CAAMORA (3 April 2008)
Check out these interviews with Clive and Agnieszka Swita about Caamora and the She project:

• http://www.dprp.net/specials/2008_caamora/ 
• http://www.musicaldiscoveries.com/reviews/agnieszka.htm 

Meanwhile, remember that the She album and DVD are now available: http://caamora.net/shop.htm

SCRIPT TOUR DATES ADDED (19 February 2008)

Several dates have been added to Mick’s Script For A Jester’s Tour. The full list is now as follows:

 Keep an eye on http://www.wiventertainment.de/

ARENA LIVE IN PARIS (19 February 2008)

Details about the Arena gig in Paris that’s part of the April tour:

CAAMORA UPDATES (04 February 2008)

Lots of updates on the Caamora website; the mixes for the She album have now been finished and a tracklist of the album and a scene by scene story synopsis accompanied by bits of the artwork have been added to the site. Some comments of the two protagonists:

Clive Nolan: "It's an enormous relief to have finally completed this major project. Sitting in the studio listening to the last mixes from the DVD soundtrack, I suddenly realised that we are really done! Hard to believe. For me the blending of orchestra and rock band was one of the biggest challenges. I did not want these to be two separate entities stuck together (as is often the case with 'band and orchestra' albums), but one enormous blended sound."

Agnieszka Swita: "Whatever your musical taste, 'She' has something there for you, and every time you listen you will find a new perspective. The Box Set Bonus Disk gave us a great opportunity to re-create some of the ‘piano and voice’ performances Clive and I did during last year.”

In addition to the formats mentioned below there will also be a limited edition of the DVD with the 2CD live album.

http://caamora.net/

CAAMORA – SHE: RELEASE DATE AND FORMATS (26 January 2008)
The release of 2 hour the rock opera She has a slight delay and is now scheduled for 10th March in Europe and 13th May in the US (via MVD). Metal Mind has announced that it will be released in no less then six different formats, including a vinyl edition (!):

• 2CD studio album;
• 2CD studio album digipack with bonus track (limited to 3000 copies);
• DVD (recording of the live performance of She 31st October 2007 at the Wyspianski Theatre, Katowice, Poland);
• 2CD studio album + DVD (limited to 2000 copies);
• 3LP studio album with bonus track (limited to 1000 copies);
• Box with 2CD studio album + 2CD live album + DVD + bonus DVD with acoustic tracks (limited to 1000 copies).

CAAMORA EP EMBRACE (14 January 2008)
As a final teaser before the release of the album She, Caamora will release a third EP entitled Embrace. It will contains 4 alternative versions of songs to be featured on the She album. The tracklist is as follows:

1. Embrace (featuring Agnieszka Świta)
2. Resting Place (album edit)
3. The Eleventh Hour (recorded live in Katowice 31.10.2007)
4. Invisible (single remix)

"Embrace" EP will be available on 11th February 2008 (15th April 2008 in the US) in a digipack edition limited to 1000 copies. The worldwide release of She is now scheduled for 25th February 2008 in Europe (15th April 2008 in the US).

CLASSIC ROCK SOCIETY AWARDS (14 January 2008)
John Mitchell was voted best guitarist at the annual Classic Rock Society awards! For the full list of awards go to: http://www.classicrocksociety.net

Upcoming new Urbane album Straylight (4 January 2008)

The Urbane are in the process of finishing their new album Straylight. Straylight is the long awaited successor to 2003’s Glitter. There’s no scheduled release date yet. The band describes the sound of their new album as “very different to Glitter – maybe more like Neon but then not... possibly something between the two... very, very heavy but with many more electronic treatments.” Three soundclips were already available at the band’s website http://www.theurbane.com/news.htm. The band have also set up a MySpace site: http://www.myspace.com/theurbane

Script For A Jester’s Tour (30 December 2007)

