Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group [30.03.18]

Ayreon are masterminded by Arjen Anthony Lucassen, who prefers to create music in the studio rather than appear live and the announcement that Ayreon would play two shows in September 2017  (their first official concerts) was met with excitement from the fans, with all three shows selling out very quickly.

Debuting in 1995 the series of Ayreon albums have featured a number of notable guests and the live shows included many of these including Damian Wilson, Nightwish’s Floor Jansen, Kamelot’s Tommy Karevik, Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursch, Anneke van Giersbergen and Ed Warby on drums.

This concert is available in various formats from the double CD reviewed here through to a DVD, Blu-ray and even a gold limited edition.

Twenty eight songs and a good mix from across the Ayreon albums, with two songs from the Star One project including the rousing finale ‘The Eye Of Ra’ which has nearly the whole cast of musicians joining in.

Highlights are many including Anneke van Giersbergen and Jonas Renkse on a spine tingling version of ‘Comatose’, whilst ‘Ride The Comet’ and ‘Into The Black Hole’ are great pieces of sci-fi led prog metal. Arjen Lucassen joins in two songs, ‘The Castle Hall’ and ‘Amazing Flight in Space’, to a suitably loud and rousing welcome from the audience.

Considering there were only a limited time for rehearsals, the musicians bring the songs to life on stage making for a successful and memorable run through the Ayreon musical catalogue.

For those lucky enough to attend either of the shows a perfect audio and visual memento, for the rest of Ayreon’s fan base a ‘must have’ of quite possibly the only live shows we will see by Ayreon, although he has said in a recent interview that further shows may happen in 2019. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie

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Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

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Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
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Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)

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