DVD REVIEW: Ayreon – Electric Castle Live and Other Tales


Come with me now; be joyful. It is time to enter The Electric Castle!”

After the wild success of the Ayreon Universe shows in 2017, where an audience of international Ayreonauts was treated to a best-of selection of Ayreon’s most popular songs, the Poppodium 013 once again opened its gates to the gentle hordes in September of 2019. 2018 had seen the twenty-year anniversary and the re-mixed and -mastered version of Into The Electric Castle, and thus it was a logical step that this new live show centered around that album, a favourite of many. To the great thrill of not only the fans but the artists as well, Arjen managed to gather most of the cast members of the original album, and the most admirable substitutes for those who couldn’t make it. Continue reading


Ayreon – Ayreon Universe DVD


If you are familiar with Ayreon, you will probably know that these collaborative works of music are the brainchild of the somewhat reclusive Arjen Anthony Lucassen, and are rarely – if ever – performed live. September 2015 saw the presentation of The Theater Equation, four shows in which the album The Human Equation (Inside Out) was performed in its entirety in front of a live audience. While this was a successful endeavour, we had been assured for years that there would never be a live ‘best of’ performance of Ayreon.Continue reading


Anneke Van Giersbergen’s New Band VUUR Details Debut Album


Anneke van Giersbergen, long known for her work formerly with The Gathering, her impressive solo career, and work with both Devin Townsend and Aryeon, has a new rock/metal band dubbed VUUR. They have released the cover artwork and tracklisting for their forthcoming debut album, In This Moment We Are Free – Cities due out October 20th via InsideOut Music. You can hear the first track, ‘Days Go By – London’ below.Continue reading


The Gentle Storm Streaming “Heart of Amsterdam” Music Video


the gentle storm 2

Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Guilt Machine) and Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Devin Townsend Project) is streaming the music video for “Heart of Amsterdam,” off their debut album The Diary from their new band The Gentle Storm on March 24, 2015 via InsideOutMusic, here.

Anneke had this to say:

“‘Heart Of Amsterdam’ is a tribute to the city of Amsterdam, the home town of the story’s leading character Susanne. Seventeenth-century Amsterdam was a center of shipping, shipbuilding, and trade. Amsterdam flourished, and a wonderful city was the result. We shot the video in the centre of Amsterdam. It was freezing cold and I couldn’t move my fingers anymore during the last shots, but it was all worth it. I love how the video turned out!”

Arjen & Anneke recently launched a series of video updates on the album, and you can check them all out here.

Watch the lyric video for “Endless Sea (Storm version)” here, and “Endless Sea (Gentle version)” here.

the gentle storm the diary

A full all-star band will go out without Arjen in March and April, and the confirmed dates and band line-up can be found below.

Mar 26: Melkweg – Amsterdam (NL)
Mar 28: ROCK ITtervoort Festival – Ittervoort (NL)
Apr 03: Hedon – Zwolle (NL)
Apr 05: Paaspop – Schijndel (NL)
Apr 11: Paard van Troje – Den Haag (NL)
Apr 15: Colos-Saal – Aschaffenburg (DE)
Apr 16: Zentrum Altenberg – Oberhausen (DE)
Apr 22: Divan Du Monde – Paris (FR)
Apr 23: The Garage – London (UK)
Apr 24: The Musician – Leicester (UK)
Apr 25: The Roadhouse – Manchester (UK)
Apr 26: Prog-résiste Convention – Soignies (BE)
Jun 19: Dokk’em Open Air – Dokkum (NL)
Jul 09: Masters of Rock – Vizovice (CZ)
Jul 17: Night of the Prog Festival – Loreley (DE)
Jul 30-Aug 01: – Wacken Open Air – Wacken (DE)
Oct 17: FemME Festival – Eindhoven (NL)

The Gentle Storm live:
Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering) – vocals
Merel Bechtold (Purest of Pain, MaYaN) – guitars
Ferry Duijsens (Anneke van Giersbergen, ex-Dreadlock Pussy) – guitars
Ed Warby (Hail of Bullets, Ayreon, ex-Gorefest) – drums
Johan van Stratum (Stream of Passion) – bass
Joost van den Broek (producer, ex-After Forever) – keyboards
Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion) – background vocals

The Gentle Storm on Twitter
InsideOutMusic on YouTube
InsideOutMusic on Facebook


The Gentle Storm Streaming “Endless Sea (Storm Version)” Lyric Video


the gentle storm

The Gentle Storm, featuring Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Guilt Machine) & Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Devin Townsend Project), are streaming the lyric video for “Endless Sea (Storm Version)”, off their forthcoming album The Diary, out March 24, 2015 via Inside Out Music, here.

Stream the Gentle version of “Endless Sea” here.

The band had this to say about the track:

“Endless Sea is the album opener and it serves as an introduction to our story-based album. Susanne, the main character, sings about her busband Joseph, who has just sailed out on another long voyage to the Far East. We are very excited to offer everybody a first taste of our forthcoming album with the release of these lyric videos. This is such a special album to the both us.”

The album concept is a tale of love, loss, and separation told through the story of two fictional seventeenth-century lovers. A Dutch sailor embarks on a two-year voyage, leaving his wife at home in Holland. The only way for the couple to communicate and keep their love alive during the long separation is through letters. These letters form the basis for the songs on the album.

the gentle storm the diary

They are also pleased to announce that in advance of The Gentle Storm full band shows, Arjen will join Anneke for a select few European live acoustic dates in what will be quite a rare and special occasion.

Feb 17: Planetarium – Budapest, Hungary
Feb 19: Hard Rock Café – Bucharest, Romania
Feb 20: tba – Sofia, Bulgaria
Feb 22: K17 – Berlin, Germany
Feb 28: Pod Minoga – Poznan, Poland

As previously mentioned, a full all-star band will go out without Arjen in March and April, and the confirmed dates and band line-up can be found below.

Mar 26: Melkweg – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Mar 28: ROCK Ittervoort Festival – Ittervoort, Netherlands
Apr 03: Hedon – Zwolle, Netherlands
Apr 3-5: Paaspop Festival – Schihndel, Netherlands
Apr 11: Paard van Troje – Den Haag, Netherlands
Apr 22: Divan Du Monde – Paris, France
Apr 23: The Garage – London, UK
Apr 24: The Musician – Leicester, UK
Apr 25: The Roadhouse – Manchester, UK
Apr 26: Prog-résiste Convention Festival – Soignies, Belgium

The Gentle Storm live:
Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering) – vocals
Merel Bechtold (Purest of Pain, MaYaN) – guitars
Ferry Duijsens (Anneke van Giersbergen, ex-Dreadlock Pussy) – guitars
Ed Warby (Hail of Bullets, Ayreon, ex-Gorefest) – drums
Johan van Stratum (Stream of Passion) – bass
Joost van den Broek (producer, ex-After Forever) – keyboards
Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion) – background vocals

The Gentle Storm on Twitter
InsideOutTV on YouTube
Inside Out Music on Facebook