Flutist's 'Amazing' reaction to Ayreon's Amazing Flight 

You can now send me your reaction suggestions directly here: forms.gle/jd1Fa1SQH7ZJreaPA. Can't wait to see your suggestions! 😄🙏

Thijs Van Leer is a world class flautist and has played classical pieces with many orchestras worldwide and is the leader of the fantastic Dutch band Focus

That was legendary on so many levels and Thijs van Leer was a big part of it. I know the nxt Ayreon live one is probably on your radar already, so I'll just CTRL-v my recommendation for the biggest "flute" ever to appear in an Ayreon gig: "Ayreon - Day Sixteen: Loser (Universe) LYRICS IN SUBS". Hail to all flutes great & small! Cheers from Amsterdam!

The tall 'hippy' guy is Arjen Lucassen, who is the mastermind behind Ayreon. He writes all of the music and performs most of the instruments himself. It is very special to actually see him onstage singing or playing anything because he has terrible stagefright. It's why he very, VERY rarely tours or plays live. These Ayreon shows they do every few years are the only time you will see him on stage, even though he has multiple projects and could easily put together a very successful touring band. But he would much rather stay at home, watch STAR TREK and make awesome records.

Thijs is just a master of music, so of course he's going to work with Arjen. It's always so much fun to see Arjen himself on stage singing. He doesn't like performing in public, claiming he has a certain level of stage fright, but when he appears, he commends the stage like few others with his presence. A fun reaction, thanks so much!

Ah, that was the one I was suggesting. So, great, you've already reacted to it.

Yes, truly epic performance. Rock opera I would call it. Amazing is not enuf word. Awesome fluting! 🫶 Great reaction !👌

I love your reaction videos Clarie. Ayreon is amazing ❤❤🎶🎶

This was the second song of the Into the Electric Castle and other Tales live show, where the whole concept album plus a few extras were played. It is a continuing story, so you can say it is a rock opera. Arjen Lucassen, the man behind the Ayreon project, utilises quite a bit of different wind instruments in his compositions. His other main flutist is Jeroon van Goosens. He plays a quite unusual instrument in the song Loser. I would love to see more Ayreon on your channel. I was lucky to see them live this year, they are truly amazing.

This truly sounds like part of a rock opera. Loved that throbbing beat to start this tune, excellent musicians especially the guitarist and of course the dialogue between flute and violin was most flutiful.

🎉🎉🎉

Experiencing the live show is an amazing flight in Space! Really enjoyed your reaction!

I was one of those 12.000 attending, and to this day it is still the best ever concert i have been to... (even better that his last 01011001 show)

First saw the wonderful Thijs van Leer live 50 years ago with Focus and he's lost none of his brilliance over the years 😍 One of the most innovative musicians of his generation !

Netherlands Nightwish Brigade reporting in.

You can also react to Ayreon project band she who play flute there have some awesome skills

Is that Q at the beginning is very type rock band 😁 and I can tell your loving this Claire got bit of classic and rock

Now you can do: Ayreon RIVER OF TIME universe (With Flute)

Love this Ayreon stuff.

Great reaction to a great performance, and always nice to see Thijs van Leer playing flute or Hammond. I noticed on RU-vid channel of Vincent Lyons a video of a 2022 performance by Focus with Thijs van Leer on flute playing their hit House of the King. Very flutifull, I would say, but I will gladly let you be the judge of that.

Hey Claire, this is what i call music, composed by Arjen Lucassen (the hippie in this video) the live version sounds so great...like it more than the studio version...how about ''the Day that the World Breaks Down"? bye from the Netherlands👋👋👋👋

Lovely reaction and thank you for the shout out. The keyboardist is Joost van den Broek who was in Floor Jansen's first band After Forever and has gone on to be a major record producer working with bands like Epica, Blackbriar, Powerwolf and others. He is Arjen's right hand man for the live Ayreon shows. Ben Mathot is the violinist and is regular in Ayreon along with Ed Warby on drums. The bassist is Johan van Stratum who is in all of the live shows and was the bassist in another Arjen Lucassen project called Stream of Passion. The two ladies who are the backing singers are Diane van Giersbergen (Ex Libris and former lead singer of Xandria) and Marcela Bovio (Lead Singer of Stream of Passion and Mayan). You met Marcela in your Valley of the Queens. She was the lady with wine colored hair harmonizing with Floor and Anneke. So a little about the storyline. John de Lancie is playing the part of the Forever which is similar to his role as Q in Star Trek. The Forever are creatures that evolved from the ten humans that escaped from their home planet Alpha in the Andromeda galaxy before all the humans on the planet were destroyed by a single computer called the Frame. To survive on their new home, a water planet near the star Sirrah, they take a drug called Liquid Eternity that allows them to live underwater, communicate telepathically, and achieve immortality. Over time the Forever lose their ability to feel emotions. They bring 8 humans (which they created by seeding a comet with their DNA and sending it to Earth) from different times and places on Earth to the Electric Castle in an experiment to try and understand and rediscover emotions.

Peace and prosperity,🤟

Thijs van Leer, my musical hero for so many years now and still going strong.

Hello Matey. I love your taste in music. Greetings from Aldbrough just up the road from you again. Take care. John.x

The man himself, Arjen, playing the hippie didn’t have to source a special costume for his performance, I’m sure he just went to his closet and picked some of his regular clothes!

You should do a reaction to Jethro Tull.

👍 just top !

One of my first influences with the flute. Jack Traylor (guy in front) was my English teacher back in the late '60s. The guy in the back in the middle is Craig Chaquico. We were in the same class. Craig went on to perform with Jefferson Starship. He wrote the song, "Jane". That's my two cents worth. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6hK-aorU8Vw.html

Who else to play a mischievous omnipotent being than John de Lancie. 😃

Small comment: the name is AyrEon (pronounce: air-e-on).

phonetically it sounds like "AIR-ree-on" 😉 Try Eyevory - Requiem Aeternam

That was Thijs van Leer from the band Focus (70s) . Focus was an international respected and well known band. Back in those days he also was a gifted organ player, singer and Jodeling in the song Hocus Pocus. If you look for that, well there is a funny story about a famous show in the US they played on. They had to shorten the song to around 3 minutes. The band said, but we want to play the whole song, so lets play it uptempo. And so they did that on live.

Try PFM la carrozza di Hans