I love the fact that Damian is getting a bit of attention! It's my favourite singer and I'll always go see at least one gig whenever he's on tour. And his down-to-earth personality is great too, never too proud to interact with his audience. I've had a few long conversations with him on several occasions, and most of the time he came to us. A great anecdote I have about him is from Graspop a few years ago. Ayreon was signing with 10+ vocalists, and there was a really long line waiting for their turn. And then I saw this guy greeting all the fans that were waiting in line, taking pictures and taking a bit of time to talk with them. Of course, this was Damian Wilson. If you want to cover more of him, I seriously suggest looking into Headspace stuff, songs like Daddy Fucking Loves You where he really shows off his voice. I don't know there are good quality recordings of the live shows though. Of course, since it's your ideal Jean Valjean (and jokes on you, he already did that filling in for Colm Wilkinson himself in the 90's), there's always the option to cover his Bring Him Home rendition, a couple of good recordings of that are floating around on RU-vid.
I discoverd ayreon way to late in my live. I wish i could travel back in time to be able to go to these live shows, especially because they are so rare and almost always only happen once.
Make sure to check out Star One. 2nd album, victims of the modern age, one of best i ever heard Lot's of Damian, Dan, Russel and Floor. All songs are based on sci-fi classics. Top-tip: Closer to the stars.
I know, Arjen appreciates your reactions. Ayreon has to go ..... global. It's no radio material (with a lot of crap) but ...... for the happy few who are into "that's how music is intended". Btw. You deserve 50K by now 😉
I don't know if this has been said before - since this video is already 10-11 months old, but: The spoken text (in Dutch) at the beginning is 'ben ik schuldig door te leven?' which translates into English: 'am I guilty by living?'
Yaaaayy, my suggestion finally appeared :D You are now one of the *two* people now on YT that has reacted to this MASTERPIECE. Damian and Arjen FOR THE WIN! I was *slack-jawed* when I heard that live. I've only been to live shows a few times in my life, but the few times I do go, I make them count ahahah
I'm suggesting this performance all over the place and I'm not heard ;( I love most of Ayreon at least the last 20 years and this is probably my favourite, at least top 3.
The whole Guilt Machine album is incredible. Jasper Steverlinck was the singer for this side project, but Damian did do it justice live imo. I do encourage you to check out Jasper's versions (or another song) as well.
Bands represented in Electric Castle and Other Tales Live Epica: Simone and Mark harsh and clean vocals Mayan: Marcela, Mark and George harsh and clean vocals Ex Libris: Bob (smiling short haired guitarist), Joost Keyboards and of course my crush Dianne back up vocals.
AFAIK Damian actually played Jean Valjean in a UK production of Les Mis, there are also a few videos on RU-vid of him singing Bring Him Home at live shows.
I had the luck of being at this concert, front line, I loved this version with Damian in vocals, I still prefer Jasper's performance for this song but Damian did a superb job as always.
I prefer the album version ... Jasper Steverlinck absolutely nailed the vocals on the whole album and especially on the last part of this song! Damian does a good job, but there is something missing. I guess his "vocal sound" doesnt fit the song. It is known that, for Guilt Machine, Arjan had a hard time finding the perfect vocalist for this album. He was used to assigning different vocalistst to a certain part. Since Guilt Machine wasn't a story, he needed a vocalist with variety. Damian was known to him back then I think so there's a reason he wasn't the original singer. Please react to the album version!
