This week, symphonic metal titans EPICA finally kicked off the Epic Apocalypse Tour 2023, a European co-headline tour with APOCALYPTICA, that will take them to 21 countries over the course of the next 3 months.
ust in time for the first show in Vilnius (the band’s first ever performance in Lithuania), they have released a new live video for ‘Rivers’, an atmospheric ballad off their latest full-length release Omega. Filmed in Santiago de Chile during the band’s Latin American Tour in 2022 by Panda Productions, the new live video is available here:
The band also have three vinyl re-releases ‘The Phantom Agony’, ‘Consign To Oblivion’ and ‘Design Your Universe (Gold Edition)’ that are out this Friday and available for purchase here: https://www.nuclearblast.com/uk/band/epica
Catch EPICA on one of the following dates – tickets and VIP upgrades are available from www.epica.nl/tour
— EPIC APOCALYPSE TOUR 2023 – with APOCALYPTICA + WHEEL -remaining dates 23.01.23 | Sentrum Scene | Oslo, NO 24.01.23 | Berns | Stockholm, SE 25.01.23 | Amager Bio | Copenhagen, DK 27.01.23 | AFAS | Amsterdam, NL 28.01.23 | Georg Elser Halle | Hamburg, DE *SOLD OUT* 29.01.23 | Ancienne Belgique | Brussels, BE *SOLD OUT* 30.01.23 | O2 Academy | Bristol, UK 01.02.23 | Rock City | Nottingham, UK 02.02.23 | O2 Academy | Glasgow, UK 03.02.23 | Academy | Manchester, UK 04.02.23 | Roundhouse | London, UK 06.02.23 | Den Atelier | Luxemburg, LU *SOLD OUT* 07.02.23 | Zenith | Paris, FR 08.02.23 | Le Bikini | Toulouse, FR 10.02.23 | Razzmatazz 1 | Barcelona, ES 11.02.23 | Gamma | Murcia, ES 12.02.23 | La Riviera | Madrid, ES 14.02.23 | Coliseum | Lisbon, PT 12.03.23 | Capitol | Hanover, DE 13.03.23 | Carlswerk Victoria | Cologne, DE 14.03.23 | Schlachthof | Wiesbaden, DE 15.03.23 | MHP Arena | Ludwigsburg, DE 17.03.23 | Komplex 457 | Zurich, CH 18.03.23 | Metropole | Lausanne, CH 19.03.23 | Fabrique | Milan, IT 20.03.23 | Tonhalle | Munich, DE 22.03.23 | Barba Negra | Budapest, HU 23.03.23 | Gasometer | Vienna, AT 24.03.23 | Hala Vodova | Brno, CZ 25.03.23 | Progresja | Warsaw, PL *SOLD OUT* 27.03.23 | B90 | Gdansk, PL 28.03.23 | Columbiahalle | Berlin, DE 29.03.23 | Haus Auensee | Leipzig, DE
The day has come for EPICA to finally release their Early Years Collector’s Editions “We Still Take You With Us”, including their first 3 albums, the rare ‘Live At Paradiso’ and their first official live recording at Netherland’s ‘Twee Meter Sessies’.
Tomorrow night, EPICA will perform a long sold-out show at the 013 in Tilburg featuring a huge stage production, special guests and some exclusive rare setlist choices to celebrate their 20th Anniversary and the release of these early years editions. For those in Tilburg, you can head down to experience the exclusive cinema premiere of ‘Live At Paradiso’ at Tilburg’s Pathé tonight. EPICA will also have a pop-up shop ahead of their show right next to Poppodium on Saturday between 12:00 and 17:00 to grab some of the freshly released boxset editions, signed copies or other rarities from the band’s personal archives!
For everyone not able to attend, you can watch a pro-shot stream of tomorrow’s live show with Epica and Sahara Dust at www.epicastream.com
Join us on one last trip down memory lane with this 4K remastered video for ‘Blank Infinity (Live At Paradiso)’ here:
Mark Jansen comments: “Blank Infinity is one of the songs from the ‘Consign To Oblivion’ album that we played a lot live during the early years. I sometimes miss the song in our set, but we have so much to choose from that nowadays it is impossible to integrate all of them!”