2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the classic Marillion debut Script For A Jester’s Tear.  Founding member Mick Pointer will celebrate the occasion with a live performance of the entire album. After the successful “try out” in Swindon (UK) last January, the rest of Europe gets the opportunity to experience this unique event in April 2008! Besides Mick, the band consists of Nick Barrett (Pendragon) on guitars, Mike Varty (Credo) on keyborads, Ian Salmon on bass and Brian Cummins (Genesis tribute band The Carpet Crawlers) on vocals. In addition to the entire Script album, the set list will contain the songs Charting The Single, Three Boats Down From The Candy, Market Square Heroes, Grendel and Margaret. The dates confirmed so far are:

Don’t miss out! For info and tickets go to: http://www.wiventertainment.de/

NEO GIGS POSTPONED (29 November 2007)
Sadly, due to circumstances the NEO gigs in Germany and Holland in December had to be postponed. New dates in 2008 will follow!

ARENA TOUR APRIL 2008 (19 november 2007)
Arena will do a short tour April next year! Starting with the gig that had already been announced (4 April, Ittervoort, NL) they will perform in Italy, Germany, France and the UK. All details can be found at ArenaWorld: http://www.verglas.com/arenaworld/

NEO WITH PAUL WRIGHTSON (19 November 2007)
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Alan Reed (Pallas) will not be performing at the NEO Christmas concerts at Essen on the 21st and Zoetermeer on the 22nd of December. He will however be back on stage with NEO for gigs sometime next year. Paul Wrightson wil be replacing him and will be performing a selection material together with Nick Barrett, Andy Edwards, John Jowitt, Mark Westwood and Clive.

IMPRESSIONS SHE PREMIERE (12 November 2007)
Check out the first photos of the successful premiere and comments from some of the key performers that have been posted on the Caamora website: http://caamora.net/premiere-comments.htm

CAAMORA LIVE PREMIERE NEXT WEEK! (25 October 2007)
Don't miss the official live premiere of the rock opera She next week! A unique and spectacular event next Wednesday the 31st of October at the Wyspianski Theatre, Katowice, Poland. All the details can be found at http://caamora.net/she-concert.htm

INTERVIEW WITH MICK AND CLIVE 4 (October 2007)
When Arena where in Holland for their “in between albums” tour, we had a talk with Mick and Clive about all that’s going on inside and outside the cage: album number seven (still a long wait away, but it will be a concept album!), Caamora, Mick’s Script (plans to tour in 2008) and Contagion Max (don’t hold your breath yet…). To read the interview click here.

FORUM DISCUSSION (4 October 2007)
Clive has started this thread on the forum The Shattered Room, it speaks for itself:

“Here’s a question. And I would be interested to see plenty of answers (I'm kind of wondering how many people really look in on this forum, despite the theoretical figure at the top). Is there a place any more for a real Fan Club... a solid, non-virtual. You know...quarterly mags, special offers, free CDs...whatever.
Would enough people join?
Would they be prepared to pay the fees?
What can make this something that can't simply 'downloaded' by some 'freedom for the people' moron?
What could we do to make it different?

Or should we just let sleeping dogs lie?

We may have a new album next year... I was just wondering...”

We’d like to invite you to contribute your thoughts, suggestions and ideas by posting on the forum! Go to The Shattered Room and then the Talk To The Band section or directly to http://shattered-room.net/index.php?topic=1112.0

ARENA LIVE 2008 (4 October 2007)
On the 4th of April 2008, Arena will give an exclusive concert at CC de Mortel in Ittervoort, Netherlands, between Weert en Roermond, near Münchengladbach (Germany), Aachen (Germany), Maaseik (Belgium) and Hasselt (Belgium). For now this is the only scheduled gig for next year. More info at www.fanfareconcordia.nl/arena.html (in Dutch) or mail to rockittervoort@yahoo.com.

CAAMORA PREMIERE (4 October 2007)
Tickets are selling fast for the official live premiere of the rock opera She, on the 31st of October 2007 at the Wyspianski Theatre, Katowice, Poland. It will be a unique and spectacular show, with a lavish combination of projections and lighting, with some scenery and costume to help capture the atmosphere of this great adventure story. Clive invites fans to attend and join the experience. For more info including travel and hotel details go to http://caamora.net/she-concert.htm

IT BITES (4 October 2007)
Hear the latest about the upcoming It Bites album in an interview with Bob Dalton, including parts of two new songs. The interview (mp3) can be found at http://www.itbites.com/.

