Ayreon Universe Shows Announced By Arjen Lucassen

Ayreon Universe is happening September 15-16, 2017 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands, featuring a special appearance by Arjen Lucassen. Watch Arjen talk about Ayreon Universe in the player below.

The special shows will feature Floor Jansen and Marco Hietala (Nightwish), Russell Allen (Symphony X), Damian Wilson (Threshold), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia), Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gentle Storm) and more.

Regular ticket sales start on Thursday, November 24th at 10:00 am CET via this location.

Ayreonauts - these are the days that you can experience Ayreon live for the first time ever! Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen has chosen the best songs from the Ayreon albums and Star One to create an exclusive live Ayreon show: Ayreon Universe. The show will feature the best original Ayreon vocalists and instrumentalists on stage, as well as an appearance by Arjen Lucassen himself. All subscribers to the Arjen Lucassen newsletter will get the chance to buy tickets 24 hours before the regular ticket sales start!

2017 will be an exciting year for Arjen Lucassen with a new Ayreon album to be released and his first Ayreon live shows ever with Ayreon Universe. In contrast to "The Theater Equation," Ayreon Universe is fully organized and arranged by Arjen Lucassen personally, assisted by Joost van den Broek: "After the huge success of the four sold-out Ayreon theater shows in 2015, Joost and I decided to boldly go even bigger," says Arjen. :This is a full-on ‘best of Ayreon’ rock show in a big venue with as many original Ayreon singers and musicians as possible. We’re calling it Ayreon Universe, and as you might guess, it’s a huge undertaking. We’ve had an entire team working on it for over a year already. Ayreon fans have high expectations, and we want to be sure to give them a once-in-a-lifetime experience that they’ll never forget."

In addition to the singers, the hand-picked band of right of Arjen’s favorite Ayreon instrumentalists will be on stage, including: Ed Warby (drums), Johan van Stratum (bass), Marcel Coenen (lead guitar), Ferry Duijsens (guitar), Joost van den Broek (keyboards), Ben Mathot (violin), Jeroen Goossens (flutes, woodwinds) and Maaike Peterse (cello).

“Ayreon Universe is bound to become one of the most unique live events ever in the symphonic and progressive rock/metal genre,” says musical director Joost van den Broek. “We’re combining a big selection of top vocalists and instrumentalists who have never been on one stage together before. The music of Ayreon sets the bar really high, pushing everyone involved to their limits. In the upcoming months of preparation towards the shows we will do everything possible to create a 'once-in-a-lifetime' experience and performance, living up to all the fans’ expectations.”

Dates: Friday 15 September and Saturday 16 September, 2017
Location: Poppodium 013 – Tilburg, The Netherlands
Doors: 7:00 pm CET
Start show: 8:30 pm CET

VIP tickets: € 85,- (ex. additional fees) The VIP tickets include early entrance and a goodie bag with exclusive Ayreon Universe merchandise.

Regular tickets: € 55,- (ex. additional fees)