As well as the audio of ‘We Will Take You With Us’ finally being available on all streaming platforms today, the band has also launched all the videos from this release on their YouTube channel – check them out here.
— EPICA 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW – with SAHARA DUST 03.09.22 | Zaal 013 | Tilburg, NL | SOLD OUT!
— EPIC APOCALYPSE TOUR 2023 – with APOCALYPTICA + WHEEL 18.01.23 | Compensa Concert Hall | Vilnius, LTU *NEW* 19.01.23 | Arena Riga | Riga, LVA *NEW* 20.01.23 | Saku Arena | Tallinn, EST *NEW* 23.01.23 | Sentrum Scene | Oslo, NO 24.01.23 | Berns | Stockholm, SE 25.01.23 | Amager Bio | Copenhagen, DK 27.01.23 | AFAS | Amsterdam, NL 28.01.23 | Georg Elser Halle | Hamburg, DE 29.01.23 | AB | Brussels, BE 30.01.23 | O2 Academy | Bristol, UK 01.02.23 | Rock City | Nottingham, UK 02.02.23 | O2 Academy | Glasgow, UK 03.02.23 | Academy | Manchester, UK 04.02.23 | Roundhouse | London, UK 06.02.23 | Atelier | Luxemburg, LU 07.02.23 | Zenith | Paris, FR 08.02.23 | Le Bikini | Toulouse, FR 10.02.23 | Razzmatazz 1 | Barcelona, ES 11.02.23 | Gamma | Murcia, ES 12.02.23 | La Riviera | Madrid, ES 14.02.23 | Coliseum | Lisbon, PT 12.03.23 | Capitol | Hanover, DE 13.03.23 | Carlswerk Victoria | Cologne, DE 14.03.23 | Schlachthof | Wiesbaden, DE 15.03.23 | MHP Arena | Ludwigsburg, DE 17.03.23 | Komplex 457 | Zurich, CH 18.03.23 | Metropole | Lausanne, CH 19.03.23 | Fabrique | Milan, IT++ 20.03.23 | Tonhalle | Munich, DE 22.03.23 | Barba Negra | Budapest, HU 23.03.23 | Gasometer | Vienna, AT 24.03.23 | Hala Vodova | Brno, CZ 25.03.23 | Progresja | Warsaw, PL 27.03.23 | B90 | Gdansk, PL 28.03.23 | Columbiahalle | Berlin, DE 29.03.23 | Haus Auensee | Leipzig, DE
Jimmy Kay and Perrin Wolfson from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interviewed Epica‘s Lead singer Simone Simons. She talks about the band celebrating their 20 year anniversary with the release of “Live At Paradiso” (Sept 2) as well as re-issues their first three (“The Phantom Agony”, “Consign To Oblivion” and “The Score”), albums and the Livestream show on September 3, 2022.
In the chat Simmons also gives a quick update on the band’s upcoming studio album and talks about her favorite movies.
Tell us why the “Live At Paradiso” is being released now as it was recorded back in 2006 “It was buried very very deep in a lot of paperwork and we had to figure all of that out so after digging our way through the paperwork and legal stuff we got our hands on this recording. Back in the day when we recorded the DVD we also had the book which oh I should have mentioned. But the show was never released and of course time went by. We had a switch of record companies and we’ve been just so super super busy that we kind of lost track and weren’t in the mood to dig through all the paperwork that was necessary in order to retrieve it. Also the footage itself was never finalized, so it was basically lying in a box somewhere in the attic and waiting to be used. We actually did have to process the whole footage that we had in order to make it uh you know watchable. It’s vintage Epica, it’s a little treasure. We always do our very best to wrap it extra nicely with the artwork and everything. We are trying to draw the people into the Epica universe and in the background you see the artwork of all the other albums integrated into it to make it a nice little Epic package.”
