Arjen Lucasssen Announces New Ayreon for 2013

 

It's been quiet in the AYREON camp for the past couple of months, but Arjen Lucassen has broken his silence to reveal that the title of the eagerly anticipated forthcoming new album will be The Theory Of Everything, and that it will be a double album! Aiming for a tentative release at the end of this year, Arjen had this to say about the album's progress:

"I've finished recording demos of the music, and am now about halfway finished with the lyrics. It's going to be a double album, so there is a lot to write! It's extra challenging as well, because lyrically I've left the old AYREON universe behind and have to create a new one from scratch. I'm really excited about the line-up and how everything is PROGressing so far."

Watch out for more information on the forthcoming new AYREON album later in the year!



Arjen Lucassen online:
www.arjenlucassen.com
www.facebook.com/ArjenLucassenOfficial
www.twitter.com/arjenlucassen
 

More Confirmed Dates for Camel

Smal post today, with news of other dates for Camel's Snow Goose Anniversary tour;

Thursday 24th October 2013: Belgium, Limbourg, Le Kursaal
Friday, 25th October 2013: Holland, Groningen, Oosterpoort, Main Hall
Saturday, 26th October 2013: Holland, Amsterdam, Rabozaal
Monday, 28th October 2013: England, London, The Barbican

Hopefully some dates in North America will be confirmed.

Radio Play Based on Dark Side of the Moon

As most of you already know, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon turned 40 this past Sunday. The band's website even streamed the whole album on their website, inviting fans to participate via Twitter with the hashtag #DarkSide40.

But that isn't all that will be happening to celebrate this seminal album. The BBC has announced that Sir Tom Stoppard, the Academy Award Winning author of Shakespear in Love, will write a radio play based on the Pink Floyd classic.

From the BBC:

Stoppard’s hour-long play, called Dark Side, will incorporate music from the album, which stayed in the charts for 741 weeks until 1988, and what is described as a ‘fantastical and psychedelic story that takes listeners on a journey through their imaginations.’

Stoppard, a long-time Pink Floyd fan who was first approached with the idea of writing a play about the album by a friend in 1973, said: ‘This is more or less, I think, the first time anything like this has been done on radio.’

Guitarist David Gilmour has even seen the script and found it, as Spock would say, "fascinating".

“I can’t wait to hear it come to life with the great cast performing it and our music woven into it. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate The Dark Side of the Moon’s 40-year anniversary.”

This isn't the first time that Pink Floyd inspired an author. Douglas Adams' famous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy used songs from Pink Floyd for it's original radio broadcast and led to his friendship with Gilmour.

The cast will include Bill Nighy, Adrian Scarborough and Rufus Sewell.

Camel Will Tour the Snow Goose in 2013

 

Just found out the news from Camel's website. It is now official: Camel will tour in 2013 and they will be performing The Snow Goose in its entirety, the first time ever since their Royal Albert Hall show in 1975.

Guitarist Andrew Latimer will be joined by Colin Bass, special guest Jan Schelhas, and canadians Denis Clément and Guy LeBlanc. It marks the first time they've played together since the Farewell Tour, before Andrews illness pushed Camel into limbo.

The first confirmed date is in London, at The Barbican, on October 28th. More dates are planned and will be confirmed soon. You can purchase tickets for The Barbican here. Tickets for the show are £25 - 35.

Summer's End Promoter Reveals Participating Bands

Stephen Lambe, the man responsible for Summer's End, has been announcing upcoming participants for the Summer's End Festival for a couple of weeks now. Since there are a good many bands named, and some favorites of mine, I might as well start listing them here. So here goes:

Focus (Holland) www.focustheband.com
Sylvan (Germany) www.sylvan.de
Fragile featuring Claire Hamill (UK) www.yestribute.co.uk
Landmarq (UK) www.landmarq.net
Overhead (Finland) www.overhead-band.com
Deeexpus (UK) www.deeexpus.com
Jump (UK) www.jumprock.co.uk
Thumpermonkey (UK) www.thumpermonkey.com
Silhouette (Holland) www.silhouetteband.nl
Sean Filkins (UK) www.seanfilkinsmusic.co.uk

Still no set schedule yet, but one can surmise that Focus will hold top billing, as will Sylvan and, probably, Landmarq.

As I mentioned in a recent post concerning the death of the Y-Prog festival, Summer's End can only survive if you, the listener, participate by purchasing tickets. I know that this festival has been going for a while and we haven't heard of even the possibility of its demise, but all festivals are fragile. That is why I urge you to buy your tickets in advance. Sponsor and Hero tickets are available from www.summersend.co.uk.

Summer's End has a new facebook page at:
www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Summers-End-Progressive-Rock-Festival/356884391002666