Arena news

[Cagemember 321]

Same setlist yesterday in Essen as Erik posted, but at the beginning of the encores, they played a very very good version of Queen's "Show must go on". Excellent.

All in all: great gig, very very powerful.
Paul is a great singer, maybe the best vin the line of singers at Arena. A bit too much trill in his voice, but expressive, powereful both at the darker and lighter passages. Nearly perfect.
Clive had much fun with his "360° Keyboard", John was perfect as always - the whining guitar is probably the best in Progmusic. Kyle was solid, together with Mick the rythm section was adrift and powerful.
Sound was OK for the venue.

The setlist was quite good, I liked all of the songs but I must say, I was disappointed, that they left out on the "20 anniversary tour" the first two albums (except the unfortunate crying for help) completely. For me, e.g. Solomon is a must have... But this was the only dissapointment of the evening.
Song of the evening was definetely "The hanging tree".
Traveled nearly 100km to see the guys again and it was all worth it.

Thank you, Arena. Cheers to the next 20 years of the music of my life.

[Teunis]

For me, e.g. Solomon is a must have... But this was the only dissapointment of the evening.

Clive Nolan wrote on his Facebook page that 'Solomon' is back on the setlist, from yesterday. Now all albums are represented. Too late for us though .

Speaking of Facebook, Arena seems to have a new Facebook page .

[PH]

Clive Nolan wrote on his Facebook page that 'Solomon' is back on the setlist, from yesterday. Now all albums are represented. Too late for us though .

Speaking of Facebook, Arena seems to have a new Facebook page .

So what happened to this one then?

[Teunis]

So what happened to this one then?

I know, I also wondered. They've lost the password or the band wants a FB page for every new album .

[Cagemember 321]

Clive Nolan wrote on his Facebook page that 'Solomon' is back on the setlist, from yesterday. Now all albums are represented. Too late for us though .

Bad and sad news :-(
Hope they play it for the DVD recording...

[PH]

Bad and sad news :-(
Hope they play it for the DVD recording...

Why is this bad news?
I mean, I can understand why you might be feeling sad about it because you missed it.
But how can it possibly be bad news?

[Teunis]

At last: news about the upcoming DVD release including cover artwork: here.

It is looking great and I'm sure it will sound great too .

[PH]

The setlist is looking great! Moviedrome, Solomon, The Butterfly Man, and the rest. Really good!
The only downside for me is the artwork... I always think it's very unimaginative to use the front cover of the latest studio album. They also did that with their previous live dvd.
But, I'll probably get this one, regardless of the cover!

[Teunis]

Read in the Arena newsletter I received today:

SOME RUMOURS...
There are rumours about a new Arena album as well as a 2018 Jubilee Tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "The Visitor",  we would like to say that these rumours are true! 

More info coming soon in 2017!

[PH]

Read in the Arena newsletter I received today:

SOME RUMOURS...
There are rumours about a new Arena album as well as a 2018 Jubilee Tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "The Visitor",  we would like to say that these rumours are true! 

More info coming soon in 2017!

Also read it. Very excited about that!!

[maddox]

Read in the Arena newsletter I received today:

SOME RUMOURS...
There are rumours about a new Arena album as well as a 2018 Jubilee Tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "The Visitor",  we would like to say that these rumours are true! 

More info coming soon in 2017!

[Teunis]

Writing has begun. From Clive's Facebook page:

So - we finally begun writing a new Arena album - it always begins with that scary 'empty page'

[PH]

That is of course fantastic news! Let's hope that the line-up is still the same because the last album was very very good!
So, there's no album title yet. But I'd probably buy it even when it's called "New Album".

I guess this can be either a concept album or a conceptual album, since the concept/conceptual cycle that started with "The Visitor" was broken with "The Unquiet Sky" (being a concept album).

Anyway, I hope there will be lots of guitar and keyboard solos. Or even long(er) instrumental sections like the middle part of Solomon.
But I trust Clive, Mick and John and the rest. They've never made a bad album.

[Teunis]

Newsletter from today:

ARENA
NEW ALBUM
We have started writing a new Arena album, we'll be sending out updates and videos from the studio as it all progresses this year.

VISITOR 20
We are currently planning a European tour for April / May 2018 to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of 'The Visitor'.  We'd love to visit some new venues if possible and would like to hear of any recommendations you may have.  Contact us at info@arenaband.co.uk and we'll see if we can make it work! (p.s - we can't promise anything!)

SHOP
You can get 20% off all orders through the Arena website in April, just use the code SPRING20 at the checkout to receive the discount.