Tell us about the upcoming live stream event on Sept 3 and the setlist “The Setlist is a little bit of a mixture, yeah definitely we have of course the latest album Omega which we never gotten a real chance to promote due to the pandemic but of course we are going to go through all the years of all the albums. So definitely some rare tracks and some visually pleasing guest appearances. I guess yeah, it’s going to be an epic show. The Livestream show is with a live crowd, it’s an actual show and around 3 000 people will be there and it’s sold out but you can also watch the Livestream.”
Tell us if you have any new music coming or a new album in the works “We have new music that will be released later this year and it’s not your typical Epica album. It’s something we’ve never done before, so definitely worth the anticipation . It will be released I think in early winter or something like that, let’s say early winter(2022). If it comes earlier than that it’s always better. We’re working on the artwork at the moment, we have the singles ready, I already shot a video for one of the songs so yeah it’s some new music. It’s a busy year for Epica. We’ve been busy during the pandemic with non-touring things and working behind the scenes on this. We like to call it the Secret Project. We have an online fan community which is called ‘Epic Universe’ and there we have been already spoiling a little bit of what the secret project is about so if people are curious they’re welcome to join Epic Universe. On the Epic Universe the fan club we’ve been posing a little bit behind the scenes things and you can hear like choir bits and pieces and orchestration.
When asked is there are still comparisons between Epica and Nightwish today “For people that are not familiar with metal music they are often compared to each other and there are definitely some similarities. I think Epica is, Epic Metal or I would call it Cinematic Metal. It’s very different to Nightwish because Nightwish also changed their style a little bit their style on the last two albums. Epica has also been working since day one on our own unique style and with each new band member that came, a new songwriter also contributed to the sound of Epica. So we have we have basically five songwriters within the band that creates Epica.”
When revisiting EPICA’s 20 year history, the band’s very first DVD recording “We Will Take You With Us” is a significant milestone, showing the 6 young musicians on Netherland’s renowned TV show ‘Twee Meter Sessies’ in 2004. Long before YouTube emerged, this broadcast presented the symphonic metallers to a wider audience and also included the first officially recorded live versions of their early hits like ‘Cry For The Moon’ or ‘Sensorium’.
While many EPICA fans might have already seen snippets of this release online, the CD has long been sold out. Finally, it’s available again as part of the “We Still Take You With Us” Earbook, collector’s boxset and CD clamshell box.
Coen Janssen remembers the recordings: “This was one of the very first acoustic/small settings in which we played as a band. I have very fond memories of playing in the famous Wisseloord Studios. One more thing I remember is being very nervous because it felt so ’naked’ in a way but I am very happy that we have this version to look back at!”
In case you missed it, a whole lot is happening in EPICA’s universe this year for their 20th anniversary as a band.
You can still pre-order the early years collection “We Still Take You With Us” and “Live At Paradiso” that will both be out on September 2nd: https://nblast.de/Epica-WeStillTake
If you missed the band at during their recent run of summer festival performances, you can now enjoy their long sold out Anniversary Show in Tilburg from home with an exclusive, pro-shot live stream of the entire performance that will contain plenty of surprises in the setlist, guests and spectacular stage effects. Tickets and bundles are available here, with early bird prices only valid until 12th August, so be quick: www.epicastream.com
— EPICA 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW – with SAHARA DUST 03.09.22 | Zaal 013 | Tilburg, NL | SOLD OUT!
