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

[Nick]

I'm probably the only one that really wants him to make another Guilt Machine album.

Though maybe he's too happy for that these days, I dunno.

I'd be really happy for another Guilt Machine album if musically it breaks away from his usual output as much as it did lyrically. If he's going to stay closer to his comfort zone though, I'd much rather prefer solo, Ayreon or Star One.

[ariich]

I haven't really been that interested in his other stuff recently. Guilt Machine and his solo album didn't really do much for me. Whereas the Ayreon album was pretty good and the Star One was fun as well.

[ErHaO]

I like his latest solo album but Guilt Machine and Ambeon never got me. In a quite recent interview he said something that he really likes Guilt Machine himself but that the album was not very popular, so who knows. I really hope he is doing a new Star One or a new collaboration (maybe a female only album in Ayreon/Star One fashion? Once he had plans to do that I think).

[Ben_Jamin]

Guilt Machine is good.

[jingle.boy]

Guilt Machine is good.

Agreed... I don't go to it very often, but it's a solid album.

[Nefarius]

The only thing we know is... that Arjen is working on an undefined something.
The only question is... where can I preorder?

Greetings...
Nef

[The Letter M]

The only thing we know is... that Arjen is working on an undefined something.
The only question is... when can I preorder?

Greetings...
Nef

FTFY (and everyone).

-Marc.

[Cyclopssss]

From Arjen's Facebook page:

'Time has come to finally disclose my new project... it will be a collaboration between my favorite female singer Anneke Van Giersbergen and me! Expect an epic concept double album, a combination of ‘classical meets metal’ and ‘acoustic folk’. More details later!´

[Nick]

Anneke <3

Nice to see her working with excellence again.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Dammit was just about to....

Anyway that's some awesome news!!! 

[abydos]

Oh yeah! Anneke, my favourite voice ever, can't get enough of her!

[Ben_Jamin]

This is gonna be good.

[jingle.boy]

Even though I was hoping for Star One v3, this is awesome news!  I just went from 6 to 12.

[Ben_Jamin]

I loved her voice in Comatose

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

So Ayreon's The Human Equation Theater Experience seems to shape up nicely. Here's the confirmed instrumentalists:

Joost van den Broek (Music Director)
Jeroen Goossens (Flutes and other woodwinds)
Ben Mathot (Violin)
Maaike Peterse (Cello)
Ed Warby (Drums)
Johan van Stratum (Bass guitar)
Marcel Coenen (Guitar)
Freek Gielen (Guitar)
Erik van Ittersum (Keyboards)
Ruben Wijga (Keyboards)

So far Irene Jansen, Marcela Bovio and Devon Graves have been confirmed to be onstage. Pretty cool that they actually trying to get genuine Ayreon artists, kind of thought they would go with local talents for budget reasons.

https://www.facebook.com/thetheaterequation?hc_location=timeline

[jingle.boy]

God I would cream my jeans to see this!

[Cyclopssss]

Here's the official website:

https://www.thetheaterequation.com/

Heather Finlay added to the cast, btw.

[Ben_Jamin]

Imagine if he happened to get the entire cast to sing? I'd consider that, the best concert for a concept

[jingle.boy]

Here's the official website:

https://www.thetheaterequation.com/

Heather Finlay added to the cast, btw.

Saw that last night.  Pretty sweet.  Doubt he'd be able to get the really big names from the album - LaBrie, Akerfeldt, Townsend.  And obviously, Mike Baker is out.     The FB page has a post trying to find Eric Clayton.

If he finds Clayton and can get Magnus Ekwall, that would be probably as good as he could hope for.

[Cyclopssss]

Well, the 7th vocalist has been confirmed. And it's someone we all know and love!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPBDKUCtkDc#t=48&hd=1

[Evermind]

Oh, that's huge.

Sadly I won't be able to witness this live, but I'm ready to pay ridiculous amounts of money for the DVD if there will ever be one.

[jingle.boy]

Oh, that's huge.

Sadly I won't be able to witness this live, but I'm ready to pay ridiculous amounts of money for the DVD if there will ever be one.

Ditto. I'd preorder today if it was available.

[Implode]

Same here! If had the money, I'd travel there to see it. 

[Nefarius]

Considering how much everyone loved working on this project with Arjen and the important fact that there's a lot of time for planning and preparation I'm not at all surprised even the extremely busy among the original cast are keen on recapturing that magic in a live setting. And I certainly won't blame them for that.

I hope they'll get them all. As long as health and prearranged scheduling will allow it, of course.

Greetings...
Nef

[lonestar]

Damn....just damn....

[abydos]

Sweet. And a great way to introduce him too, that has always sounded so badass.

[Evermind]

Yeah, I definitely got a goosebumps when James' name appeared on screen.

[Ben_Jamin]

He is the main character afterall. I like that Arjen got someone else to play the best friend, and wudstick is a nice choice.

if he gets Mikael Akerfeldt, that would explain the Opeth release being pushed. I wouldn't mind if they got  two guys to be Rage, as Devin Townsends parts are layered,  plus he's only got like 3 spots, don't see him traveling to do that, he first said no when arjen asked.

But damn, that's mostly all the main cast so that's worth it already.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

if he gets Mikael Akerfeldt, that would explain the Opeth release being pushed.

Why would that explain the Opeth release being pushed? Were talking september 2015, not this year.

Anyway this is awesome news and quite the surprise, this really proves how much the artists loved Arjens concept.

[Ben_Jamin]

if he gets Mikael Akerfeldt, that would explain the Opeth release being pushed.

Why would that explain the Opeth release being pushed? Were talking september 2015, not this year.

Anyway this is awesome news and quite the surprise, this really proves how much the artists loved Arjens concept.

Haha, I don't know why I thought this year...

Nevermind then....


Damn, now its a whole year away. Gonna be something to look foward to.

[ErHaO]

Labrie?! Awesome!!! I was expecting a more well known name that is featured in other Ayreon songs (like Damian or something). But damn, this HAS to get a proper recording!

[jingle.boy]

Considering how successful Live On Earth was, I'm sure Arjen knows that this would be a home run of a DVD.

[Zook]

He needs to do another live on Earth. I want some more of that cheesy goodness.

[Ben_Jamin]

If this is a big production, it'd be nice to see them act out their parts as well.

[robwebster]

If this is a big production, it'd be nice to see them act out their parts as well.

It's being touted as a theatrical production, rather than just The Human Equation live - I'd be surprised if that's not the plan.

I've been a little less engaged with Arjen's works as late, but The Human Equation remains one hell of a robust album, and this is everything my fifteen year old self never thought could seriously happen. It was my number one favourite album for a very long time, I dreamed of putting on a proper, theatrical version of The Human Equation with all the essential vocalists, and I'd think I'll be queueing for tickets to this. Never travelled abroad for a gig, before, but when are you ever going to be able to get all these people in the same room again? Never been to Holland. This is appealing to me in a very big way. Ah, I'm excited!

I always thought James LaBrie might be too big for something like this, I was a little surprised they got him for Ayreon, but come to think of it, he's always said he'd be interested in doing Broadway, hasn't he? In retrospect, yeah, of course he went for it! It's theatrical, very different to his usual gigs, but a completely logical progression. And he gets to take the lead role.