Electric Castle Live and Other Tales

After positive reactions to the Ayreon Universe shows, Lucassen decided to supervise a live version of Into the Electric Castle in a style similar to The Theater Equation, to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary.[1]

The four Electric Castle Live and Other Tales shows were performed between September 13 and 15 of 2019 (with two performances on the last day) in Tilburg; unlike The Theater Equation, which was performed as an unofficial series of shows titled Ayreon's The Human Equation Theater Experience with the recording being later released as an official Ayreon release, Electric Castle Live and Other Tales was performed as a series of official Ayreon shows. Singers Anneke van Giersbergen, Damian Wilson, Edward Reekers, Edwin Balogh, Fish, and George Oosthoek returned to reprise their roles from the original album, alongside drummer Ed Warby and flutist Thijs van Leer; Lucassen also reprised his role as the Hippie, unlike in The Theater Equation, in which he had been replaced by Jermain "Wudstik" van der Bog and only made a small appearance at the end.[2] New additions include John "Jaycee" Cuijpers of Praying Mantis, Simone Simons of Epica, Marcela Bovio of Mayan, and Mark Jansen of both Epica and Mayan, with actor John de Lancie acting as narrator.[2][3] Actor John de Lancie, of whom Lucassen was a long-time fan due to De Lancie's role as Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation, was announced on October 8, 2018 as the playing the role of "The Voice" in the last performances, replacing Peter Daltrey from the original album.[4]

After performing the album in its entirety, the cast performed several songs from other Lucassen projects: "Shores of India" from the album The Diary by his band The Gentle Storm with Van Giersbergen, "Ashes" from the album Fate of a Dreamer by his former project Ambeon, "Out in the Real World" from Embrace the Storm by his former band Stream of Passion with Bovio and her ex-husband Johan van Stratum (who performs bass on the live album), "Pink Beatles in a Purple Zeppelin" from his solo album Lost in the New Real, and "Songs of the Ocean" from Space Metal by his project Star One with Wilson; they also performed a cover of Kayleigh", a song by Marillion from Fish's time with the band.[5]

The album was available to pre-order in five editions: the Super Deluxe Wooden Box Set for €159,00, limited to 1500 copies worldwide, the 5-disc Earbook for €49,99, the Gold Vinyl Edition for €27,99 the 2CD + DVD edition for €17,99, and the Blu-Ray for €17,99; the Gold Vinyl Edition does not contain the tracks "Robby Valentine (piano solo)", "Kayleigh", and "Speech by Arjen & Joost".[6]

It also features a documentary chronicling the making of the shows and the events behind-the-scenes of the show themselves.[5]