— NORTH AMERICA TOUR – with SABATON 15.09.22 | The Paramount Theater | Seattle, WA 16.09.22 | The Roseland Ballroom | Portland, OR 17.09.22 | The Roseland Ballroom | Portland, OR 19.09.22 | Revolution | Boise, ID 21.09.22 | The Fox Theater | Oakland, CA 23.09.22 | The Palladium | Los Angeles, CA 24.09.22 | Arizona Federal Theater | Phoenix, AZ 25.09.22 | Brooklyn Bowl | Las Vegas, NV 27.09.22 | The Complex | Salt Lake City, UT 28.09.22 | The Fillmore | Denver, CO 30.09.22 | Southside Ballroom | Dallas, TX 01.10.22 | Bayou Music Center | Houston, TX 03.10.22 | The Ryman Auditorium | Nashville, TN 04.10.22 | The Tabernacle | Atlanta, GA 06.10.22 | The Fillmore | Silver Spring, MD | SOLD OUT! 08.10.22 | ICON | Cincinnati, OH 10.10.22 | The Fillmore | Detroit, MI 11.10.22 | GLC Live at 20 Monroe | Grand Rapids, MI 13.10.22 | The Fillmore | Minneapolis, MN SOLD OUT! 15.10.22 | Aragon Ballroom | Chicago, IL 17.10.22 | Stage AE | Pittsburgh, PA 18.10.22 | The Fillmore | Philadelphia, PA 21.10.22 | MGM Music Hall | Boston, MA 22.10.22 | Place Bell Arena | Montreal, QC 23.10.22 | Hammerstein Ballroom | New York, NY
— ΩMEGA LATIN AMERICAN TOUR – 19.11.22 | Audio | São Paulo, BR 20.11.22 | Ópera de Arame | Curitiba, BR 22.11.22 | Teatro Flores | Buenos Aires, AR 24.11.22 | Teatro Caupolicán | Santiago, CL 26.11.22 | El Teleférico | Quito, EC 27.11.22 | Centro de Convenciones Barranco | Lima, PE 04.12.22 | Rock Al Parque| | Bogota, CL
— EPIC APOCALYPSE TOUR 2023 – with APOCALYPTICA + WHEEL 18.01.23 | Compensa Concert Hall | Vilnius, LTU *NEW* 19.01.23 | Arena Riga | Riga, LVA *NEW* 20.01.23 | Saku Arena | Tallinn, EST *NEW* 23.01.23 | Sentrum Scene | Oslo, NO 24.01.23 | Berns | Stockholm, SE 25.01.23 | Amager Bio | Copenhagen, DK 27.01.23 | AFAS | Amsterdam, NL 28.01.23 | Georg Elser Halle | Hamburg, DE 29.01.23 | AB | Brussels, BE 30.01.23 | O2 Academy | Bristol, UK 01.02.23 | Rock City | Nottingham, UK 02.02.23 | O2 Academy | Glasgow, UK 03.02.23 | Academy | Manchester, UK 04.02.23 | Roundhouse | London, UK 06.02.23 | Atelier | Luxemburg, LU 07.02.23 | Zenith | Paris, FR 08.02.23 | Le Bikini | Toulouse, FR 10.02.23 | Razzmatazz 1 | Barcelona, ES 11.02.23 | Gamma | Murcia, ES 12.02.23 | La Riviera | Madrid, ES 14.02.23 | Coliseum | Lisbon, PT 12.03.23 | Capitol | Hanover, DE 13.03.23 | Carlswerk Victoria | Cologne, DE 14.03.23 | Schlachthof | Wiesbaden, DE 15.03.23 | MHP Arena | Ludwigsburg, DE 17.03.23 | Komplex 457 | Zurich, CH 18.03.23 | Metropole | Lausanne, CH 19.03.23 | Fabrique | Milan, IT++ 20.03.23 | Tonhalle | Munich, DE 22.03.23 | Barba Negra | Budapest, HU 23.03.23 | Gasometer | Vienna, AT 24.03.23 | Hala Vodova | Brno, CZ 25.03.23 | Progresja | Warsaw, PL 27.03.23 | B90 | Gdansk, PL 28.03.23 | Columbiahalle | Berlin, DE 29.03.23 | Haus Auensee | Leipzig, DE
The celebrations for EPICA’s 20th anniversary are in full swing. On September 2nd, the Symphonic metal titans will re-issue their first three albums “The Phantom Agony”, “Consign To Oblivion” and “The Score”, which have become milestones of the genre and rarities within the physical market. Each record will be available in either a CD box, a collector’s LP box or as an earbook and will come with previously unreleased bonus tracks for each album, as well as the spectacular live audio and video of “Live At Paradiso” and “We Will Take You With Us”.
