Stream of Passion featuring Ayreon - Embrace the storm Tour 2006.
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Some time ago we heard the fantastic news that Stream of Passion, which included Arjen Lucassen, were going
on tour through Europe. There was even a gig scheduled in my very own city and there was no way that I would
ever miss that! To be sure I'd get tickets in time, I went directly to the store where they sold the tickets
for the show at 'Lucky & Co'
in Rijssen. In the meantime I convinced a couple more folks to come too. In fact this would be my first
concert ever. It's true that I started late in going to gigs, but this being the first one definitely made
it worth the 19 years of waiting. Damian Wilson (vocals
and acoustic guitar) was the support act for the night. You might know him from his earlier collaborations
with Arjen Lucassen on several albums. Damian played a bunch of songs and entertained the crowd, though he
was a bit too optimistic when he attempted to stagedive. The first try went completely wrong: he fell face
down onto the ground. A second attempt later that night succeeded.
Stream of Passion's show was fantastic too. They played many tracks of their debut album and a couple of
Ayreon songs which were adjusted to suit Stream of Passion. As it had been announced, and like the 2003
Star One show in Rijssen, the entire show was recorded live. The only question was if there would be a DVD
release of the show or not, but knowing Arjen, we wouldn't need to worry much about that. A couple of months
later, the 'Live in the real world'
DVD was released. This is a very nice DVD for the true Stream of Passion and Ayreon fan. Remember to look at
the 'Photogallery' on the DVD, as there are some nice photos which I took on there, along with a group photo
with Stream of Passion and myself. These photos were taken right after one of the rehearsals. In
the Photo album you can see a selection
of the photos I took during that amazing night. After the show I tried to have a short talk with most of the
bandmembers (that would be the first time since the rehearsal that I attended), but I didn't succeed very
well. I spent most of the time talking to Davy and got one of his drumsticks, signed! A bit later I ran
suddenly into a barely reckognizable Alejandro, who also had a great night. After that I only had some
eyecontact with the 'Bovio sisters' and Yvette, Arjen's manager. Because I wanted to get some stuff signed,
I politely asked Davy to take it with him backstage to get it signed. That was difficult, but he took me
with him and so I could also meet Johan for a short moment.
At the end of the evening I bought myself a nice tourshirt and then I walked to my uncle's house to get my
bike. Before I went home we put the photos on his notebook to take a quick look at them. But then it was
really time to go back home and get some sleep, because the next day it would be party-time again...
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As I said above, today was party time again. I was quite lucky to have another Stream of Passion gig
scheduled for this night. In the morning I caught the train and made the four hour trip to Antwerp where
I met up with Vicky. Vicky is a good friend who I met during a summer vacation on a campsite in France.
Together we travelled to Turnhout, to spend some time there before the show later that night. After a short
bus trip to Vosselaar, where 'Biebob'
is situated, we bought some French fries for dinner at the local 'frituur', a snackbar.
We were early enough to get ourselves a nice position in the front row, which was really nice. Just like the
previous night, Damian Wilson was the support act, who played together with Jolanda (who was Arjen's wife at
the time). The duo played played a very nice set of songs, I have to say.
When they were finished, it was time for a dose of heavy metal: Stream of Passion. They were just as active
as the night before and completely rocked the stage. Everyone in the crowd enjoyed the music, even the
quieter songs (didn't you, Vicky?). I took a lot of photos during this show as well (without flash, of
course). Because the light was a bit better here, the photos show up better than those of the gig in
Rijssen. You can see a nice selection of the photos in
the Photo album.
After the show I grabbed my chance to get to talk to those I missed the night before: Lori and Arjen. The
meeting with Lori was especially cool because she missed me a bit in Rijssen. Vicky gave a pack of 'Cookies'
to a really surprised Marcela, because this was something she really likes to eat. Vicky and I also took
some nice portrait photos together with the bandmembers. When it was finally time to say goodbye we left
the venue and some acquaintances of Vicky took us back to Vicky's house, were I stayed in her bedroom
overnight. The next morning, after eating a nice breakfast, I travelled back home on the train. This time,
the trip took me 5 hours because I made a short stop to enjoy the city of Antwerp and have a typical warm
wafer. Once I got home, the tour of Stream of Passion was unfortunately over for me, but I still felt
different during the weeks after, because these two nights were both truly fantastic and unforgettable
experiences!
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Stream of Passion featuring Ayreon - Summer Tour 2006.
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After a few months of rest it was time for Stream of Passion to rock again during the summer of 2006. The
'Summer Tour 2006' was a short tour with gigs in the Netherlands and Belgium. This tour would also be the
first time that Stream of Passion would play at several festivals. The first gig of this tour took place at
the 'Paard van Troje'
venue in Den Haag. I went to this show together with an good acquaintance of the band, but because I won
something cool in a competition, we had to arrive a few hours before the doors would actually open. This
was because we were expected to attend Stream of Passion's soundcheck before the show. It was really cool
to be part of a select group of fans who had won this special honour. After a while Arjen came by to shake
hands with the people, and Lori asked me if I received the signed DVD yet. I had previously told her I
hadn't, but just a few days before, I had gotten it. After a while they asked us to leave to building and
wait outside until the doors officially opened.