NEO LIVE IN GERMANY AND HOLLAND (4 October 2007)
“Prog all stars” act Neo will hit the stage the 21st of December at the Weststadthalle in Essen, Germany, and the 22nd of December at the Boerderij in Zoetermeer, Netherlands. Clive, John Jowitt (IQ), Mark Westwood (The Martin Orford Band), Andy Edwards (IQ), Alan Reed (Pallas) and Nick Barrett (Pendragon) join forces to perform songs of IQ, Arena, Pallas, Pendragon and Nolan/Wakeman.

ARENA AT MYSPACE AND WIKIPEDIA (4 October 2007)
Arena has joined the growing MySpace community. You can find them at:
http://www.myspace.com/arenaatverglas. Also, Arena has an entry (albeit concise) on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arena_%28band%29.

Outside The Cage (28 May 2007)
A lot of activity around Clive’s project Caamora: after gigs in Canada and South America in May, a second EP entitled Walk On Water is due for release on the 4th of June, a performance of She is scheduled on the 31st of October 2007 (at the Wyspianski Theatre, Katowice, Poland) and it will be filmed for release on DVD which will accompany the album, set for release on 21st January 2008. For more details go to: http://caamora.net/index.htm

Neo, the collaboration of John Jowitt, Mark Westwood, Clive Nolan & Andy Edwards, have released a DVD entitled Broadcast. The show also features Alan Reed, Nick Barrett and John Barnfield and the tracklist covers material from IQ, Arena, Pallas, Pendragon, Shadowland and Nolan/Wakeman.

After the DVD of their Believe Tour (And Now Everybody To The Stage), Pendragon look back at their past with their new DVD Past And Presence, which celebrates the 21st anniversary of their debut album The Jewel. The show features all Pendragon’s members past and present. Fore more details check http://www.pendragon.mu/

It Bites, with John Mitchell on vocals and guitars, have released a live album, When The Lights Go Down. They are nearing completion of writing their new studio album and
aim to start recording in July and tour in the autumn.

Ex-Arena members Paul Wrightson and John Jowitt have been touring in May with Blind Ego, RPWL-guitarist Kalle Wallner’s project. The setlist, besides the material of the Mirror album, also included some suprises, amongst them A Crack In The Ice and two Queensrÿche songs.

ARENA LIVE DATES 2007 (25 January 2007)
Arena will hit the stage again this year!

Sunday 27th May England Sheffield The Boardwalk Snig Hill
Monday 28th May France Paris Batofar
Tuesday 29th May Switzerland Pratteln/Basel Z7 Konzertfabrik
Wednesday 30th May Germany Aschaffenburg Colos saal,
Thursday 31th May Germany Essen Zeche Carl
Friday 1st June Belgium Verviers Sprit of 66
Saturday 2nd June Holland Zoetermeer Boerderij
Saturday 28 July Lithuania Kernavë Baltic Prog Fest

BLIND EGO (25 January 2007)
Kalle Wallner’s (RPWL) project Blind Ego has been released. The album “Mirror” features John, Clive, John Jowitt and Paul Wrightson. The project will also embark on a live tour, dates to follow. Keep an eye on http://www.blind-ego.com

OUTSIDE THE CAGE (3 January 2007)
While it's silent regarding Arena, there’s all sorts of other activity: 

• Mick will be entering the stage on January 27th (at Riff’s Bar in Swindon, UK, http://www.riffsbar.biz) to perform Marillion’s debut album Script For A Jester’s Tear in its entirety. He will be accompanied by Nick Barrett (Pendragon) on guitar, Ian Salmon on bass, Mike Varty (Credo, Landmarq) on keyboards and John Dexter Jones (Jump) on vocals. At the moment it is not clear whether it’s a one-off or whether there will be more gigs to come.

