Ayreon, the jewel of the Dutch progressive rock and metal scene, brainchild of Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a unique musical studio phenomenon that brings together some of the finest craftsmen of sonic artistry from all across the globe. A studio project… or is it?
For those who are unaware, what Ayreon consists of is a collection of massive, story-telling, science fiction themed progressive rock operas that have been adding up and coming together since 1994, forming a true cosmic musical universe around adventures, stories and good old-fashioned prog. Each album presents a spectacular cast of singers from renowned musical acts ranging from classic rock and heavy metal to progressive and symphonic metal, each playing a role within the story. Surrounding their voices comes a wide array of multi-faceted musical talents spanning from metal musicians all the way to classical realms. Without any exaggeration, it’s HUGE! And since all these people have their own lives and musical careers to attend to, bringing them all together in order to perform one of these monstrous pieces of music live is certainly a challenging endeavor, once thought to be simply impossible. But it appears Ayreon live performances every few years are becoming a thing with “The Theater Equation” in 2015, “Ayreon Universe” live shows in 2017 and in 2019: “Into the Electric Castle Live and Other Tales”. What makes this last one the most special of all besides bringing one of the most successful Ayreon albums to the stage, is that yours truly writing these humble words has had the tremendous pleasure of witnessing it with his own eyes and ears. Jealous one may be when hearing of the fortune which was bestowed upon me but worry not, because for everyone around the world, a live video recording has been released and it is both the event and the release that I am here to break down, eulogize and give my two cents on. Want to learn about the world of Ayreon? Then please read on. And if you’re already familiar with this project, well I guess we speak the same language, don’t we?
The Album
First off, the album. What can I say about “Into The Electric Castle”? Released in 1998, it is the third full length release under the name of Ayreon and a true prog legend in every sense of the word. One of those albums that simply never dies out. And if you think that’s just nostalgia of olden days speaking speaking through me, I find it crucial to inform you that when this beauty first saw the light of day, my existence was still in the making. I only first entered the Electric Castle last year and I’ll tell you there’s nothing like this album. Not in any other genre of music, not in rock or metal, not in prog, not even in the Ayreon discography. My musical taste ranges from modern, boundary breaking styles in the vein of progressive or technical death metal to symphonic metal, folk metal, metalcore and deathcore, djent, prog rock and pretty much anything you can think of with the words “metal” or “rock” in it. Having listened to hundreds of albums spanning across all these genres and sub-genres, I was still completely awe-struck by the sheer scale and magnitude of this otherworldly piece of music. Nearly two hours of compositional genius tell the story of eight mortals being ripped from different places and times in human history and brought into a dimension beyond our world where the mysterious voice of an unknown being guides them through a series of life-threatening challenges. They are accompanied by classic prog rock-styled guitar riffs and drum patterns, deep spacey atmospheric passages, virtuous guitar and keyboard solos, epic fantasy melodies as well as simple chill grooves, catchy tunes and entertaining vibes. Over this diversified tapestry of intertwined musical influences, our heroes pour their honest emotions, fears and ambitions into beautiful vocal performances, each unique and forming a character but all coming together to form adventurous scenes and dramatic interactions.
The Artists
I could write a ridiculously long and boring article only about the album but let’s not get side-tracked. On the 13th, 14th, and 15th of September 2019, a portal between this mysterious dimension and our familiar world was opened. It is called the 013 Poppodium and it is the main concert venue in Tilburg. A band was put together that would be able to reproduce in a live performance all the many different musical colors on the album. It consists of Ed Warby behind the drums, Ayreon’s heartbeat since 1997 and also the drummer of Anneke van Giersbergen’s band Vuur. On bass we have Johan van Stratum (Vuur, Stream of Passion). Three guitars come together with the lead work in the hands of Kayak’s Marcel Singor, most of the riff section delivered by Vuur’s Ferry Duijens, leaving some rhythm sections, clean and acoustic guitars in the hands of Bob Wijtsma (Ex Libris). On keyboards we have the one and only Joost van den Broek and because this is prog, that means we need more than just the regular rock or metal band instruments. The band is completed by Ben Mathot on violin, Jurriaan Westerveld on cello and Thijs van Leer (Focus) on flute.
