tell, the 011101000 thing is binary code for "help" and the morse code and other code are for similar things.
2) I think it's Jonas Renkse

[The Walrus]

Picked up Ayreon Universe at ProgPower. Must have been the only/last copy because I didn't see anymore for the rest of the fest. I'm going to try to watch it this weekend - been dying to get it, so I'm really happy I managed to get that (and a copy of The Source, the purchase of which was long overdue).

[Herrick]

Questions about the opening track of 01011001: who is the dude singing when the acoustic section starts and why do the singer(s?) sing 011010000?

1) From what I can tell, the 011101000 thing is binary code for "help" and the morse code and other code are for similar things.
2) I think it's Jonas Renkse

Thanks, mang!

[Ben_Jamin]

Questions about the opening track of 01011001: who is the dude singing when the acoustic section starts and why do the singer(s?) sing 011010000?

With Anneke Van Giersbergen too. I so wish they did that live on the Ayreon universe show...

[ErHaO]

Next week we will see some Ayreon news. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFzD1T0E72Y On facebook Arjen posted a .gif of him standing in front of 013, the venue of the Universe shows, so I kinda expect the announcement of a new live show. And given his upcoming remix and the album cover being the background in the teaser, I also expect it to be (mainly or exclusively) Into the Electric Castle.

For me personally that likely won't top the last two shows, but it also will likely be a fantastic show, if that is what is happening. Anyways, I am looking forward to more Ayreon news.

[The Walrus]

 

I love Into The Electric Castle. And with each new album that comes out I geek out harder over how all the albums tie into each other. My copy of The Source is a hardback with a ton of extra pages in the booklet with like... schematics of the Starblade, the Electric Castle, the Source, the Frame, all that stuff, insanely detailed. Arjen does with his music what I can only dream of doing. Can't wait to hear the news.

[ronnibran]

New music in the works would be great, but I’m not getting my hopes up. If a concert, at least he’s keeping the Ayreon momentum going.

[Ben_Jamin]

Likely a Into The Electric Castle show. Wish I could travel for this...

I hope he gets most of the cast, mainly Sharon Den Adel. It'll be neat to see how he does the show, with the costumes, acting, and set design.

[Nick]

Let's not be daft, I'll be there either way, but assuming that the teasers go in the obvious direction I have two hopes:

1. That given Arjen himself is teasing becoming the hippie he performs all parts in the album that he should, and doesn't hand the part off to someone else.
2. That they play more than just the Electric Castle. Don't get me wrong, that's worth the flight and cost alone, but a 15 minute encore, which would understandably be repeats from the last show given how much new material there is to learn from ItEC, would give a chance for some different singers to appear on those songs.

[Nick]

Looking back over the singers a moment:

Edwin Balogh – Roman
Sharon den Adel – Indian
Jay van Feggelen – Barbarian
Fish – Highlander
Anneke van Giersbergen – Egyptian
Arjen Anthony Lucassen – Hippie
Edward Reekers – Futureman
Damian Wilson – Knight
Robert Westerholt and George Oosthoek – Death
Peter Daltrey – the Voice

I think given their previous appearance that Anneke, Damian, Edward, and Jay can be easily signed on. Fish is a major wild card, I find his role on that album to be so iconic, but it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. You get him and you're not going to get the same voice you heard on that record, you don't get him and you're still going to struggle to find someone properly stepping into that role. Sharon is still active, and dutch, so I think she's probably in as well. The rest, no clue, just don't know enough about them.

[Ben_Jamin]

I agree about Fish, he is the perfect voice for the Highlander.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Arjen talking about the ITEC re-release/remix.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08BsmmgNlfc

[Herrick]

Last month when I bought all the Ayreon albums, I considered waiting for the updated version of Into The Electric Castle but I just bought the one that was available on Amazon. Maybe I'll buy the newer version one day. I'm not familiar enough with the album to notice the added stuff.

[goo-goo]

Last month when I bought all the Ayreon albums, I considered waiting for the updated version of Into The Electric Castle but I just bought the one that was available on Amazon. Maybe I'll buy the newer version one day. I'm not familiar enough with the album to notice the added stuff.

Unfortunately, the new remix version will not be available via standalone cd. You would need to buy the artbook or the vinyl. Kind of disappointed by the lack of a CD only release.

[The Walrus]

Me too, that sucks. I just want the freaking CD.