• Rob is going out as 'Robert Sebastian' for his new pop project. He will release a single on i-tunes on the 16 January called The Bah Bah Song (The Cat's Mother). His web site is robertsebastian.co.uk and myspace.com/robertsebastian. 

• The Caamora tour continues with a series of dates in Poland: www.caamora.net/concertguide.html.

• Several (ex-)Arena members are contributing to Kalle Wallner’s (RPWL) project Blind Ego: John, Clive, John Jowitt and Paul Wrightson (http://www.blind-ego.com).

• Finally, Frost* initiator Jem Godfrey decided to disband this very successful project due to his increasing professional and personal commitments elsewhere. John’s involvement with It Bites, however, continues. The band will be releasing a new album in 2007 and will do a tour.

CONTAGION THE MAX (3 January 2007)
We regret to say that there is no news on the fifth Cage album. Clive is very busy with his Caamora project and does not have the time to do the mastering. We are sorry to still keep you waiting, but there’s little we can do about it except to keep pestering Clive!

NEW DOMAIN NAME CAGE WEBSITE (3 January 2007)
The Cage website has a new domain name: www.welcometothecage.com. Update it in your favourites! The domain name www.the-cage.org is no longer active.

ALBUM NUMBER SEVEN: WRITING HAS BEGUN (18 september 2006)
Well, the break seems to be over now, and the first tentative steps towards writing the next album has begun.

Clive: 'It's a slow proccess, but it has started. I've got a handful of ideas, and we'll be meeting up soon for a writing session. We're not in a hurry for this seventh studio album... we'll just see how it goes.'

ARENA - TEN YEARS ON (18 September 2006)

To celebrate the ten year anniversary of Arena, Verglas Music are releasing a 'best of' album. This is mainly aimed at people who are unfamiliar with the band, but there are a couple of collectible items for the Arena connoisseur, including a Rob Sowden vocal version of 'Empire of a Thousand Days' from the Pride album. The artwork work has been created by Contagion/Pepper's man David Wyatt. 
The release date is aimed to be at the end of October.

CAAMORA (18 September 2006)
Caamora now have a website: http://www.caamora.net/

Here you can read up on this new project; including background info about the production She, to be released in 2007 and about the forthcoming EP Closer.

JOHN JOINS IT BITES (16 September 2005)
Yet another band with John Mitchell: John has joined It Bites. After half of this legenday band was already reunited in stage line up of Kino, now the band really reunites after 15 years of absence. 

John replaces Francis Dunnery, who has been an important influence for him. The other original members are Bob Dalton (drums), John Beck (keyboards) and Dick Nolan (bass). It Bites will record a new album and will subsequently be touring.

CAAMORA PROJECT CLIVE (24 August 2005)
Caamora is Clive’s new project. In 2005 he met the Polish singer Agneiszka, which resulted in a musical version of the short novel ‘She’. Clive has been working on it for the last one and a half years and it will be released in 2007. Clive has described it as “orchestral rock”. In the meanwhile, the two will perform the new songs together in November. On November 17th they will perform at the Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Holland.

JOHN’S PROJECTS (24 August 2005)
Some words from John about his various projects:

Well Arena are on some form of hiatus at the moment whilst Clive is busy with his Operatic project.
The Urbane has always been as and when i can fit it in, and is more of a 'hobby'.
John Wetton doesn’t tour all that much at the moment and now he and Geoff are busy with Asia and will be a lot of next year.
Kino as i stated before WILL be doing another album in the not too distant future, but Pete T is busy with Marillion at the moment and will be for quite some time. Kino is very much down to schedules permitting.
Frost* and It Bites are the only two things which are currently in the throws of activity. Like all things i do, i am EXTREMELY fond and proud of both Frost and It Bites and I am very fortunate indeed to be involved in two brilliant bands.