---
MICK POINTER
Due to popular demand, The Mick Pointer Band is returning to Zoetermeer to play live at the Boerderij on Saturday April 22nd, visit http://cultuurpodiumboerderij.nl/en/programma/mick-pointer-friends/ for tickets and more info.


---
CLIVE NOLAN
"The Fire and the Quest 2", a mini festival celebrating the music of Clive Nolan, will take place at the Cheltenham Playhouse on September 1st and 2nd, 2017. The event will include a theatrical performance of Clive's Steampunk musical "Alchemy", an acoustic gig featuring Clive and his guests, and a grand premiere of Clive's new musical "King's Ransom" (soon to be released on CD). Tickets for the festival available at: http://shop.caamora.net/

http://www.kingsransomthemusical.com/


---
JOHN MITCHELL
John will release his second Lonely Robot album - The Big Dream - on April 28th, preceded by an Album Launch Show at Sub89, Reading on April 27th.  Visit http://johnmitchellhq.com for more info

[PH]

Yes I also got that one!

ARENA
NEW ALBUM
We have started writing a new Arena album, we'll be sending out updates and videos from the studio as it all progresses this year.

Ah great! That's fantastic news! If it's half as good as "The Unquiet Sky" I will be very happy!
For some reason I have a feeling that they'll make another concept album, with a lot of Visitor influences. Wishful thinking perhaps? "The Unquiet Sky" was a lot like "Immortal?" to me. So let's hope they'll take it another step further (or back!) to their magnum opus.

VISITOR 20
We are currently planning a European tour for April / May 2018 to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of 'The Visitor'.  We'd love to visit some new venues if possible and would like to hear of any recommendations you may have.  Contact us at info@arenaband.co.uk and we'll see if we can make it work! (p.s - we can't promise anything!)

This is the reason why I think (hope) the next album will be like The Visitor. I'm going to send in "De Flint" again as a possible venue. But probably (like last time) it won't make it.

SHOP
You can get 20% off all orders through the Arena website in April, just use the code SPRING20 at the checkout to receive the discount.

That's nice! But I already have everything...

About the solo releases:
I'm not that interested in yet another Script tour to be honest. Perhaps Mick needs a new project because Arena and Script alone is not much... Perhaps he can team up with Paul Wrightson and John Jowitt and start another Arena side project. Or is he still selling kitchens as well? What are Paul and John (and Ian) up to nowadays anyway?

I also need to get more into Clive's musicals. I still haven't watched the "She" dvd... I guess that's where I'll start.

John's new Lonely Robot album is auto-buy for me. "Please Come Home" didn't make it to my top ten list of 2015, but it really has grown on me since.

[Teunis]

The venue in Zwolle, The Netherlands (Hedon) announced a gig on 4th of May. You can count me in . The whole 'The Visitor' album .

[PH]

For some reason I have a feeling that they'll make another concept album, with a lot of Visitor influences. Wishful thinking perhaps? "The Unquiet Sky" was a lot like "Immortal?" to me. So let's hope they'll take it another step further (or back!) to their magnum opus.

This feeling is only getting bigger now that their calling their new album after one of the songs of "The Visitor".
My bet is on a sequel to "The Visitor". Really cool!

[maddox]

The venue in Zwolle, The Netherlands (Hedon) announced a gig on 4th of May. You can count me in . The whole 'The Visitor' album .

You will probably see me there as well.

[Teunis]

The website has been updated, cover of new album 'Double Vision' revealed, ready to pre order http://www.arenaband.co.uk/.

Getting into the mood for this one  .

[erik]

Bring it on!

https://www.loudersound.com/news/arena-reveal-artwork-for-double-vision

http://www.arenaband.co.uk/double-vision-teaser/

[erik]

The tour will be "1 hour of The Visitor and 1 hour of 'the best of the rest' and some new stuff"

The gig in Zoetermeer will be filmed for dvd, which will hopefully turn out better than the rather disappointing XX dvd

[PH]

The tour will be "1 hour of The Visitor and 1 hour of 'the best of the rest' and some new stuff"

The gig in Zoetermeer will be filmed for dvd, which will hopefully turn out better than the rather disappointing XX dvd

Great! Sounds good!

OK, so, Maddox, Teunis and Erik:

Will I be seeing you guys on May the 4th in Zwolle?

I won't be able to make it to the Boerderij gig unfortunately, because I'm on holiday then.

[erik]

I am going to both gigs, Zwolle and Zoetermeer, great to meet some Roomies, see you there PH!

[PH]

We could make flyers for the Shattered Room forum or something...
This forum is way too quiet...

[erik]

We could make flyers for the Shattered Room forum or something...
This forum is way too quiet...

Yes the Silent Room or Waiting Room is more apt these days 😐
I am one of the absent ones too of course 😬