But Lucassen - who won't take part in the full-power Gentle Storm shows fronted by Giersbergen - initially didn't even want to play the stripped-down concerts.

In the exclusive Prog video interview he says: "I played live for 15 years when I was young, a long time ago. I see myself more as a composer and producer; that's what I'm good at. I don't see myself as a performer, because I'm not very good at it, and I get stage fright and stuff like that."

He continues: "When Anneke asked me to do a little acoustic tour, at first I was like, 'Nah.' But then I thought about it, and I thought, 'Damn it, we worked on this album for a year. Everything turned out right about it. It has to succeed - and I'll do anything to make it work.'"