Today the band, once again, returns to the past with the release of their evergreen anthem ‘The Last Crusade’ performed during their legendary Paradiso show in 2006.
“’The Last Crusade’ was played very often in France during our early years as it became the anthem of our French fanclub, the French Crusade”, guitarist/growler Mark Jansen remembers “That song always got the party going, great vibes from the crowd and great memories.“
Join ‘The Last Crusade’ now and watch the live video here:
Available on September 2nd, the anniversary releases are up for preorder via this link, as boxset, earbook, vinyl, CD box, and Bluray: http://nblast.de/Epica-WeStillTake
EPICA are currently playing at several big summer festivals and will soon host their very exclusive and long sold-out “20th Anniversary Show” in Tilburg, with a massive stage production, several old and new guests and a career-spanning set.
Right after this busy summer, they will embark on a North America Tour with Sabaton, a Latin American headline Tour in November and an extensive run through Europe in early 2023 with Apocalyptica.
All confirmed tour dates for EPICA:
FESTIVALS 21.07.22 | Release Festival | Athens, GR 29.07.22 | Fezen Fest | Fezen, HU 03.08.22 | Wacken Open Air | Wacken, DE 06.08.22 | Leyendas del Rock Festival XV | Villena, ES 16.08.22 | Orange Metalic Festival | Orange, FR 31.08.22 | Bibelot | Dordrecht, NL | SOLD OUT!
— EPICA 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW – with SAHARA DUST 03.09.22 | Zaal 013 | Tilburg, NL | SOLD OUT!
— NORTH AMERICA TOUR WITH SABATON – 15.09.22 | The Paramount Theater | Seattle, WA 16.09.22 | The Roseland Ballroom | Portland, OR 17.09.22 | The Roseland Ballroom | Portland, OR 19.09.22 | Revolution | Boise, ID 21.09.22 | The Fox Theater | Oakland, CA 23.09.22 | The Palladium | Los Angeles, CA 24.09.22 | Arizona Federal Theater | Phoenix, AZ 25.09.22 | Brooklyn Bowl | Las Vegas, NV 27.09.22 | The Complex | Salt Lake City, UT 28.09.22 | The Fillmore | Denver, CO 30.09.22 | Southside Ballroom | Dallas, TX 01.10.22 | Bayou Music Center | Houston, TX 03.10.22 | The Ryman Auditorium | Nashville, TN 04.10.22 | The Tabernacle | Atlanta, GA 06.10.22 | The Fillmore | Silver Spring, MD 08.10.22 | ICON | Cincinatti, OH 10.10.22 | The Fillmore | Detroit, MI 11.10.22 | 20 Monroe | Detroit, MI 13.10.22 | The Fillmore | Minneapolis, MN 14.10.22 | The Fillmore | Minneapolis, MN 15.10.22 | Aragon Ballroom | Chicago, IL 17.10.22 | Stage AE | Pittsburgh, PA 18.10.22 | The Fillmore | Philadelphia, PA 21.10.22 | MGM Music Hall | Boston, MA 22.10.22 | Place Bell Arena | Montreal, QC 23.10.22 | Hammerstein Ballroom | New York, NY
— ΩMEGA BRASILEIRΩ TOUR – 15.11.22 | Ópera de Arame | Curitiba, BR 16.11.22 | Opinião | Porto Alegre, BR 18.11.22 | Toinha | Brasília, BR 19.11.22 | Audio | São Paulo, BR 20.11.22 | Circo Voador | Rio de Janeiro, BR
— AN EVENING WITH EPICA – 22.11.22 | Teatro Flores | Buenos Aires, AR 24.11.22 | Teatro Caupolicán | Santiago, CL 26.11.22 | El Teleférico | Quito, EC 27.11.22 | Centro de Convenciones Barranco | Lima, PE