Then we need the characters and it is so fortunate that almost the entire original cast found a way to come together for this show. We have Marilion’s Fish in the role of “The Highlander”, Damian Wilson (Threshold) as “The Knight”, Edwin Balogh as “The Roman”, Anneke van Giersbergen as “The Egyptian”, Edward Reekers (ex-Kayak) as Futureman and the genius himself, Arjen Lucassen as “The Hippie”. Within Temptation’s Sharon den Adel from the original cast was replaced by Epica’s Simone Simmons in the role of “The Indian” and as “The Barbarian”, John Jaycee Cuijpers replaces Jay van Feggelen. In addition to the main characters we have some special appearances from George Oosthoek and Epica’s Mark Jansen as Death and to close the show, Robert Soeterboek makes an appearance for a Star One song. We also have some incredible backing vocalists, namely Dianne van Giersbergen (Ex Libris, ex-Xandria), Marcela Bovio (Mayan, Stream of Passion) and Jan Willem Ketelaers (Knight Area). There is a very flamboyant guest piano solo from Robbie Valentine and to top everything off, a story needs a narrator. Probably the most imposing and unexpected personality to gift us with his majestic voice during this epic event is the famous actor and voice artist John de Lancie. Most famous for his role as Q in the renowned sci-fi series Start Trek: The Next Generation, little did he know that the most important role in his life had yet to be performed. He is Forever.
The Performance
So apparently Arjen somehow found all the necessary musicians to deliver one of the most ambitious and over the top studio albums in a live setting. The translation from a studio to a live sound went as smoothly and without error as one could possibly hope for. The sound quality in the venue as well as captured in the recording is as beautiful and crystal clear as it is on the studio version of the album but it is clearly a live sound. It’s more alive, more bombastic, the voices sound more natural and the instruments a lot more striking. All the memorable themes, melodies and lines in the album that the fans know by heart now hit even harder and with great appeal. A few surprises are in store sound-wise to not allow it to get too predictable. Some moments and solos were translated to different instruments. The feature that I found to boast the most volume and dynamic was the addition of backing vocals that are used abundantly on every song, being a constant presence throughout the entire duration of the album. And since it’s a live concert, there is a tendency to end songs on a noise build-up, which has rarely been a thing I’m a fan of as it always tends to get overdone, but in this context they balanced it out, kept it on point and didn’t allow it to disrupt the flow of the album. The audience was completely hooked and wasn’t given a single second to get bored or distracted.
Upon all this, it’s amazing to see all the vocalists step into their roles so well, offering a very theatrical dramatization of the story, not just in the way they deliver their vocal parts but in their overall stage charisma, posture and personality. Fish’s unmistakable accent makes you see the hills of Scotland. Damian Wilson and Edwin Balogh have the fire of warriors in their eyes and motions. Anneke van Giersbergen and Simone Simmons are the divas on stage, with an enchanting air of delicacy and refinement. The Futureman is always calm and in control. The Barbarian boasts the most colossal ego one can find and that ridiculously tall hippie brings them all together under a relaxed vibe of childish cheer, peace and love.
But the best thing is that by stepping into their characters they don’t lose track of who they are as musicians and most certainly don’t miss a chance to have the time of their lives. You see a theater play but at the same time you see a gathering of incredibly talented musicians doing what they love and sharing it amongst themselves as well as with the crowd. From the music they play, to the dramatization and down to their very character, everything simply fits together. A few special moments really stand out to me. I have to mention the first song, “Isis and Osiris” because in this one, the vibe and excitement that comes with the opening of the show was captured incredibly well and seeing all those amazing musicians from so many different bands and projects showing up on stage one after the other is a flashback that still has me pinching myself in disbelief not only that it was possible for this to happen, but furthermore, that I was actually in that venue and saw it with my own eyes. Then I have to mention the growling part of Mark Jansen and George Oosthoek in “Cosmic Fusion”, playing the role of Death, with corpse-pain on their faces, creating a surreal build-up of cosmic creepiness. “Valley of the Queens” is a classic, spotlighting Anneke van Giersbergen who easily gets the Ayreonauts a little teary-eyed (for real, see the shots of the audience) and the way it was staged here with the overlapping vocals is really a sight to behold. And then there’s the performance of Robby Valentine which hooks all witnessing eyes and ears and hypnotizes them with his virtuous classic piano performance, clearing out all the headbanging hype and setting the perfect tone for the next song, “The Mirror Maze” to shroud the stage in its mysterious vibe.
