It's amazing the connection between this band and Floor. Simone and Floor are long, fast friends. The leader and guitarist of Epica, Mark Jansen, no relation except that he led Floor's first band, After Forever. I'm telling you, the wealth of musical talent in the Netherlands is staggering. Within Temptation, with Sharon Den Adel & Robert Westerholt, is another ridiculously strong band, and then there's always Arjen Luccasson, genius of Ayreon. Anybody who appears with him is musical royalty, including keyboardist/producer Joost van den Broek; guitarist Marcel Coenen; drummer ED Warby and the incredible collection of singers. One can spend a decade of their life just learning about the music of Northern Europe. Enjoyed you enjoying this incredible band.

This is why it's called symphonic metal. Epica are playing something like this again this year in September with a full orchestra.

Retrospect was EPICA's 10th anniversary show in 2013. And yes, a full orchestra and choir. A 3 hour 24 song show, and Simone was about 3 months pregnant here. This song was over 2 hours into the concert. Floor joined them for 1 other song, a classical piece called "Stabat Mater Dolorosa". Song is from their 3rd album 2007's The Divine Conspiracy. One of my favorites at this show was played right after this, "Design Your Universe". They will playing 4 more shows with full orchestra and choir this fall, 2 in The Netherlands and 2 in Mexico City. Hopefully they will have a new song or 2 ready for those, they are currently working on their 9th studio album.

An orchestra, a choir, a metal band and two queens. What’s not to like!❤️

Scottish Division checking in....ear to ear smile...eyes popping and jaw dropping !...all perefctly normal reactions to Floor and Simone.

I have seen this a zillion times and the amazing thing is: this never ever fails to blow my mind. The composition, the voices, the combination of heavy metal band, full orchestra, choir, the deliverence, the way it sounds....which takes me to the technical aspects of a production like this. I was a sound engineer for 20 years in the Netherlands. Our music engineers were freaking amazing. They are used to deal with these amazing complicated challenges. I like it that you recognise all the invisible hard work behind the scenes. You never hear the work of a good sound engineer. You just enjoy the music even more when he or she is good. Lets put them in the spotlight too. They are artists too. They make music as well. It is a profession where you use both your brain halves. It is very artistic, and at the same time very technical as well. People are always amazed when they see all those knobs and switches. But that is only part of the story. We talk about the mechanics of sound, the influence of the venue and the audience etc. And at the end all that stuff is nothing more than tools. Your ears do most of the work. You are the first of the listeners and you decide how the crowd is going to experience this. It is a fantastic profession and not for everyone. In the Netherlands they often work with huge productions where these combinations take place. It is art in its own right. And did you notice the lighting? That was Art capital A as well.

The orchestra and metal fit so perfectly together, like they were designed that way (and one is hundreds of years older). Mind blowing. Two of the Netherlands best here, although there are others ❤️🤘🎸🎻🦘

I thought you would be blown away by the setup and audio, given your background. The guy responsible for the sound mixing did an awesome job, not just on this song. It was s 3 hour show and the sound throughout was fantastic.

3:20 Just wait until she realizes there is choir too.

I cannot imagine the mic-check/sound check. I hope they had the Godzilla of automatic gain control circuits, summed to buss after buss after buss. ... Aaaand lets nudge the guy-voice choir in just the last 14.35 seconds... holy crap !!

One of those moments when everything and I mean everything just came together perfectly. Great reaction.

This is, in my opinion, the best symphonic metal song!!! Simone and Floor are actually real life friends and they compliment each other so well 🤘🏻🔥💥🙏🏻💯

Gina what a perfect combination of redheaded beauty Simone and the dutch windmill momma floor beautiful vocals . Wintersun Alex in Texas ❄️👋😍❤️

September 19th and 20th it’s up again !!! Met a most friendly guy from Slovenië in Milan picking me up last month from the airport to go see Lovebites. His greatest wish was seeing Epica with orchestra and choir. So I bought him a ticket. He’s so happy. Going 19th with him in Amsterdam!!!

These two always blow you away with their talent.

I can see the wheels turning in your brain working out the audio setup for this show. My mind boggles at this as well. I am sure there are some seriously talented tech teams involved with these bands. Nightwish, and i am sure Epica has a core group of dedicated techs who do all this amazing work. I have seen another metal show use this kind of big setup. Within Temptation, The Black Symphony. Big stage show with Symphony and choirs. Rock groups often combined symphonies and choirs. Check out The Moody Blues, or the Kennedy Center Honors for Led Zeppelin playing Stairway to Heaven by Heart. It builds and builds...

Great Reaction Gina. As always. It's clear that you enjoy this classic Epica song. Greetz the Netherlands, Pieter. 😍

I love Epica so much! They always deliver a great performance and this show Retrospective is amazing. I barely know anything about sound recording and engineering but just thinking about how much work it involves is CRAZY! I would recommend 'Unleashed', also from the Retrospective show because Epica with an orchestra is just awesome!

Yep. It's that good. I didn't pick up the baritones when I first heard this until I got to the very end the song. The full choir adds so much. Thanks, Gina!

Let's not forget to give props to the lighting guy(s)!

Always bet on the red AND the black! Simone and Floor! You can't lose!

