Dutch vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gentle Storm, ex-The Gathering) has announced three solo acoustic performances, two in the Netherlands and one in Belgium. Dates are as follows:

July 
26 - Cultuurkapel - Deurne, Netherlands (free admission)

September 
25 - De Verlichte Geest - Roeselare, Belgium
27 - Klasse Theater - Tilburg, Netherlands

Van Giersbergen recently checked in with the following update:

"Hey everybody! A beautiful 4CD box set collecting the four Agua De Annique albums will be released June 15th. This release also features additional photos and artwork as well as extensive liner notes collected by Carl Begai (BraveWords). When I started my solo career in 2007 I felt the sky was the limit. The four albums under the Agua de Annique tag (2007-2010) mark a very important part of my career and my life in general. The freedom to explore various musical styles and forms was super exciting. It also gave me the opportunity to collaborate with many artist friends. I am very proud of this wonderful box set and I have been actively involved in this creation. Mark Uyl is responsible for the cover picture and he also created the atmospheric short introduction video:"

The complete box set tracklist is as follows:

Disc 1 - Air

"Beautiful One"
"Witnesses" 
"Yalin" 
"Day After Yesterday" 
"My Girl" 
"Take Care of Me" 
"Ice Water" 
"You Are Nice!" 
"Trail of Grief" 
"Come Wander with Me"
"Sunken Soldiers Ball" 
"Lost and Found" 
"Asleep" 
"Notthemostprettygirl" (bonus track)

Disc 2 - Pure Air

"The Blower's Daughter" (feat. Danny Cavanagh) 
"Beautiful One" (feat. Niels Geusebroek) 
"Wild Flowers" 
"Day After Yesterday" (feat. Marike Jager) 
"Come Wander with Me" (feat. Kyteman) 
"Valley of the Queens" (feat. Arjen Lucassen) 
"To Catch a Thief" (feat. John Wetton) 
"Ironic" 
"What’s the Reason?" (feat. Niels Geusebroek) 
"Yalin" 
"Somewhere" (feat. Sharon den Adel) 
"Witnesses" 
"The Power of Love"

Disc 3 - In Your Room

"Pearly"
"Hey Okay!" 
"I Want" 
"Wonder" 
"The World" 
"Sunny Side Up" 
"Physical" 
"Home Again" 
"Wide Open" 
"Longest Day" 
"Just Fine" 
"Adore"

Disc 4 - Live In Europe

"Intro"
"The World" 
"My Girl" 
"Who I Am" 
"Day After Yesterday" 
"Hey Okay!" 
"Fury" 
"Beautiful One" 
"Adore" 
"I Want" 
"Laugh It Out" 
"Witnesses" 
"Shrink"

Following is an excerpt from the liner notes:

Anneke's solo sound is often referred to as pop-rock oriented but the first Agua de Annique record, Air, exhibited dark undertones similar to The Gathering's latter years with her behind the microphone. A song such as 'Witnesses', could have easily found a home on How To Measure A Planet?, or 'Sunken Soldiers Ball’ might have appeared on Nighttime Birds, but Anneke effectively turned the tables on any "copycat" thinking with stripped down tracks like 'My Girl', 'Asleep' and 'Yalin' or the dark rock contrasts of 'You Are Nice!'. Air offered an easily travelled bridge between Anneke's past and her new musical vision, making the single 'Day After Yesterday' a welcome first step out on her own.

"I was very, very excited," Anneke says. "To leave The Gathering was a huge step but I wasn't scared of the future because I had no idea what was going to happen. My thinking was 'Why should I be scared of that?' I had no idea what people were expecting. Some people thought I'd go in a completely different direction from The Gathering, other people thought I was just going to do the exact same kind of music. I didn't listen to anyone when I was writing the songs; I was focused on doing my own thing."