The Visuals
Visual effects are an important asset of any artist that tries to put up an engaging show. Some use clever lighting, some use pyrotechnics, some have a cool backdrop and some make use of fog machines. Ayreon… well… they built a castle. A BIG ONE! What could have a stronger visual impact than when that curtain opens and all of a sudden you see those walls and towers and the musicians popping up in unexpected places on different altitude levels on stage, having your eyes constantly moving from one spot to another trying to take in everything that’s happening. Seeing the artists make an epic entry one after the other through some fabulous sci-fi sliding doors is bound to keep you hyped and the way the entire thing was thought through to flow so naturally from one song to the next, to have the visuals complement the vibe of the music and to always direct the attention of the audience to what’s most important to see is simply mesmerizing. But having a castle is definitely not a reason to leave out the phenomenal light show or the beautiful motion picture on the background going along with the story of the album, complementing the scenes and at times even becoming a means for the artists on stage to interact with (See “The Mirror Maze”). And yet, I think the element that really fills the stage is the people performing, with their amazing personas and most importantly, no holding back on the outfits. While I love Anneke’s pretty dress and Simone’s Indian tribal face paint and make-up, John Jaycee’s barbarian fur and Edwin Balogh’s Roman look, my hat still has to go off to Arjen’s hippie pink pajamas and Damian Wilson’s full body armor and sword. Power metal bands slaying dragons could learn a thing or two from here.
The Narration
As mentioned earlier, in the album, the voice of “Forever” is guiding the characters through the story and it makes an appearance in every song. An important figure was needed to provide the grandeur and charisma of such a superior entity, deciding over the fate of our heroes. John de Lancie is provided with the highest view-point on the castle from where his powerful voice and incredible charisma descends on the stage and into the crowd. But his part doesn’t end there. To make this show truly special and hit the fans with an unexpected surprise, the narration was changed entirely, tweaking the story to better fit the live setting and to allow Forever to directly address the characters as well as involve the audience in the story as members of his race. His presence is also the glue sticking all the songs together to make the whole 2-hour long piece flow as one without any interruption, since every round of applause at the end of a song is silenced by his voice. Probably the climax of this adventure is just before the last song on the album, when he steps down, onto the stage to reveal the purpose of this game and release the characters from his fabricated dimension, placing them back into their world.
Other Tales
Once the album is fully performed, the first part of the show has come to an end but there’s a lot more in store for the delight of all the Ayreonauts as we dive into the “Other Tales”. Here, a song is performed from almost every one of Arjen’s side projects and one vocalist is given the spotlight for each song. The vibe of a theater play is gone and you start feeling increasingly more like you’re at a rock show, but still, it’s not your average rock show, with every song bathing the stage in a different, creative and unique atmosphere. And it only seems fitting that for this one, I’d take each of them in turn and see what’s been going on here.
The Gentle Storm – Shores of India
Anneke van Giersbergen is one of my favourite vocalists of all time and it was obvious that she deserved the stage for herself. Though I haven’t heard the entire Gentle Storm album, I know a few songs and they are probably some of the most well-balanced blends of symphonic metal and prog rock, conveying a certain lightness of melody embedded in crunchy riffs that has a distinctively unique sound, almost specifically designed to fit Anneke’s voice. Having relinquished her role of The Egyptian, she is now the talented musician and joyous bundle of energy with a voice from the heavens that everyone loves, and she simply soars through that chorus, making your mind and soul travel to a land of fantasy. The vibe is further enhanced by the gorgeous imagery on the background and the amazing lights show.
