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Ayreon premiere live Valley Of The Queens video

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By ( Prog ) published

Watch Floor Jansen, Anneke van Giersbergen and Marcela Bovio deliver stunning version of Valley Of The Queens - from upcoming live Ayreon Universe package

A still from the video

Arjen Lucassen’s live Ayreon project titled Ayreon Universe have launched a video for Valley Of The Queens.

The footage has been taken from Ayreon Universe: The Best Of Ayreon Live, which will be released on March 30 via Music Theories.

Valley Of The Queens sees Nightwish’s Floor Jansen, VUUR’s Anneke van Giersbergen and MaYaN’s Marcela Bovio deliver the song, which is backed by Jeroen Goossens on flute, Maaike Peterse on cello, Ferry Duijsens on guitar and Joost van den Broek on keyboards.

Ayreon mastermind Lucassen says: “The first track we showed you was the bombastic Everybody Dies, so as a contrast here is a very intimate ballad called Valley Of The Queens.

“Even though I’ve seen this a million times by now, I still get goosebumps hearing these lovely three ladies sing. Enjoy!”

Ayreon Universe: The Best Of Ayreon Live was captured during three shows at Tilburg’s 013 venue in 2017. It featured 18 singers along with 11 musicians, including Headspace’s Damian Wilson, Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursch, Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse and Kayak’s Edward Reekers.

The performance will be released on 3LP, limited edition coloured vinyl, 2CD, 5-disc Earbook, and 2DVD and Blu-ray with 90 minutes of behind the scenes footage and interviews.

It’s now available for pre-order.

Ayreon Universe: The Best of Ayreon Live tracklist

  1. Prologue
  2. Dreamtime
  3. Abbey Of Synn
  4. River Of Time
  5. The Blackboard
  6. The Theory Of Everything
  7. Merlins Will
  8. Waking Dreams
  9. Dawn Of A Million Souls
  10. Valley Of The Queens
  11. Ride The Comet
  12. Star Of Sirrah
  13. Comatose
  14. Day Sixteen Loser
  15. And The Druids Turned To Stone
  16. The Two Gates
  17. Into The Black Hole
  18. Actual Fantasy
  19. Computer Eyes
  20. Magnetism
  21. Age Of Shadows
  22. Intergalactic Space Crusaders
  23. Collision
  24. Everybody Dies
  25. The Castle Hall
  26. Amazing Flight In Space
  27. Day Eleven Love
  28. The Eye Of Ra

Ayreon Universe at Poppodium 013, Tilberg - live review

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more for Louder. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, The Tragically Hip, Marillion and Rush.