Arjen Lucassen and Anneke van Giersbergen have confirmed the release date of their collaboration as The Gentle Storm – The Diary will be launched on March 23 via InsideOut.
And the band have added three UK dates to their spring tour, although none will feature Lucassen. He’s ruled himself out of hitting the road with the band except for an appearance at their debut show in Amsterdam on March 26.
However, the pair will perform together during five acoustic shows in February. Van Giersbergen says: “I’m very excited that Arjen has agreed to join me. I will play a solo set, then, halfway through, Arjen will join me. We’ll perform some Ayreon classics together and premiere a couple of songs from The Diary. This will be a unique opportunity to catch us performing together. I’m looking forward to it a lot!”
She describes The Gentle Storm live lineup as “an unintentional supergroup with some of the best musicians in the Dutch heavy music scene.” It includes vocalist van Giersbergen, guitarist Merel Bechtold and Ferry Duijsense, keyboardist Joost van den Broek, drummer Ed Warby, bassist Johan van Stratum and backing vocalist Marcela Bovio.
Van Giersbergen with Arjen Lucassen acoustic shows
Feb 17: Hungary Budapest Planetarium
Feb 19: Romania Bucharest Hard Rock Cafe
Feb 20: Bulgaria Sofia TBC
Feb 22: Germany Berlin K17
Feb 28: Poland Poznan Pod Minoga
The Gentle Storm European tour
Mar 26: Netherlands Amsterdam Melkweg
Mar 28: Netherlands Rock Ittervoort festival
Apr 03: Netherlands Zwolle Hedon
Apr 04: Netherlands Paaspop festival
Apr 11: Netherlands Deen Haag Paard van Troje
Apr 22: France Paris Divan du Monde
Apr 23: London Garage
Apr 24: Leicester Musician
Apr 25: Manchester Roadhouse
Apr 26: Belgium Prog-resiste Convention festival