Ambeon – Ashes
Then comes a song from Arjen’s side project Ambeon, originally with vocalist Astrid van der Veen. “Ashes” is performed by Simone Simmons. The vibe shifts from the bright and energetic Gentle Storm song and a groovy, hypnotic and rather dark atmosphere is set. Electronic effects take over while symphonic components are dimmed, Simone sings in a somewhat different style from what I know her doing in Epica and from what she does in the first part of this concert, but most importantly, the guitarists put on some badass sunglasses and the lights go RED!
Stream of Passion – Out in the Real World
Let’s get one thing straight. You can’t include Marcela Bovio in a live show only to have her sit on top of a castle like a princess for the whole time. While she totally did justice to the princess part of her role, she just had to be given a moment to put the pedal to the metal and steal the show. The song is probably one of the most catchy, infectious and addicting things I’ve heard, almost as easy as a pop song but still properly doing justice to the symphonic metal tag and it gave her everything she needed to not only display her amazing vocal abilities but also to engage and win over the crowd with a sing-along chorus that everyone could participate in.
Guilt Machine – Twisted Coil
After a fun catchy one, comes another dark one. Instead of the original singer of Guilt Machine Jasper Steverlinck, Damian Wilson takes the stage for this one and delivers what I honestly believe is the strongest vocal moment in the entire show. The song is dark and dramatic and he feels through every second of it and unlike the tales that came until now, this one actually reminds a bit of the theatrical style delivered during the album, as he interacts with the backing vocalists. It is also a considerably longer song with different movements and emotions that allows him as well as the band to display a lot of variety in musical style and emotional expression.
Marilion – Kayleigh
I guess what I like most about how the “Other Tales” part of the show was put together is just how much contrast there is from one song to the next and this is probably the strongest example of that. After the dramatic and emotionally penetrating “Twisted Coil”, we get the best cliché one could ask for. Since Fish is a legendary figure in classic and progressive rock and his role as The Highlander in the story of The Electric Castle is quite brief, It was obvious that he deserved a song and what other song could it be than the one that sealed his place in musical history, Kayleigh, from his own band Marilion. Now this is the only Other Tale that isn’t an Arjen Lucassen side-project but they made it fit very well into the context of the show and tweaked it a little bit with additions of backing vocals. And of course, Fish sings it without error, almost replicating the studio version as far as control over his voice and range is concerned but also allowing himself the freedom to express it as it comes naturally.
Lost in the New Real – Pink Beatles in a Purple Zeppelin
If you thought “Amazing Flight” from “Into the Electric Castle” was gonna be the strongest hippie moment in this show then you’re as clueless as I am. Arjen takes the stage for a groovy, fun and catchy song. He is the star of the show anyway and the crowd knows it but if for anyone that wasn’t yet cleared out, this moment should do the trick. Besides doing his vocal duties (very well I must add) he is definitely the one to interact with the audience the most and to actually make that skill into a show-off moment. Balloons are dropped in the audience and kicked around between the crowd and the artists and Mr. Lucassen, the mature genius composer hops around on stage like a little kid with a key in his hand making sure not a single balloon remains intact by the end of the song. If you’re the party type, you gotta love that!
Star One – Songs of the Ocean
Star One is probably the most famous of Arjen’s side projects and Songs of the Ocean provides the ideal sing-along chorus to wrap up the show but not before a speech from Arjen and Joost van den Broek, the moment when the artists and the crowd come together as a family. Arjen also grabs a guitar for this one and vocalist Robert Soeterboek takes the stage. That’s at least how it starts but it’s not long before all musicians, vocalists and instrumentalists alike, join the stage and come together as the single, musical organism that made this entire epic show possible and it’s only when you see them all lined up that you really recognize the scale of what you just witnessed. And all of a sudden, that castle doesn’t seem so big anymore.
This concludes the Other Tales as well as the entire show and you’d think that’s it but for the live release, a lot more material was put together.
