Arena news

[maddox]

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.

I never been to Hedon, Zwolle but in fact I was thinking about it.
Sadly my wife has to work that evening but she may be able to reschedule her roster.

[PH]

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.

I never been to Hedon, Zwolle but in fact I was thinking about it.

Me neither. But I'd love to team up with some of you.

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

Agreed. Or maybe the Scattered Room is applicable as well. Or the Gloom Room.

[erik]

I never been to Hedon, Zwolle but in fact I was thinking about it.


Me neither. But I'd love to team up with some of you.

The previous tour was the first gig I saw in Hedon, really nice venue and good sound IMHO

Agreed. Or maybe the Scattered Room is applicable as well. Or the Gloom Room.

Good one 😊

[maddox]

Agreed. Or maybe the Scattered Room is applicable as well. Or the Gloom Room.

Lurkers Box instead of The Tinder Box.

[PH]

OK, so, for the Zwolle gig (May 4th):

Maddox has to ask his wife for permission first
Teunis is going
Erik is going
PH is going, with his dad (who doesn't like Arena, so should be fun...)

And, for the Zoetermeer gig (May 12th):

Erik, so far the only one
The Butterfly Man

[maddox]

OK, so, for the Zwolle gig (May 4th):

Maddox has to ask his wife for permission first

[PH]

So Maddox, will we be seeing you today?

My dad and I are already on our way to Zwolle.
We don't want to be on the road at 20:00, when the commemoration is going on. But the weather is nice and we both have a day off so we leave early and make the most of it.

[PH]

If anyone is reading this. I'm wearing a grey shirt and jeans. 😂

[erik]

If anyone is reading this. I'm wearing a grey shirt and jeans. 😂

I read it but did not spot you in the crowd.. 🤨 Hope you enjoyed the gig, I sure did!!
Great show, look forward to episode 2 in Zoetermeer which is close to selling out.

[PH]

I read it but did not spot you in the crowd.. 🤨 Hope you enjoyed the gig, I sure did!!
Great show, look forward to episode 2 in Zoetermeer which is close to selling out.

I enjoyed it A LOT! Yesterday was possibly the best gig experience I've had. The sound was perfect, I could see everything very well and the music was excellent of course!
The two new songs were great! Especially The Mirror Lies, which is stuck in my head now.

PH is going, with his dad (who doesn't like Arena, so should be fun...)

My dad also liked it. He said he was positively surprised and I saw him smiling a few times during the gig. Beforehand he always said that he doesn't like the Arena vocalists (too overly dramatic, he says). But yesterday he was praising Paul Manzi's performance. "What a voice" he said. Haha, very cool.
And I think he's starting to like Arena now, because I just caught him listening to "The Visitor".
I believe in miracles. Hehe.

[Teunis]

I was also there, great gig indeed . The sound is always crystal clear @ Hedon Zwolle and not too loud! Won't spoil anything but the long closer just before the encores was probably my favourite . Too bad we haven't met, don't know what you look like . I stood at the right just after the sound engineers. Pretty close  to the bar .

[PH]

I was also there, great gig indeed . The sound is always crystal clear @ Hedon Zwolle and not too loud! Won't spoil anything but the long closer just before the encores was probably my favourite . Too bad we haven't met, don't know what you look like . I stood at the right just after the sound engineers. Pretty close  to the bar .

My favourite was the whole Visitor set. There was several times that I had goosebumps.

I was pretty much in the middle of the room. Right after four young teenagers. Or so they seemed to be, to me. Man, I guess that means I'm starting to get old now...
I expected they would take a break after the Visitor set, but they just kept on going! Didn't have anything to drink, because I didn't want to miss anything.

Next time we really should bring flyers and a banner with "Hey! I'm with the Shattered Room Forum!" haha! 

[The Butterfly Man]

OK, so, for the Zwolle gig (May 4th):

Maddox has to ask his wife for permission first
Teunis is going
Erik is going
PH is going, with his dad (who doesn't like Arena, so should be fun...)

And, for the Zoetermeer gig (May 12th):

Erik, so far the only one

You can put me on the list for Zoetermeer, I'll be joining Erik. And we'll have a pizza beforehand... 

Tom

[PH]

Great to see you again Tom!
You're going to have a great time! Don't forget to wave at the cameras, since they're recording for a dvd release.

