LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD

Stream Of Passion felt they needed to silence their critics by releasing a live performance of their new music. Some people thought that the band was suspect because the first studio release Embrace The Storm came together by exchanging files over the internet. Arjen "Ayreon" Luccassen and the rest of the band are all over the globe so there was no other way at the time to make the recording happen. The results were fantastic and the album garnered some great reviews and it continues to gather momentum, the critics be damned! This is a common practice these days and many great albums have resulted by using the available technologies to eliminate the logistical nightmares that previously killed many great projects before their birth, leaving just a thought or an idea on the table, never to be revisited again. Welcome to 2006 and all the wonderful mediums at our disposal.

The Live In The Real World DVD (also available as two CD set) removes any doubt or speculation that this band is not the real deal and capable of performing their studio cuts and a range of previous Ayreon tracks just as well or if not better in a live setting. Marcela Bovio is magnetic on stage and she has her equally beautiful sister Diana by her side to provide the outstanding backup vocals necessary for all of the tracks the band runs through on the DVD. Damian Wilson (Threshold, Rick Wakeman) steps up and steers the ship for the Ayreon classics "The Castle Hall" and "Into the Black Hole." His voice is widely recognized in the world of progressive rock and he is one of the most sought after lead vocalist today. Arjen knows who the best are and always manages to bring them into his projects at some point. The title track is one of the more dynamic and exciting performances and I can see why it was the choice for a single and video shoot. Every track has the ability to stand on its own and I enjoyed it so much, a few days later I watched it again.

This DVD whetted my appetite and brought my anxiousness to another level. I have to see this band play live, one way or another it has to happen. I think Arjen has put together a lethal combination of musicians, writers, and vocalists, well he always does but this time it is exceptional, there is special energy going on between these people. Once again, I have to credit the entire band for their excellence.

Here is the lineup:

Arjen Lucassen: What else can I say about him? Over the years I have spoke of his brilliance and my feelings remain the same-He is one of the best guitar players and composers on the planet and he continues to come up with new ideas and compositions that are engaging and unique. This is what makes Lucassen one of the more distinctive artists in recorded music today.

Marcela Bovio: She is a true to form temptress on stage, always dancing about and jumping around with her alluring and mysterious vocals. She works that stage as if it was her home. She is also the lead vocalist for Elfonia, her excellent prog-rock band from Mexico.

Alejandro Milan: He creates a wall of sound with his piano and strings, and then adds some surprisingly good vocals in as well.

Lori Linstruth: Her razor sharp guitar lines and good looks are one of the highlights of the show, although she needs to come out from behind all of those beautiful golden locks and look at her audience some more. Lori does a nice job answering Arjen's guitar lines blow for blow and at times leads the way.

Johan Van Startum and Davy Mickers: They hold down the bottom end with authority, forming a formidable rhythm section that truly stands out as one of the best out there today. When you hear the complexity of some of the arrangements and watch these two put it all together while keeping it all marching in a straight line, it is a thing of beauty to watch.

Diana Bovio: Marcela's little sister. Obviously has a tremendous voice all her own that will find its way leading her own band some day.

And of course, the prominent guest Damian Wilson for his contributions.

The bonuses are great fun as well, the tour dairy, the making of the "Out In The Real World" video and then the entire full length mesmerizing video, wrap this fine package of entertainment up. This DVD is a necessary purchase for the legions of Arjen followers and prog rockers all over the world that have been waiting for this day to arrive. There is no doubt, and there never has been that the talent of Stream Of Passion was fully realized in the studio, and now it comes to life on stage before your eyes, enjoy the magic.

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck- www.muzikreviews.com

One of the best concerts I have ever seen! There is never a dull moment. Some of the songs sound different than they did originally, but I do not think that is a bad thing. Valley of the Queens has drumming, it originally did not. This version of the song is also heavier. Other songs that sound different do so because of a change of singer(s). They do well while covering Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks. I prefer that cover over the original! Marcela Bovio sings well and emotionally. She's a good multi-tasker. There are moments when she transitions well and in good time from singing to playing the violin and vice versa. Pretty much half of the time Stream of Passion material is played. And the other half of the time, Ayreon material is played. The whole concert is performed very well. If the songs aren't as good as they were originally, they're very close to being as good.

