The tall guy with the guitar who sang the hippie part, is Arjen Lucassen, the man himself. Who composed, produced and brought all those amazing vocalists and mysicians together. The man who published 29 albums to this date, including a few live albums of the few rare shows that were organised. This was just one of the amazing performances during the live show Ayreon Universe. Ayreon is the name of Arjen’s project Ayreon, a scifi prog rock opera, spanning multiple albums. Arjen has many different projects, f.i. Star One (compositions based on scifi movies, tv shows, stories), the last album dealing with time; named Revel In Time.
9:50 A deafening thunderclap as time and space collide! Eight human souls, plucked from their eras of time, suddenly find themselves in a strange dimension... A mysterious voice directs them through a maze of trials leading into the Electric Castle. Within the castle, built from their own dreams and fears, they must find the gate back to their own centuries. Will they survive? And who is the voice...?" The album opens with a voice from the sky announcing to the eight characters (the Highlander, the Hippie, the Futureman, the Indian, the Egyptian, the Barbarian, the Knight, and the Roman) that they have been taken to the "cranial vistas of psychogenesis," a mysterious non-place in a non-time. The voice commands the eight to seek out and enter the Electric Castle, and warns that they will be challenged with puzzles and tests of mettle. Many of the eight believe they have all been taken to the afterlife (a demon-created realm, a "dark and evil jest," Avalon, the great hall of Isis and Osiris, or the underworld). The Highlander voices concern that they will be lost, since none of them can recognise the constellations. However, the group takes flight into the cosmic realm, the Barbarian shouting of his courage and battle-worthiness and the exhilarated Hippie delighting at the marvels as they do so. The Futureman, unsettled because even his advanced learning cannot explain what has happened, ruminates about the nature of their mystic surroundings, concluding that they must be trapped in a cyberworld; the Knight, confused by the Futureman's speech, repeats his conviction that they are in Avalon, the isle of spirits, on a quest for the Holy Grail. The Roman rejects both of these explanations, fearing they are in the underworld and should seek to escape to Elysium. At last, the eight arrive before the Decision Tree, where they are praised for their fortitude but also told that one of them must die before they continue. The Barbarian and the Highlander boast to each other of their accomplishments in battle, and both deny that they will be the ones to die. However, the Highlander's prediction does not play out. He loses his will to go on, lies down, and dies, just as the others leap into the Tunnel of Light, believing themselves now to be entering heaven. Before they reach the Electric Castle, they must cross the Rainbow Bridge, which spans a sea of tears and fiery brine. The Rainbow Bridge leads the seven travellers to the Garden of Emotions, which stands before the Electric Castle. The Hippie calls the Garden "groovy," but the Egyptian senses that Amon-ra has chosen to seal her fate and end her life there. The Roman and the Barbarian contend for leadership of the group, becoming enraged and fighting before the Futureman realises that the Garden is amplifying their emotions, warning everyone that they must control their aggression. The Indian, meanwhile, prophesies that voices in the sky shall destroy their souls. The Egyptian finds her spirit broken in the Garden, and, overwhelmed by her emotions, lies down to die in the same manner as the Highlander. The remaining travellers finally enter the Electric Castle, finding themselves in the great hall. There they are tested by the Gathering of the Spirits, as the killers among them (the Knight and the Barbarian) are tormented by the incarnate spirits of those they have killed. They survive, and climb the stairs to the Tower of Hope, still full of wonder about their dreamlike journey. At the pinnacle of the Tower, a breeze draws the attention of the Indian. Despite the others' warnings, she is swept up by the wind, believing she will be taken to the sun and her soul made one with the universe. The wind is revealed to be Death itself, and the Indian is cast into oblivion, screaming as she dies. The travellers, now five, continue to find themselves in the Mirror Maze, a world in which each of them must confront their ego-self. The Hippie is shown reflections of scenes from his childhood and adolescence while the Futureman contemplates the nature of fear and how humans bury it and their traumatic pasts inside themselves. The Roman shows signs that he has given up hope, but the Knight steels his resolve and breaks through the mirror, freeing them all to pass through. The travellers witness a vision of the future - a strange cyber brain which the Futureman calls a mutation of the human race - and are then presented with two gates by the voice from the skies. One is old and battered and the other golden, and one leads to freedom while the other leads to Oblivion. The Barbarian boldly strides through the golden gate, only to be cast into Oblivion and die; the final travellers successfully pass through the other gate. Before they return to their homes, the voice of Forever of the Stars explains that their ordeal has been part of an experiment for the Forever race to rediscover their lost emotions. Forever of the Stars tells the final four travellers that they will not remember their experience. When they awaken in their respective times and places, the Hippie believes he was on a particularly convincing psychedelic trip, the Futureman believes his memory has been wiped, the Roman thinks himself reborn, and the Knight thinks he has found the grail within a dream. A fading voice asks them to all remember Forever. enough info ??? 🙃😉🤘
As being an old Dutch guy always looking to America for music ( and Germany, Rammstein), I oversaw what is happening in my own country. I am discovering right now what the Dutch have to offer and I am discovering a whole new world. Arjen Lucassen....the majority of Dutch people won't know who he is. And he is a bloody genius!!!! And the metal singers....Sharon den Adel, Anneke van Giersbergen, Simone Simons, Floor Jansen....Only Floor starts getting well known to the larger public because of the television show " beste zangers" where she left a BIG impression. It let me to Nightwish ( I'm definitely in the Nightwish army now😉). And take a look at "Sancta terra" from Epica.....It is an epic voyage to discover all these amazing talents. I love it!