When we finally got back inside again, I found myself a nice spot in the first row near the place were Lori
normally plays. My mate had a photo pass so he got a nice spot on the balcony. During this short tour there
were some small bands playing the support act for Stream of Passion. Tonight it was a band
called No Rush.
They played some kind of rock which didn't really charm me. It all became much better when the Soppies took
the stage again after a long time of not playing. The beginning was quite horrible for Lori, as there were
quite a few problems with her guitar sound (no, I didn't distract her during the soundcheck!). After these
incidents during the first two or three songs, it was solved and they played a fantastic show. Their set
included a couple of new songs which you can find on the 'Out in the real world'
single.
After the show I got myself a copy of the setlist, after which I went to the main hall where I talked with
Lori and Alejandro for a while (and took some photos as well). Just when René and I were about to leave,
Johan came up to me and asked if I would be interested in a place on the guestlist for the
'Wâldrock' festival
in the Frisian city of Burgum. With the promise that I would let him know when I made my decision, we left
Den Haag to go to a small village near Gouda. Here I spent the rest of the night sleeping.
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The next day I informed Johan directly that I would come to the festival in Burgum, so he could put me down
on the guestlist. Normally the 50 euros entrance fee would be too much for me, especailly considering the
line-up and the expected bands and artists, but this time I'd gladly make an exception. This festival would
also be my very first festival, so I was interested if the prejuidices I had would be true. I made the long
trip to Leeuwarden by train and from there I took the bus to Burgum. On my way to the festival area, I already
noticed a lot of rockers and metal dudes and galz, but the atmosphere was all nice. I went to the tent for
guests and press and here I got a free wrist strap. Not long after I entered the festival area I met René
who had come there by car. We walked around a bit and bought some drinks so we had a relaxing time while
waiting for Stream of Passion's appearance. The main well-known rockbands played the mainstage, where as
Stream of Passion, and as well Kamelot and After Forever got a tent. Stream of Passion's show started at
15:20, and because they only had 40 minutes to play, they had an adjusted setlist. This didn't affect the
show itself, and it was as brilliant as we had come to expect. After their first festival experiences at
the Belgian 'Graspop'
festival, they figuratively blew the roof of the tent here too!
After the show René and I bought some more drinks, as it was an extremely hot summer day. René even decided
to leave early as he had problems handling the extreme heat, and because he was moving to a new home. I
decided to stay though, because I was wanted to see Kamelot and After Forever play. The photos of Stream of
Passion's show can be viewed in the Photo album.
The photos of the festival area and Kamelot and After Forever you can see on
the Wâldrock page. During the Kamelot's and
After Forever's shows I ran into a couple of Stream of Passion's band members (Davy, Arjen, Johan, Marcela
and Alejandro), and we had some nice conversations and a very nice time together.
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It had only been five days since I had seen Stream of Passion on stage, but again it was time for a another
great party. The venue for this show was 'De Kade'
in Zaandam, which was a small venue but with a nice atmosphere. The summer temperatures were still up there,
so it was extremely hot in the room that was packed with many enthusiastic fans. The support act was the
Dutch band Dragonfly,
who played a bunch of pretty nice songs. It was nice to see that they definitely enjoyed themselves too, as
did the crowd.
It's maybe a bit of a cliché to say that Stream of Passion rocked the stage again, but in fact, they did!
The sound was great, the crowd was great, and the band was great! Definitely the ingredients for a hot
summer party night. I was able to shoot a bunch of cool photos because the lights on stage were really good.
In the Photo album you can see the best
photos from this show. It's worth looking at these! Unfortunately we couldn't stay after the show, as some
relatives of René had come with us and had to wake up early the next morning. René and I stayed up till 4 in
the morning though -- playing with some photo editing tools. The following morning I caught the train in
Gouda and travelled back to Rijssen.
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The show in Hardenberg would be the last one of this tour, because it would be too expensive to go to the
Bospop festival in Weert as well. Because of that I had an extra reason to enjoy this gig in the
'Podium'
all the more. When we arrived at the venue were we suddenly met Alejandro outside. After a short talk we
went inside to look for a nice spot to enjoy the show. This time I was standing in front of Lori again, on
the left side of the stage. The band Sphere of Souls were
the support act tonight, which included Joost van den Broek. Personally I didn't like the music so much
though.
Even though I'd seen Stream of Passion five times already (excluding the rehearsal), this show was just as
good as the previous ones. There was enough contact with the crowd, which made it a wonderful night! The
crowd pleaded with the bandmembers to do the 'banana-dance' and Arjen even put a banana hat on his head.
After they played the last song of their set, 'Day eleven: Love', Lori gave me her guitar pick. Of course I
accepted it with love. After the show we had enough time to wait until the Soppies got back from their
dressing rooms. After a nice talk and giving a warm hug to the ladies, we said goodbye and left the venue
in Hardenberg.
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Stream of Passion featuring Ayreon - Live in the real world Tour 2007.