Unfortunately I can't be there on the 12th, because I'm in Crete at that time...

Off topic: I'd love to hear what you think were some great releases in 2016 and 2017, because we haven't seen you for so long, and I value your opinion on great musical releases.

[erik]

My favourite was the whole Visitor set. There was several times that I had goosebumps.

I was pretty much in the middle of the room. Right after four young teenagers. Or so they seemed to be, to me. Man, I guess that means I'm starting to get old now...
I expected they would take a break after the Visitor set, but they just kept on going! Didn't have anything to drink, because I didn't want to miss anything.

Next time we really should bring flyers and a banner with "Hey! I'm with the Shattered Room Forum!" haha! 

"A little track we like to call The Visitor" (to quote Clive) was my favorite part of the set as well. Great to hear and see it performed in its entirety after 20 years. And now we finally know those barely audible spoken words Blood Red Room, because they were shown on the screen The new stuff went down well too, especially Mirror Lies. I also saved my drinks for after the show as not to miss anything

I was at the right side, together with marcelthecage, approx 2-3 metres from the stage, pretty much aligned with John M. Indeed, we should think of something to recognise the Roomies, print the logo top left on a T shirt or something

[erik]

I was also there, great gig indeed . The sound is always crystal clear @ Hedon Zwolle and not too loud!

I agree, great sound @Hedon, I already noticed with the Unquiet Sky Tour (first time I was there) and it was confirmed again with this gig. Nice venue overall, intimate and spacious at the same time. The band love it too and were eager to come again after Unquiet Sky.

[PH]

And now we finally know those barely audible spoken words Blood Red Room, because they were shown on the screen

And they were spoken by John Mitchell. So, did you write down the words? Haha!

The new stuff went down well too, especially Mirror Lies.

Absolutely! This may sound a bit pathetic, but as soon as they told us that they were gonna play a new song I felt a bit nervous. First they played Poisoned and that was good, but not groundbreaking. It reminded me of How Did It Come To This?, but I like HDICTT? a bit better. The Mirror Lies certainly didn't disappoint! Probably my favourite of the new album, along with The Legend Of Elijah Shade.

I was at the right side, together with marcelthecage, approx 2-3 metres from the stage, pretty much aligned with John M. Indeed, we should think of something to recognise the Roomies, print the logo top left on a T shirt or something

Good idea. Or maybe badges or something. I can make buttons with the Shattered Room logo and send them to all the Roomies.

[The Butterfly Man]

Great to see you again Tom!
You're going to have a great time! Don't forget to wave at the cameras, since they're recording for a dvd release.

Unfortunately I can't be there on the 12th, because I'm in Crete at that time...

Off topic: I'd love to hear what you think were some great releases in 2016 and 2017, because we haven't seen you for so long, and I value your opinion on great musical releases.

Thanks, nice to hear! Will see if I ever come round to do that. Life was already complicated with one kid running around (24 hours in a day does not even come close to being enough ), and now there's even another one (although that one's not running around - yet )!

The gig was fantastic. I missed the Unquiet Sky tour so had not seen Arena since 2011. So it was about time. As I already mentioned, we had a pizza beforehand and a nice little "Cage-reunion" and as good as it was, the best of the evening was still to come. I really enjoyed seeing The Visitor in it's entirety for the first time. What a masterpiece of an album it still is today. Afterwards I spoke to Paul Manzi and I mentioned to him that the best part for me was how he really made The Visitor his own. He thanked me and said that he put a lot of effort in portraying the various characters. And you could tell. He made subtle alterations to some of the vocal lines and especially 'Tears' he sung with so much passion and emotion. I can't wait to hear it again on the recording. Hope they will release it on blu-ray since I don't do dvd anymore. But I understand that it will probably be a cost-thing and that they'll only release it on dvd.

The rest of the set - especially The Mirror Lies - was also great, although I could do without Crying For Help VII. I'm so tired of hearing that. I would rather have them play another song from the catalog instead. No matter what song. Any song!

Tom

[erik]

Nice interview with Clive, in Dutch;
http://www.progwereld.org/cms/interview-met-clive-nolan-double-vision-kan-wel-eens-een-van-onze-beste-cds-worden/

Some interesting remarks: more live dates coming up next year, with more Double Vision tracks in the set and the big track Elijah Shade might get a live rendition!