Don`t you love Marcela`s voice?

If not, you have to listen to it again and again, or why not, watch this concert and get convinced that her voice is unique and beautiful, but well, i wont talk about Marcela, but about Stream of Passion, in fact only about this DVD called Live in the Real World, refering to their single and great song "Out in the Real World".

We all know that Stream of Passion is the last Arjen`s project, and maybe the most critisized for the last years, maybe because it`s commercial sound, not commercial around the world, but at least in Holland it was a tremendous hit, some might consider Embrace the Storm as a metal album lack of new ideas and with a poppish sound, but with it`s Arjen`s style, i mean if you listen the self titled song Embrace the Storm you will notice a clear Ayreon sound. Being an Arjen and Marcela`s fan, it was obvious that i shall obtain their new Live DVD album, and what happened?, i love it!

Embrace the Storm has only 12 songs, i dont remember the lenght of the whole album, but have for sure that its less than an hour, so you can imagine that a concert shouldn`t be that short, Arjen and Stream of Passion thought similar, and it was a suitable desicion because you can`t make a tour with playing only 12 songs of your debut album, for that reason, Live in the Real World features 20 live songs which were taken for the different Arjen`s projects, the most of them are Ayreon`s songs (3 of The Human Equation where Marcela sings), one of Star One and also one of Ambeon, which makes the concert more enjoyable to any Arjen fan, despite some of the songs dont sound as good as the original ones, i mean for example Day 3 Pain, doesn`t sounds great, despite Marcela`s beautiful voice, i miss Devin and Devon in that song, but for example in the other hand we find "The Castle Hall" from Into the Electric Castle where Damian Wilson appears with his powerful voice, and it is another great moment because we can appreciate the song as in the original CD (at least some parts).

The concert is great, we can see the talent of the band, they are not a superb band, the music is not the most complex at all ,but its great , i bet you can have a good time whatching this video, i dont see any weak point ... well maybe Day 3, and When the Levve Breaks, yes, the Led Zep cover, which is a good effort but i would prefer not to see it with them.

It`s a good show, Arjen is always moving and shaking that crazy hair, Lori has a very particula guitar playing, i like her way, and Marcela, oh man, what can i say about her, her voice is as good as in the studio albums, simply beautiful, another good point of this tour was the inclusion of Marcela`s sister, Diana, who has a nice voice, she makes the backing vocals , and as i said above, the guest musician is Damina Wilson with the Ayreon touch, my favorite moments are "Passion", "Computer Eyes", "Haunted", "Deceiver", "Nostalgia" (a song 100% performed by mexican people) and "The Castle Hall", finishing the concert we will find Day 11, which again i miss Heather or Mikael, but anyway its a good performance.

Also this DVD features a 15 minute Behind the Scenes, where we can see some of their moments when they were in tour, they share with us their experience which is always good, the video and making of Out in the Real World, and a photo gallery.

For all that reasons, i will give this DVD 4 stars, i really love it, i love the band, but i can`t consider it a masterpiece, anyway it`s highly recommended to any prog fan.

Double U, OH, Double U...

I've been following SoP since they formed, basically, and so it happened I would see this tour live in Zoetermeer (which isn't where it was filmed, by the way, but the setting and band looks really really similar).

What we have here is a DVD of a new band Arjen "Ayreon" Lucassen has put together. Three dutchies (Arjen, Davy, Johan), three mexicans (Marcela, Alejandro, Diana), an american swede (Lori), and a guest star from the UK (DAMIAN!!!!). Could it get any better? Probably, but not much more, I can say that. There were critics who doubted SoP's ability to pull material off live because of the distance between them, and because the debut album was formed almost entirely over the internet. They're silenced now, I think.

You have to love it, though. This could be seen as "just another gothic metal band" in the veins of WITHIN TEMPTATION, EVANESCENCE, EPICA, and LACUNA COIL, though SoP does have it's own sound. First of all, no grunters in this band. Two singing sisters, occassionally backed by Arjen and Alejandro.