Behind the Scenes and Interviews
Apart from the recording of the show, you will also receive three hours of behind the scenes material. This means that you get an accurate overview of everything that had to happen in order for this entire thing to be possible. There are bits of interviews with all the artists, giving a snippet of how they experienced performing the show as well as preparing for it and it’s so accurate that at times you feel like you can try to put yourself in their shoes and imagine what it was like. The family and teamwork spirit surrounding this event really comes through but you also get to see how different the experience was for each one from their practicing styles to their pre-show anxiety or excitement (or both) all the way down to certain moments that some found memorable and felt the need to share.
The footage from the rehearsals at Sandlane Recording Facilities is a great insight into the atmosphere they had working together and it’s amazing to see how relaxed, chill and fun it all was. Then there are scenes that show the work needed to set up the stage (that was a LOT of people doing a LOT of work) and from the soundcheck which really blends into that vibe of pre-show anticipation. It’s especially fascinating for my immature self to see how the castle was built on stage with the sliding doors and everything but I’m also really keen on seeing all those final preparation moments. Sometimes it almost feels like you’re there.
There are also throwback stories taking you all the way to the creation and release of the album back in 1998 and you find everything from how the concept of the album was born to the challenges that Arjen went through to find the right singers for each part and get them to participate and what it was like recording and releasing it.
Still, I think my favourite part of the behind the scenes material was the experience of John de Lancie, participating in a rock opera. Since he was the only artist on that stage who doesn’t come from the musical world, you can totally see how much of a different experience it was for him than it was for all the musicians and also what it meant for them to have him around. And I love getting that insight into the thought process behind creating his lines for the narration and how he wanted to ever so slightly tweak the original story just enough to give it a clear direction as well as make it possible to involve the crowd and address them directly without stirring away from the lyrical content of the songs.
Tilburg City Take-Over
By now I’ve been constantly mentioning just how much bigger than you can imagine this show was. What I’m gonna do now is tell it was even bigger. It wasn’t just a concert. It was a full-blown city take over that basically transformed Tilburg into Ayreon-land for three days. From discounts on foods and drinks for Ayreonauts in all sorts of places to Ayreon flags planted around the city and of course, people with Ayreon T-shirts as well as so many other prog and metal band merch everywhere you could turn your head, anyone who would accidentally find themselves around town would instantly know that there’s something huge going down. Being in the Queue was definitely an experience in itself as the line of people waiting to enter the venue was spanning multiple blocks and simply didn’t fit in your visual field. There were even some stagings of 2017’s Ayreon Universe live show at the cinema in Tilburg accompanied by Ayreon quizzes that allowed Arjen and Joost to become quizmasters. And despite having been there (I can’t stop flexing about that) I didn’t even know that this one was happening until I actually saw the behind the scenes footage. There was just too much to take in so I’m gonna leave it at that.
When Genius Meets Genius
I feel the only right way to end this post is to give a massive shout-out to the people that were the core of all this: Arjen Lucassen, the crazy genius visionare with all the insane musical and creative ideas, and Joost van den Broek, the one who can take those ideas and with the right people, coordinate all the necessary actions to turn them into reality. To give them the spotlight, there is also a one-hour and a half long interview with these two where you get to know how they’ve been working together and just how many things they had to take care of, how they contacted all the artists, how the many ridiculous ideas came about and evolved over time and also how many surprises they had themselves when everyone else started getting involved and putting their own creativity into play.
For me personally this is the most important release of the year so far. Watching it I feel like a 10 year old kid who was left alone in a candy store and every musical note that comes my way is another piece of chocolate. I’ve been trying to focus on everything that Ayreon – Into the Electric Castle and Other Tales means to the prog scene all around the world and also on what this experience meant to me personally, in other words, the best concert experience I’ve ever had. And yet despite all the endless talent, the huge amount of work invested and the jaw-dropping musical achievement that it represents, being the flawless piece of art that it is, at the end of the day it’s still the headbanging, the fun and the unity that it was all about! And as cheesy as it may sound, that’s exactly what stands to define Ayreon.