— EPIC APOCALYPSE TOUR 2023 – with APOCALYPTICA + WHEEL 23.01.23 | Sentrum Scene | Oslo, NO 24.01.23 | Berns | Stockholm, SE 25.01.23 | Amager Bio | Copenhagen, DK 27.01.23 | AFAS | Amsterdam, NL 28.01.23 | Georg Elser Halle | Hamburg, DE 29.01.23 | AB | Brussels, BE 30.01.23 | O2 Academy | Bristol, UK 01.02.23 | Rock City | Nottingham, UK 02.02.23 | O2 Academy | Glasgow, UK 03.02.23 | Academy | Manchester, UK 04.02.23 | Roundhouse | London, UK 06.02.23 | Atelier | Luxemburg, LU 07.02.23 | Zenith | Paris, FR 08.02.23 | Le Bikini | Toulouse, FR 10.02.23 | Razzmatazz 1 | Barcelona, ES 11.02.23 | Gamma | Murcia, ES 12.02.23 | La Riviera | Madrid, ES 14.02.23 | Coliseum | Lisbon, PT 12.03.23 | Capitol | Hanover, DE 13.03.23 | Carlswerk Victoria | Cologne, DE 14.03.23 | Schlachthof | Wiesbaden, DE 15.03.23 | MHP Arena | Ludwigsburg, DE 17.03.23 | Komplex 457 | Zurich, CH 18.03.23 | Metropole | Lausanne, CH 19.03.23 | Fabrique | Milan, IT 20.03.23 | Tonhalle | Munich, DE 22.03.23 | Barba Negra | Budapest, HU 23.03.23 | Gasometer | Vienna, AT 24.03.23 | Hala Vodova | Brno, CZ 25.03.23 | Progresja | Warsaw, PL 27.03.23 | B90 | Gdansk, PL 28.03.23 | Columbiahalle | Berlin, DE 29.03.23 | Haus Auensee | Leipzig, DE
2022 marks the 20th anniversary of Symphonic Metal titans EPICA. After nearly 1 million albums sold worldwide and over 300 million combined streams on all digital platforms, the Dutch band has manifested their talent to combine metal with unique operatic vocals and has gained a huge international fanbase in the process. Through their career EPICA have played over 1,000 shows in more than 60 countries across all continents. With their latest musical output “Omega”, the band achieved Top 5 placements in the album charts of several countries such as Germany and Switzerland, but now they look to their past:
On September 2nd, EPICA will re-issue their first three albums “The Phantom Agony”, “Consign To Oblivion” and “The Score”, which have become milestones of the genre and rarities within the physical market. Each record will be available in either a CD box, a collector’s LP box or as an earbook and each will come with previously unreleased bonus tracks for each album. As a special surprise for their fans, the band have dug up some spectacular hidden gems from their early career that will be available as bonus material on some of the formats.
“Live At Paradiso” – Initially recorded in 2006 at the beautiful “Paradiso” venue in Amsterdam, the performance has become shrouded in legend; often scheduled for release, this will be the first time it’s seen the light of day. The recording allows fans to relive the memories of a young band who had just freshly released their two first albums, and features a number of their evergreen hits like ‘Cry For The Moon’ or ‘Solitary Ground’. Now, after being hidden away in a dark drawer for more than 16 years, “Live At Paradiso” is finally available on 2CD and BluRay/DVD – specifically revamped in 4K resolution.
Get a first glimpse here, with the first single ‘Sensorium (Live At Paradiso)’:
“We Will Take You With Us” Recorded at the ‘Twee Meter Sessies’ on public Dutch TV, most hardcore fans will be familiar with this release that was the band’s first major performance on television and first DVD release that has long been sold out. You can also discover two especially rare demo recordings from SAHARA DUST – the band that should later become EPICA. Fans have their chance to see SAHARA DUST for the first time ever as they support EPICA at their sold-out anniversary show in Tilburg!
After just concluding a successful headline tour through Mexico, EPICA will return to Europe to perform at several summer festivals before embarking on a North America Tour in September 2022 with Sabaton, a Latin American headline Tour in November and an extensive run through Europe in early 2023 with Apocalyptica. All upcoming dates can be found at www.epica.nl
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