Ayreon

Title: Ayreon Universe: The Best of Ayreon Live
Release Date: 2018
Genre: Rock, Prog Metal, Prog Rock

Production/Label: Music Theories Recordings
Duration: 02:25:03
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: AVC
Audio codec: PCM, DTS
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 20380 kbps / 1080p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio #1: English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Audio #2: English / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4647 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Size: 43.77 GB

Ayreon Universe is the best of Ayreon Live – A unique performance featuring 16 singers, 28 songs, 2+ hour performance, 9000+ fans and a special appearance by Arjen Lucassen, captured by 30 cameras!

It’s proof that you should never say ‘never’. After creating rock operas in the studio for more than 20 years, prog mastermind Arjen Lucassen, aka Ayreon, finally took his Universe to the stage in September 2017. Three shows sold out within hours after annoucing. 9000+ Fans from all corners of the world flocked to the 013 venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands to see this long-awaited show live.

This unique performance features 16 singers, 28 songs, an 8 piece band and a special appearance by Arjen, lasting over 2 hours. The concert was filmed with 30 cameras and is released on DVD and Blu-ray with 5.1 surround audio, with an extensive list of extras, including a behind-the-scenes documentary with interviews with every singer and musician, and a compilation of the try-out show performed a few weeks earlier.

Two years in the making, Ayreon Universe is a full on rock extravaganza, featuring songs from all Ayreon albums, including 2017’s ‘The Source’, plus a few fan favorites from Star One. An amazing array of singers appeared on stage to bring the Ayreon Universe to life: Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Damian Wilson (Threshold), Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gentle Storm), Marco Hietala (Nightwish), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia), Mike Mills (Toehider), Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion), Irene Jansen, Robert Soeterboek (Star One), John Jaycee Cuijpers (Praying Mantis), Edward Reekers (Kayak), Jay van Feggelen, Maggy Luyten (Nightmare) and Lisette van den Berg (Scarlet Stories).

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Title: Ayreon – The Theater Equation
Release Date: 2016
Genre: Rock, Prog Metal, Prog Rock
Cast: James LaBrie as ‘Me’; Jermain van der Bogt (Wudstik) as ‘Best Friend’; Devon Graves as ‘Agony’; Heather Findlay as ‘Love’; Eric Clayton as ‘Reason’; Magnus Ekwall as ‘Pride’; Marcela Bovio as ‘Wife’; Irene Jansen as ‘Passion’; Anneke van Giersbergen as ‘Fear’; Mike Mills as ‘Rage/Father’; Nienke Verboom as ‘Nurse’; Peter Moltmaker as ‘Doctor’; Anita van der Hoeven as ‘Mom’
Band: Ed Warby: Drums; Jeroen Goossens: Flutes and woodwinds; Johan van Stratum: Bass; Maaike Peterse: Cello; Marcel Coenen: Guitars; Freek Gielen: Guitars; Erik van Ittersum: Keyboards/synths; Ruben Wijga: Keyboards/synths; Ben Mathot: Violin; The Epic Rock Choir

Production/Label: Inside Out Music
Duration: 00:55:33
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: AVC
Audio codec: AC-3
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 13494 kbps / 1920*1080i / 25 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: English Dolby Digital 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Audio#2: English Dolby Digital 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles: English, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
Size: 19.48 GB

The Theater Equation is an upcoming 2016 live album and DVD by Arjen Anthony Lucassen’s progressive rock/metal rock opera project Ayreon. The Theater Equation consists of a live performance, with cast, choir and small orchestra, of the 2004 album The Human Equation. It marks the first time an Ayreon album was played live entirely, and the first Ayreon live release, although two live albums by other Lucassen projects had previously featured Ayreon songs: Live on Earth by Star One (2003) and Live in the Real World by Stream of Passion (2006). The Theater Equation consisted of four shows, all played in Rotterdam between September 18 and 20, 2015, with the last performance being the one recorded for the album.

Most of the cast of the original album was featured on the tour, including James LaBrie of Dream Theater (Me), Marcela Bovio of Stream of Passion (Wife), former Mostly Autumn member Heather Findlay (Love), Eric Clayton (Reason), and Irene Jansen (Passion). Despite the announcement that he will not take part of the shows due to his reluctance to play live and that he will only support the project as an support advisor, Lucassen was on stage after stepping out of the Dream Sequencer at the very end of the show, thus performing the part of Forever of the Stars. Some other regular collaborators of Lucassen joined the project, most notably Anneke van Giersbergen replacing Mikael Åkerfeldt as Fear.

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Title: Ayreon – Electric Castle Live and Other Tales
Released: 2020
Genre: Progressive Metal, Rock, Documentary

Released: Mascot Records
Duration: 02:38:36 + 03:13:50 (Bonus)
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Audio Codec: AC3
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 16994 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio 1: English / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -31dB
Audio 2: English / DTS Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit
Size: 46.19 GB

On March 27 Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group release ‘Ayreon – Electric Castle Live and Other Tales’, a 3 LP set of last year’s live spectacular performance of the third Ayreon album ‘Into The Electric Castle’.

Over four nights at Tilburg’s 013 venue (scene of the Ayreon Universe series of live shows in 2017) Lucassen, his band and one of modern progressive music’s most emphatic of casts celebrated the 20th anniversary of the third Ayreon album in front of thousands of adoring fans who had flown in from around the world.

Originally released in 1998, ‘Into The Electric Castle’ is a classic tale of an epic quest. Set in ‘no time and no space’, it tells the story of eight individuals who are guided by a mysterious voice and tasked with finding the mysterious Electric Castle and discover what’s inside. The entire album was performed live, featuring original album singers and musicians, such as Thijs Van Leer, Fish, Damian Wilson, Edward Reekers, Anneke van Giersbergen, and several special guests including Simone Simons (Epica) and Star Trek’s John De Lancie as narrator.
The ‘Other Tales’ are deep cuts from Arjen Lucassen’s other projects, such as The Gentle Storm, Ambeon, Stream of Passion, Guilt Machine, Star One, his solo-album Arjen Anthony Lucassen and a very special Marillion cover.

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