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Stream of Passion has started their third tour through Europe. After playing some concerts in Denmark and
Finland, which I unfortunately couldn't attend, they went to Belgium. This was less a problem for me, so on
this day we went again to the 'Biebob'
venue in Turnhout, were Stream of Passion had performed a year ago. After a trip by train to Gouda, an
acquaintance picked me up from the station and we went together to Belgium by car. We left early and in the
end it turned out that we had arrived first... We waited for an hour outisde the venue, which wasn't all
that pleasant with the winter temperatures. Once inside we met some other fans and we searched for a nice
spot in the first row. For this gig there was no support act, so we had to wait till we heard the typical
thunder and lightning tunes of Stream of Passion, at around 21:00. It had been some time since I had last
seen them, but their show was cool like never before, except for a few sound problems. The big surprise of
this tour would be the 'new' songs Stream of Passion would play. These songs were 'High moon', 'Day
fourteen: Pride' and 'Open your eyes'. They all sounded great! During all the previous shows they finished
with 'Day eleven: Love'. Not this time though; 'Calliopeia' was the finishing track. At the end of the show
(but before the encores) Davy went completely wild behind his drumkit. That was such a great drumsolo! When
the show was really over I got myself a setlist which I took with me to get signed by the Soppies. It was
amazing to be able to see them again and to have some nice conversations. Hopefully the same will happen at
the next 4 shows (Rijssen - NL, Dordrecht - NL, Sheffield - UK and London - UK) that I would also attend.
I also bought myself a new tourshirt, as this would be a cool souvenir, as I would be attending 5 of the 7
shows of this tour. Below you can find a link to a selection with 50 new photos in
the Photo album. I hope you like them,
and feel free to let me know what you think of them!
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Nearly one year ago I went to my very first concert ever. And what a concert it was: the great band Stream
of Passion with one of the best musicians in the world, Arjen Lucassen. Now, one year later, the same band
got back on stage in my hometown. Of course I had no reason to miss this one, and just like before, their
performance at 'Lucky & Co'
in Rijssen was fantastic!
Another thing that was really fun was meeting several people from the official Ayreon forum. It was nice to
meet these well-known and also some unknown faces. Like in Belgium, René and I arrived early at the venue,
and again we were the first ones waiting in the growing queue of fans. It was extremely cold during the wait
but in the end it was worth the wait: I got a perfect spot right in front of Lori!
Before it was time to enjoy Stream of Passion's show, we had the support act -- the regional
band Elister, a fun
rock band with a very enthusiastic vocalist who created a good atmosphere and got the crowd moving. Stream
of Passion was as active and enthusiastic on stage as we had come to know them, maybe even a bit too active
and enthusiastic, as Lori was sadly a bit too tired/sick to come for a chat with the fans after the show.
Together with some mates we got some posters signed by the other bandmembers. My poster hung on the ceiling
in my bedroom for a few months afterwards.
René told me some things about photography and when I started playing with some settings of my camera, I
discovered some techniques to make the quality of my photos much better, especially when the lights were
poor. I shot the whole show with these settings, so it was a bit of an experiment, but when I loaded the
photos onto my computer (nearly 300 photos) I was surprised by the great and especailly sharp quality of
the photos I had taken! Of course I selected the best of them and put them online in
the Photo album. The photos have also
been enhanced slightly with the help of Photoshop Elements, which makes them even more beautiful! Hopefully
you will think the same thing. Please let me know your reactions!
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After having had a great night in Rijssen it was time to rock in Dordrecht! The venue
'Bibelot' was the
place to be. I arrived at the venue with René, but it was extremely crowded, so it took a very long time to
get in.
The gothic metal band Morning from
the province of Limburg was the support act for tonight. Although we came in late, I was able to get through
to the second row were I found myself a nice spot. Here I would stay just in front of Arjen. In the meantime
I had met some well-known people, so the atmosphere in this old church became really great! If you have read
what I've had to say about the previous shows, then there is nothing new to add. They played a great show
and were as active and as enthusiastic as ever. Fantastic! After Stream of Passion's show was finished we
unfortunately had no time to chat with the bandmembers, which was quite a pity. It was also very busy and
René didn't want to spend any more time here because of his relatives.
During the show I truly enjoyed the music, but on request of acquaintances and internet contacts I took a lot
of photos also this time. At the end I noticed that I had taken nearly 300 photos again -- enough material
for a good selection for the website. I chose the best photos and edited them slightly. Please take a look
at the Photo album and enjoy the nice
photos.
After this show I thought that I would be going to two more Stream of Passion shows in the United Kingdom,
but because of some some idiotic reasons the UK Immigration officers denied access to some of the bandmembers
and these shows were cancelled. This news arrived to us when we were already in the UK. You can read more
about these details on the Boat trip page.
So, after all, the show in Dordrecht was to be the last show of Stream of Passion for this tour. Looking back
on it all, it is such a pity for both the band and the fans that we couldn't celebrate a crazy goodbye-party
in Dordrecht... Anyway, I had a fantastic time during the rehearsal and all 9 shows I attended! I will
cherish all these great memories. Thanks a lot, Soppies!
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