Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen has checked in with an update on his next musical venture:
"Hi all! This year I’ve been working on a new album… with old songs! I’ll explain. In the early '90s I formed a band with singer Robert Soeterboek called Plan Nine. But those were the days of grunge, so it wasn’t the right time for us. But now, 30 years later, we have re-written and re-recorded 13 songs with the help of lots of great musicians that you all know. And, if I say so myself, it turned out really cool! The album will be called The Long-Lost Songs and it will be released early next year by Mascot. Robert will play live with Plan Nine next year. More updates soon! (Oh… sorry for the cheesy photo… hey, that was more than 30 years ago!)"
Ayreon played live again in Tilburg, Holland at 013 on September 15th, 16th and 17th, 2023, performing the album 01011001 in full. Lucassen recently checked in with the following update on a planned live release:
"My dear Ayreonauts, now that I’ve finally caught my breath after the Ayreon live shows and the smoke has cleared, I want to send a huge and heartfelt thanks once again for your unwavering support! It's astounding that 15,000 of you from over 60 countries made the journey to see us. The whole Ayreon team and I totally recognize how special and unique this is. I know it’s a cliché, but truly, you are the best fans ever. You are what keeps me going.
To those who wanted to come to the shows but couldn't make it happen, we missed you! But there’s a silver lining - we’ve begun working on the live Blu-Ray and CD, and I can assure you, they're going to be fantastic. I’m brimming with pride for all the amazing musicians involved!
And yes, between you and me, we just might already be secretly scheming for..."
01011001 - Live Beneath The Waves featured the following performers:
Original 01011001 cast:
Hansi Kürsch
Tom Englund
Daniel Gildenlow
Jonas Renkse
Anneke van Giersbergen
Simone Simons
Wudstik
Marjan Welman
Liselotte Hegt
Maggy Luyten
Phideaux Xavier
Arjen Lucassen (yeah, sorry for that)
Special guests:
Damian Wilson
Brittney Slayes
Michael Mills
John Jaycee Cuijpers
Backing vocals:
Marcela Bovio
Irene Jansen
Jan Willem Ketelaers
Band:
Marcel Coenen - guitar
Timo Somers - guitar
Johan van Stratum - bass
Joost van den Broek - keys
Ed Warby - drums
Ensemble:
Ben Mathot - violin
Jurriaan Westerveld - cello
Jeroen Goossens - woodwinds