And last weekend I was lucky enough to visit a rare show of Ayreon. Can you imagine? Three stories high of scaffolding with a whole bunch of epic singers on them on all levels and this epic band. Visuals, smoke, pyro's, lasers, the works.... What a show, what an enthousiasm on stage and in the public. This is the ultimate pelgrimage for progressive rock fans. If you have the chance, don't miss it. Life changing.
Great you picked up that Arjen replaced the word 'dude' with Jay's name in the second chorus. It was a spontanous joke and he had to suppress the laughter to be able to sing. As others said it's a dialogue between the Barbarian (Jay van Feggelen) and the tall Hippie (Arjen Lucassen).
Ayreon is a project that Arjun Anthony lucasen does just like Star One which is another band he does each singer plays a different part so it's like drama with theater with instruments. He uses all different kinds of instruments, most older and his stories intermix history, literature and space fantasy all together.
I never saw this performance before. I love it seeing Arjen on stage playing guitar and singing the vocal part of 'the hippie'. If you have never seen Ayreon before, better check the song The Day That The World Breaks Down
Ayreon takes albums and makes them into metal operas and in this case the 2 represented here are a barbarian and a hippie in the electric castle in space travellers in time there's also Lancelot, an Egyptian goddess, and a few others in the original live performance they had Q from Star Trek as Narrator of the story
The tall guy with the guitar who sang the hippie part, is Arjen Lucassen, the man himself. Who composed, produced and brought all those amazing vocalists and mysicians together. The man who published 29 albums to this date, including a few live albums of the few rare shows that were organised. This was just one of the amazing performances during the live show Ayreon Universe. Ayreon is the name of Arjen’s project Ayreon, a scifi prog rock opera, spanning multiple albums. Arjen has many different projects, f.i. Star One (compositions based on scifi movies, tv shows, stories), the last album dealing with time; named Revel In Time.
9:50 A deafening thunderclap as time and space collide! Eight human souls, plucked from their eras of time, suddenly find themselves in a strange dimension... A mysterious voice directs them through a maze of trials leading into the Electric Castle. Within the castle, built from their own dreams and fears, they must find the gate back to their own centuries. Will they survive? And who is the voice...?"
The album opens with a voice from the sky announcing to the eight characters (the Highlander, the Hippie, the Futureman, the Indian, the Egyptian, the Barbarian, the Knight, and the Roman) that they have been taken to the "cranial vistas of psychogenesis," a mysterious non-place in a non-time. The voice commands the eight to seek out and enter the Electric Castle, and warns that they will be challenged with puzzles and tests of mettle.
Many of the eight believe they have all been taken to the afterlife (a demon-created realm, a "dark and evil jest," Avalon, the great hall of Isis and Osiris, or the underworld). The Highlander voices concern that they will be lost, since none of them can recognise the constellations. However, the group takes flight into the cosmic realm, the Barbarian shouting of his courage and battle-worthiness and the exhilarated Hippie delighting at the marvels as they do so.
The Futureman, unsettled because even his advanced learning cannot explain what has happened, ruminates about the nature of their mystic surroundings, concluding that they must be trapped in a cyberworld; the Knight, confused by the Futureman's speech, repeats his conviction that they are in Avalon, the isle of spirits, on a quest for the Holy Grail. The Roman rejects both of these explanations, fearing they are in the underworld and should seek to escape to Elysium.
At last, the eight arrive before the Decision Tree, where they are praised for their fortitude but also told that one of them must die before they continue. The Barbarian and the Highlander boast to each other of their accomplishments in battle, and both deny that they will be the ones to die. However, the Highlander's prediction does not play out. He loses his will to go on, lies down, and dies, just as the others leap into the Tunnel of Light, believing themselves now to be entering heaven. Before they reach the Electric Castle, they must cross the Rainbow Bridge, which spans a sea of tears and fiery brine.
