{"id":611172,"date":"2026-09-01T12:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T12:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/611172\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T12:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T12:18:11","slug":"epica-to-celebrate-25th-anniversary-with-royal-albert-hall-extravaganza-in-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/611172\/","title":{"rendered":"Epica to celebrate 25th anniversary with Royal Albert Hall extravaganza in 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Symphonic metal<\/a> six-piece Epica<\/a> have announced a special 25th-anniversary show at London\u2019s Royal Albert hall, where they\u2019ll be joined by a choir and orchestra.<\/p>\n

The Dutch band will play the famous Italianate venue on October 6, 2027, as part of their on-again-off-again Symphonic Synergy format, which debuted with performances in Amsterdam and Mexico City in September and December 2024. The Royal Albert Hall show will be part of a larger, yet-to-be-announced world tour.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tickets go on general sale on Friday, September 4, at 10am UK time.<\/p>\n

The band comment: \u201cPlaying the legendary Royal Albert Hall in London for the first time, surrounded by a full orchestra and choir, will be an absolutely magical experience. Hearing our music come alive in a way it is supposed to sound, on such an iconic stage, will be a moment we\u2019ll remember forever \u2013 come and be a part of it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Epica are currently touring to promote their 2025 album Aspiral<\/a> and will play in Asia later this month. The run of six shows commences at the Liquidroom in Tokyo on September 14 and concludes at the Modern Sky Lab in Shanghai on September 22.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s 25th-anniversary celebrations will kick off in January with three shows at the Royal Theatre Carre in Amsterdam. All three dates are sold out. They\u2019ll then play across Latin America in March, supported by Italian symphonic death metal maestros Fleshgod Apocalypse. At time of publication, the Royal Albert Hall date is the only show on Epica\u2019s slate set to feature an orchestra and choir.<\/p>\n

Guitarist\/vocalist Mark Jansen founded Epica in 2002, shortly after leaving After Forever, which featured future Nightwish frontwoman Floor Jansen (no relation) on vocals. Singer Simone Simons, Mark\u2019s then-partner, and keyboardist Coen Janssen joined in the same year. The three are the only people to have performed on every Epica album. The band have sold more than one million albums worldwide.<\/p>\n

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Simons looked back on Epica\u2019s formation during a 2023 interview with Metal Hammer<\/a>, revealing that she didn\u2019t initially want to join the lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Mark [Jansen, guitars\/vocals] because I was in a relationship with him back in the day,\u201d she recalled. \u201cHe started a new band [after leaving After Forever] pretty quickly, but because I was his girlfriend, at first I didn\u2019t want to join. I helped them search for a singer. I thought I should do it by the book \u2013 finish high school and then go explore the world with a metal band. But when they asked me if I wanted to [sing for them], I thought, \u2018OK, let\u2019s just give it a go.\u2019 And here we are, 20 years later!\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said that she once rehearsed with a black metal band before joining the symphonic group: \u201cThey were in my hometown and my friend\u2019s boyfriend was playing in that band, so that\u2019s why we went, but I was way too shy to sing along. Epica was my true first band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Epica previously celebrated their 20th anniversary with a sold-out show at Poppodium 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands, on September 3, 2022. They performed a small set of rarities and an After Forever cover under their short-lived original name, Sahara Dust, to open the gig.<\/p>\n

EPICA – Unchain Utopia (Live at The Symphonic Synergy) – YouTube
\n\"EPICA<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Symphonic metal six-piece Epica have announced a special 25th-anniversary show at London\u2019s Royal Albert hall, where they\u2019ll be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-611172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}