Nightwish’s Floor Jansen to appear onstage with Ayreon

Nightwish singer Floor Jansen will appear onstage with Ayreon for two shows in the Netherlands next year.

The performances will be held at the 013 venue in Tilburg on September 15 and 16, 2017, and will see Arjen Lucassen also joined by a raft of guests for the shows, which are being billed as the Ayreon Universe experience.

Nightwish’s Marco Hietala, Symphony X’s Russell Allen, Threshold’s Damian Wilson, Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursch, Kamelot’s Tommy Karevik, Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse and Anneke van Giersbergen have so far been confirmed, with further names to be added in due course.

Ayreon Universe has been organised and arranged by Lucassen and Joost van den Broek, and will see music from all Ayreon albums and a selection of tracks from Star One showcased.

Lucassen says: “After the huge success of the four sold-out Ayreon theatre shows in 2015, Joost and I decided to boldly go even bigger. 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.”

Van den Broek adds: “Ayreon Universe is bound to become one of the most unique live events ever in the symphonic and progressive rock and metal genre.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.”

Lucassen is currently working on what will be Ayreon’s ninth studio album, which is scheduled to launch in September. It’ll feature Dream Theater’s James LaBrie and Between The Buried And Me singer Tommy Rogers.

Full details will be revealed in due course.

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