Nce one Ingo! I was thinking about suggesting this one, too. The production is insane on this concert. Must have been an interesting challenge to work in the sound crew, even as an assistant. And I love how everyone in this scene seems to love to collaborate with each other. You constantly see familiar faces chowing up when you don't expect them..

For another recent legendary Dutch concert, check out the TG25 reunion concert of the Gathering, specially songs like Travel. The singer of the Gathering, Anneke van Giersbergen was Floor's inspiration to become a (pro) singer.

Most beautiful duet..SimSim and Laydy Floor ❤

Of all the reactors, I was most excited to hear your take on this. U did not disappoint. I’ve played large shows over the years but only have a basic idea of what these engineers went through live and in post production to capture this Epic performance.

Throw a bit Irene Jansen (sister) in the mix and you enter the rabbithole of Ayreon. 😁 Great music too. Greetings from nwAse Sweden

Don't be surprised... same country as Ayreon, dear. ;-)

Thanks for recognizing the behind the scenes crew. It seems like many reactors don't even see what is going on on stage to make a complete production. Somebody had to decide "I want spotlights shining everywhere" and then somebody else actually programs the lights to do that (or pyro or fog or whatever else). You covered the multiple levels of sound engineering going on and then there are the instrument techs, the stage builders, etc.

🇬🇧 Norfolk strapped in for the queens. 😊

Great reaction! Floor and Simone are good friends and obviously professional colleagues' In addition to this show Simone had previously sang with Floor's band Revamp. The song was one of my favorites by Floor called Sweet Curse, performed at the Metal Female Voices Festival in 2010. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rtOJra96p5yzmok.htmlsi=f9gSGhNBg4RUP_ac. There is also a cute video of them rehearsing at someone's home on YT. Floor also interviewed Simone for her Floor Finds vlog on her channel during the pandemic. I wouldn't go so far as to call them BFF's as some people do and they weren't roommates and they didn't go to school together either. Some other fantastic songs from this concert are Unleashed, Chasing the Dragon, and Design Your Universe. Epica is once again collaborating with orchestra and choir on stage for four shows this year in an once in decade experience. It is called the Symphonic Synergy and will be doing two shows in Amsterdam and two shows in Mexico City.

Quite a production!

If you love these complex productions from an engineer point of view, you could check out "black symfonie" from Within Temptation or Sylva from Snarky Puppy with the Metropole orchestra. A production that earned a Grammy Award.

A haunting bomber rollercoaster song! As I am Dutch, I also recommend amazing Dutch gothic metal bands Blackbriar, Delain and their ex-singer Charlotte Wessels, The Gathering (Anneke van Giersbergen) and Within Temptation songs! Also German band 'Snow White Blood' is epic! And Simone also has amazing new own songs!

Epica must have lost a lot of money on this anniversary concert. Simone and Floor go back a long way. They are good friends, and have been since their teens. They must have practiced together a lot. There even is some cheesy old home made video on YT showing Floor and Simone practicing together. By the way Simone was 12 weeks pregnant here, singing 23 songs. Another one with Floor (classical music) Sabat Mater Dolorosa.

Aeryon, Valley of the Queens with special guest Floor.

You have to fully witness the power, majesty and beauty of Epica Gina. One of the many things I love about Epica is that they have done numerous orchestra shows and more to come later this year. Epica and within temptation are great for this as well is one of my other fav metal bands Dimmu Borgir. Nightwish never does orchestras. Epica forever 🤘🏻🤘🏻

From the same show react to the song Epica Design your own Universe

React to design your universe

Maby would be a great idea to watch the opening and first song on this Retrospect concert. Would be interesting to see if you notice something from your expertise. And the opening is fantastic 😁

Simone and Floor are not only Dutch. They've also been friends for a long time. Greetings from the Netherlands.

I love Nightwish, I love Epica and I love your reaction. I guess this must be a spectacle audio engineering wise for you. Hope to see more Epica too (Unleashed, Rivers, Design your universe and Stabat mater dolorosa with Floor at the same concert). Lots of ❤❤❤ and thank you for your gorgeous smile 😊

When it comes to orchestra and choir on stage, have you seen Dimmu Borgir - Gateways (Forces of the Northern Night live)?

Close up mics on every instrument and voice, just start counting players and singers :) And add some for drums and percussion.. My mixer ran out of lines a long time ago :D Best Regards :D

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Hey Gina, come over to Europe. You'll have the time of your life 😊

I would have loved you to geek a bit more on the audio engineering part! I understand having full venue changes things, but I have very limited understanding on how exactly and why.

Honestly, beyond Irene, Henk, and Marko…singing with Floor 🙏🏼

Floor and Simone are long time friends (some saying they were room mates, but that is not usual in the Netherlands): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gtCmi9JmrLjaqH0.htmlsi=JjImZThQxTJtOtex

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Gina I am not in any way an expert at audio mixing but my guess is they had multiple mixing boards for this show.

👍👍😎😎🤘🤘

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I wonder how many microphones were used?

6:54 epic moments...FL❤❤R

Dark song Gina, written by Simone, it's about a suicide bomber who thinks he's gone to heaven but is actually in hell. So, a question for the pro audio engineer. . . . . . To mic the band, singers, orchestra, female and male choir, how many XLR's are being used, and how many yards or meters of shielded balanced line ?