John xxx 

Frost* is the project of producer Jem Godfrey (Atomic Kitten, Ronan Keating, Blue and Holly Vallance). He decided to record a progressive album with the money earned from his pop career. About the contributing artists Godfrey comments: "When I had decided to record a prog album, I went out an bought around 40 CDs by the leading bands from this genre over the last few years. One of these was the Kino album 'Picture'. So I sent an e-mail to John Mitchell and asked him whether he'd be interested in playing guitar on my album. It was a similar case with Andy Edwards and John Jowitt of IQ. So I ended up with three of the best musicians from the UK prog scene in my band!". The resulting album is called Milliontown.

CONTAGION THE MAX UPDATE (15 May 2005)
This is Clive's latest statement on the forever delayed Contagion The Max:

I've been buried in rehearsal for ages and ages. 
Karl and i have talked about this max business.. it's just been impossible to find the time... I have the best intention to get it done after the Pendragon tour.

Cheers

Clive

SYNCHRONIZATION SMOKE & MIRRORS DVD (15 May 2005)
There has been a random problem with the synchronization on the new Arena DVD (Smoke and Mirrors).

If you have a copy that is out of sync there is now a solution!

Simply send your ‘out of sync’ copy to:

Metal Mind Productions
(att: Ola Kobusinska)
40-534 Katowice
ul.Czajek 31
Poland

Metal Mind will replace your copy with a new in-sync version.
You only have to send the disk, do NOT send the rest of the package. And don’t forget to supply a return address.

Arena are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause some of you, but it's the best solution they could come up with. 
Naturally, any future sales should be 'problem-free'.

SMOKE & MIRRORS DVD (22 March 2006)

Arena have released a new DVD through Metal Mind Records! It was recorded during their Tenth Anniversary Tour. The disc, entitled Smoke & Mirrors, contains the gig at the Wyspiański Theatre in Katowice, Poland, the 22nd of September 2005. It contains three songs of Pepper’s Ghost, as well as the rare Immortal? track Waiting For The Flood. But there’s more: as a bonus, a recording of the set the band played with Paul Wrightson and John Jowitt at the Boerderij in Zoetermeer, Holland, has been included! There are some more extra’s, such as an interview with Clive and Mick. And then there’s also a limited edition digipack which comes with and audio CD with a selection of the tracks on the DVD. This CD will not be made available separately. So get your copy now at the shop!

The complete track list is as follows:

DVD
1. Bedlam Fayre
2. A Crack In Yhe Ice 
3. Midas Vision
4. Elea 
5. The Hanging Tree 
6. A State Of Grace
7. (Don't Forget To) Breathe
8. Smoke & Mirrors
9. Purgatory Road 
11. Waiting For The Flood
12. Medusa
13. The Shattered Room
14. Chosen
15. Skin Game 
16. Witch Hunt
17. Enemy Without
18. Solomon 
19. Friday's Dream
20. Cry VII

Bonus video
Reunion Concert - Fan Footage
1. A Crack In The Ice
2. Elea 
3. The Hanging Tree
4. A State of Grace
5. Medusa
6. Crying For Help VII 

CD
1. Bedlam Fayre
2. A Crack In The Ice 
3. Midas Vision
4. Elea 
5. The Hanging Tree 
6. A State of Grace
7. (Don't Forget To) Breathe
8. Smoke & Mirrors
9. Purgatory Road 
11. Waiting For The Flood
12. Medusa

CLASSIC ROCK SOCIETY AWARDS (12 December 2005)
The Classic Rock Society's Best of the Year Awards were announced on Saturday, 3rd December 2005. There were no less than three Arena-related awards:

Best Guitarist, John Mitchell, (Arena, Kino, The Urbane)
Best Keyboard Player, Clive Nolan, (Arena, Pendragon)
Best Album, Pepper's Ghost (Arena)

For the full list: http://www.classicrocksociety.com/

NEO (12 December 2005)
An interesting new project sees the light of day under the name Neo. Neo is comprised of:

Andy Edwards (IQ/Robert Plant) 
Mark Westwood (Martin Orford Band) 
John Jowitt
Clive Nolan 

The aim for the band is to combine their talents with different guest artists in order to reach more ears with the music of British progressive rock than each band might otherwise be able to do individually. This will make each performance a truly unique event.