They play all the metally songs from their debut album and leave out the softer ones with the exception of "Nostalgia". Furthermore they play a good collection of Ayreon songs, with a little Star One and Ambeon hidden between them. Some songs were already on the Star One DVD, but most of them are not. Besides, it's an entirely different thing when they're being sung by all-female vocals. Plus, several songs from "The Human Equation" come to pass, as well. Near the ending, Damian Wilson joins the band for a very energetic version of "The Castle Hall", and the beautiful "Into The Black Hole". He was support act for the band, playing his acoustic solo songs before the SoP show began.

The visuals...well, they're dark, with shades of red, blue and green. Overall a nice atmosphere which isn't too dark or bright. The more recent summer shows had very very bright light which was nothing like this DVD, really.

The band is professional in every sense of the word. The instruments are played masterfully, the vocals are simply stunning, and the display gives off both the mystery of the songs, as well as a general feel of enjoyment. The band obviously loves playing live. The extras are all nice (and funny) to watch, too. The audio CD set contains the same set of songs, and is very nice to just put on if you don't feel like a DVD.

Conclusion? Gothic metal fans will love this, as will general progmetal and Ayreon fans. For me, this DVD has lots of personal feelings attached to it, as I've been to this tour not so long ago. 5 stars, definately, for I think it outmatches WITHIN TEMPTATION, EVANESCENCE and the rest with ease. Good luck finding a flaw. (Though there will always be people who love looking for even the tiniest flaw and complain about that..lol)

Yours, Tailscent

CHAIN REACTION

That's what happened to most of us that heard Ayreon's THE HUMAN EQUATION, that led us to listen Stream Of Passion, and in my case led me to get into Elfonía, then, going to see SoP live last year when they played in Mexico city along with Xandria(a gothic band) and Anathema, to finally buy this DVD.

And i did it not only because i liked their album EMBRACE THE STORM, but i thought they were even better in concert and that´s something not easy to find, that a band play themes maybe not exactly as the studio version, but with more energy, passion and charisma. I was really hypnotized by their live performance so i had to have it in DVD. And it was no disappointment as the disc is almost identical to the concert i saw with the exception of Damian Wilson who wasn't in Mexico's gig.

One of the hightlights of this DVD is that, SoP being a young band, there was a lot of space to play many of the songs of other Arjen's projects like Ayreon, Star One and Ambeon, which was a good experience to watch these versions live. Another strong point is the performance of each member, all of them giving a great effort to achieve an excellent recital, but i can say that the ladies stole the show, specially Marcela with her heavenly voice and a great management of stage, and Lori, with also a strong stage precence and an incredible guitar playing. The cherry on the cake could be the inclusion of Damian Wilson to add his powerful vox to "The Castle Hall" and "Into The Black Hole".

The extras are also very interesting with the 'behind the scenes' that show them in rehersals, soundchecks, touring, meets and greets, etc.,the video clip of "Out in The Real World" and its making of, an excellent tour diary of all the band's members excluding Arjen and the classic photo gallery.

I feel sad because i have to give this amazing DVD a 4 star rating because is clasified as Prod related, and give it a 5 star would mean essential of Prog music, and maybe is not, but i'm sure is essential for all Metal, Gothic, Ayreon, Marcela Bovio and good music fans.

So 4 stars it is.

Viva el Prog!

I'll admit my cheese detector started twitching just a bit when I began with this DVD but the show is so enjoyable it's hard to care. They pack immediacy, catchiness, an almost unbelievably vivid sound. The pop element is certainly undeniable wrapped in a nimble, tight metal band with talents that astound, vocally and otherwise. Not complex or difficult in any way, the tracks have a similar feel throughout but remain focused on entertainment and energy. This being a rental disc I have spent too little time to comment much on the material, this is but a flash impression. Sharp chugging metal chords, monster drumming, vibrant and colorful keyboard passages, angelic vocals. If you enjoy things like Nightwish, All About Eve, Evanescence, After Forever.you will no doubt appreciate Stream. There is even a bit of a side one Hounds of Love feel in certain tracks, heavier of course, but present. It's shot on a very lowly lit stage, one of the darkest you'll ever see with sharp accent lighting just where necessary. As mentioned the sound is fantastic and the presentation as good as it gets.