The Rainbow Bridge leads the seven travellers to the Garden of Emotions, which stands before the Electric Castle. The Hippie calls the Garden "groovy," but the Egyptian senses that Amon-ra has chosen to seal her fate and end her life there. The Roman and the Barbarian contend for leadership of the group, becoming enraged and fighting before the Futureman realises that the Garden is amplifying their emotions, warning everyone that they must control their aggression. The Indian, meanwhile, prophesies that voices in the sky shall destroy their souls. The Egyptian finds her spirit broken in the Garden, and, overwhelmed by her emotions, lies down to die in the same manner as the Highlander.
The remaining travellers finally enter the Electric Castle, finding themselves in the great hall. There they are tested by the Gathering of the Spirits, as the killers among them (the Knight and the Barbarian) are tormented by the incarnate spirits of those they have killed. They survive, and climb the stairs to the Tower of Hope, still full of wonder about their dreamlike journey. At the pinnacle of the Tower, a breeze draws the attention of the Indian. Despite the others' warnings, she is swept up by the wind, believing she will be taken to the sun and her soul made one with the universe. The wind is revealed to be Death itself, and the Indian is cast into oblivion, screaming as she dies.
The travellers, now five, continue to find themselves in the Mirror Maze, a world in which each of them must confront their ego-self. The Hippie is shown reflections of scenes from his childhood and adolescence while the Futureman contemplates the nature of fear and how humans bury it and their traumatic pasts inside themselves. The Roman shows signs that he has given up hope, but the Knight steels his resolve and breaks through the mirror, freeing them all to pass through. The travellers witness a vision of the future - a strange cyber brain which the Futureman calls a mutation of the human race - and are then presented with two gates by the voice from the skies. One is old and battered and the other golden, and one leads to freedom while the other leads to Oblivion. The Barbarian boldly strides through the golden gate, only to be cast into Oblivion and die; the final travellers successfully pass through the other gate. Before they return to their homes, the voice of Forever of the Stars explains that their ordeal has been part of an experiment for the Forever race to rediscover their lost emotions.
Forever of the Stars tells the final four travellers that they will not remember their experience. When they awaken in their respective times and places, the Hippie believes he was on a particularly convincing psychedelic trip, the Futureman believes his memory has been wiped, the Roman thinks himself reborn, and the Knight thinks he has found the grail within a dream. A fading voice asks them to all remember Forever.
enough info ??? 🙃😉🤘
As being an old Dutch guy always looking to America for music ( and Germany, Rammstein), I oversaw what is happening in my own country. I am discovering right now what the Dutch have to offer and I am discovering a whole new world. Arjen Lucassen....the majority of Dutch people won't know who he is. And he is a bloody genius!!!! And the metal singers....Sharon den Adel, Anneke van Giersbergen, Simone Simons, Floor Jansen....Only Floor starts getting well known to the larger public because of the television show " beste zangers" where she left a BIG impression. It let me to Nightwish ( I'm definitely in the Nightwish army now😉). And take a look at "Sancta terra" from Epica.....It is an epic voyage to discover all these amazing talents. I love it!
And last weekend I was lucky enough to visit a rare show of Ayreon. Can you imagine? Three stories high of scaffolding with a whole bunch of epic singers on them on all levels and this epic band. Visuals, smoke, pyro's, lasers, the works.... What a show, what an enthousiasm on stage and in the public. This is the ultimate pelgrimage for progressive rock fans. If you have the chance, don't miss it. Life changing.
I was there too. Sickest show ever !!!! 😆
Great you picked up that Arjen replaced the word 'dude' with Jay's name in the second chorus. It was a spontanous joke and he had to suppress the laughter to be able to sing. As others said it's a dialogue between the Barbarian (Jay van Feggelen) and the tall Hippie (Arjen Lucassen).
epic music ... and this is LIVE !!! amazing ...
If you want some keytar with that check out the performance of this song from Star One's Live on Earth!
Best jam session ever
Ayreon is a project that Arjun Anthony lucasen does just like Star One which is another band he does each singer plays a different part so it's like drama with theater with instruments.
He uses all different kinds of instruments, most older and his stories intermix history, literature and space fantasy all together.
Best of the best
Jon, buddy, pal, Cosmic Fusion Ayreon Electric Castle and Other Tales Live you and Travis. This song is Travis's heaven I promise you.
Dude !! Non stop talk !! OMG !!
I never saw this performance before. I love it seeing Arjen on stage playing guitar and singing the vocal part of 'the hippie'. If you have never seen Ayreon before, better check the song The Day That The World Breaks Down
Ayreon takes albums and makes them into metal operas and in this case the 2 represented here are a barbarian and a hippie in the electric castle in space travellers in time there's also Lancelot, an Egyptian goddess, and a few others in the original live performance they had Q from Star Trek as Narrator of the story
European metal is the best!
Arjen seriously needs to sing more like Jani Liimatainen these genius songwriters with beautiful voices need to sing more.