Call me when the 20th anniversary of 01011001 is out, then I'll be ready to drop some mad coin on the extras. 

[Herrick]

Last month when I bought all the Ayreon albums, I considered waiting for the updated version of Into The Electric Castle but I just bought the one that was available on Amazon. Maybe I'll buy the newer version one day. I'm not familiar enough with the album to notice the added stuff.

Unfortunately, the new remix version will not be available via standalone cd. You would need to buy the artbook or the vinyl. Kind of disappointed by the lack of a CD only release.

Hmm...that settles that.

[goo-goo]

Last month when I bought all the Ayreon albums, I considered waiting for the updated version of Into The Electric Castle but I just bought the one that was available on Amazon. Maybe I'll buy the newer version one day. I'm not familiar enough with the album to notice the added stuff.

Unfortunately, the new remix version will not be available via standalone cd. You would need to buy the artbook or the vinyl. Kind of disappointed by the lack of a CD only release.

Hmm...that settles that.

Maybe if the label gets enough requests, they can decide to press it on CDs.

[Nick]

Last month when I bought all the Ayreon albums, I considered waiting for the updated version of Into The Electric Castle but I just bought the one that was available on Amazon. Maybe I'll buy the newer version one day. I'm not familiar enough with the album to notice the added stuff.

Unfortunately, the new remix version will not be available via standalone cd. You would need to buy the artbook or the vinyl. Kind of disappointed by the lack of a CD only release.

Hmm...that settles that.

Maybe if the label gets enough requests, they can decide to press it on CDs.

It's an obviously intentional decision to people have to spend more money to get the most highly prized item. At this point there is no going back.

[The Walrus]

I imagine they'll be missing out on quite a few sales from people who want just the CD - it must be a gamble they're hoping will make more money in the end from the diehards, since Ayreon fans tend to be, well, diehard. "It's a 20th anniversary, they want something special!"

Not knocking the bonus versions whatsoever, just saying.

[Evermind]

I mean, I have the CD. I love the deluxe editions when I don't have a CD. I don't need two or more copies of the same album, so I'll skip this one.

However, this is still a heck of a deluxe edition.

[Nick]

I imagine they'll be missing out on quite a few sales from people who want just the CD - it must be a gamble they're hoping will make more money in the end from the diehards, since Ayreon fans tend to be, well, diehard. "It's a 20th anniversary, they want something special!"

Not knocking the bonus versions whatsoever, just saying.

That is the principle, and since the $$$ made per unit on the earbook and vinyl are going to be far more than from a normally priced CD you can expect they probably need to sell 1 of either to make up for 4-5 CD sales, if not more.

[ErHaO]

The main reason for the remix was a 5.1 release, which is on dvd, and another reason was to produce a readily available vinyl version. In a lot of European countries vinyls sell significantly better in terms of physical media. I think the lack of a physical cd version won't hurt sales that much, as a lot of the people who used to go for the basic release have gone digital. At least over here many record stores seem to stock up more earbooks/vinyls than normal cd releases. Still, I think this is also partially the label wanting to limit the amount of editions of what is just a remixed rerelease of an old album. But for cd collectors I get that this is annoying.

[Schurftkut]

new live shows announced! whoohoo!

[goo-goo]

Nick is going to pass out!

[Nick]

The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y1jgK5VtWo&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=Ayreon&utm_campaign=23e8454f2a-20180719+Ayreon+Newsletter+%23135_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1e39596a28-23e8454f2a-297103065&mc_cid=23e8454f2a&mc_eid=68c0136af1

Greetings, Ayreonauts!

                                                           It's time to mark your calendars again!

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 Ayreon.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) 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 (that's you, if you got this email!) 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!

[Kwyjibo]

CALL ME EXCITED 

Great cast, cool that Fish is there and even cooler that Arjen himself will play the Hippie, finally he's on stage for his own songs (and not just the encore).

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Godammit, I cannot miss this. I'll have to somehow take my lazy ass on a flight to Tilburg in sept next year.

[The Walrus]

[Adami]

I have to figure out if I could actually make a trip like this happen now. Hmmm.

[jingle.boy]

I have to figure out if I could actually make a trip like this happen now. Hmmm.

You and me both brother.  Now that the jingle.kids are in post-secondary, I just might see about trying to book a european vacation for mrs.jingle and I.