The band will be making its debut American appearance at the Rites of Spring Festival (Rosfest) in Phoenixville PA on April 28th. As well as music by IQ, Arena and Clive Nolan’s solo career, the band will be joined by Nick Barrett to perform material by Pendragon, Alan Reed of Pallas and Peter Banks to perform songs by Yes. A further guest artist is likely to be announced shortly.

KINO RARITIES ALBUM (9 December 2005)
To coincide with their December tour across Europe, Kino is releasing a limited edition CD, entitled Cutting Room Floor. This CD is a collection of previously unheard Kino demos which include Pete Trewavas singing lead vocals, plus live versions of songs from Picture, and a version of the Kevin Gilbert track Parade which was recorded several years ago for a KG tribute album which to date hasn't seen the light of day. The full track listing is as follows: 

1. People (live)
2. Throw It Away (demo) 
3. Perfect Tense (live) 
4. All You See (demo) 
5. Room For Two (live) 
6. Won't Fall Down (demo) 
7. Picture (live) 
8. Say You Will (demo) 
9. Parade (Kevin Gilbert cover)

The CD will be available at all Kino's live dates and also on their website

BIOGRAPHY ONLINE (9 December 2005)
Here you can download the Biography 'The Salt and The Sand (PDF file)

click on the image

ARENA BIOGRAPHY TO BE PUBLISHED ONLINE 9 DECEMBER (29 November 2005)
On December 9th it will be exactly 10 years since Arena played their first gig. Time to celebrate! So on this day, the first official, extensive Arena biography will be published here on the Cage Page.

The biography, entitled The Salt And The Sand, has been written by Jan-Jaap de Haan, together with Erik Beers, and is based on new, extensive interviews with Clive, Mick, Rob, John M and John J. who were all kind enough to co-operate and share their views on 10 years of Arena history. 
It will only be available online, in PDF-format, for free.

NOLAN & BARRETT DVD (29 November 2005)
Clive Nolan and Nick Barret are releasing a DVD with footage from their 2005 acoustic gigs in Poland. The DVD will be released on 24th January 2006 through Metal Mind / Music Video Distributors (http://mvdb2b.com/).

The DVD contains tracks of their various projects; Pendragon, Arena, Shadowland, Strangers On A Train and the Nolan/Wakeman project. Also included is the live premiere of the track Two Roads from Pendragon's latest album Believe.

Tracklist:
1. The Walls of Babylon (Pendragon)
2. A Man of Nomadic Traits (Pendragon)
3. (Don't Forget to) Breathe (Arena)
4. Alaska (Pendragon)
5. And We'll Go Hunting Deer (Pendragon)
6. Mindgames (Shadowland)
7. Paintbox (Pendragon)
8. Shadows of Fate (Nolan/Wakeman)
9. Lightshow (Strangers On A Train)
10. Two Roads (Pendragon)
11. The King of the Castle (Pendragon)
12. Jigsaw - The Kruhulick Syndrome - Ring of Roses (Shadowland)
13. The Voyager (Pendragon)
14. Nostradamus (Pendragon)
15. The Black Knight (Pendragon)

Bonus Material: Biographies, Interview, Photo Gallery, Desktop Images, Weblinks.

RADIO 2 TOP 2000: CALL ON THE DUTCH FANS (15 November 2005)
Dutch radiostation Radio 2 will broadcast a Top 2000 between Christmas and New Year's Eve. It would be great to put Arena in this list! When you cast your votes, you get the possibility to add an artist and track of your choice. Please vote and add Arena with the track Chosen as your track of choice. If we all massively do this we might just achieve that Arena enters the list with this song!

So go to top2005.radio2.nl/2005/stempagina and vote!

Paul Wrightson and John Jowitt - exclusive interview on the Cage Page - SOON

SPECIAL RETURN OF THE CLASSIC VISITOR LINE UP! (21 August 2005)
To mark their tenth anniversary, Arena brings back two former band members for a special evening. At the gig at the Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Holland, on October 16, the show will include a short set of Visitor material, for which Paul Wrightson and John Jowitt will be joining on stage! This will be a unique night!