E-Werk, Cologne, Germany 10th October 2007
Within Temptation, The 69 Eyes, Delain
Founded 1997 in Dutch Utrecht, WITHIN TEMPTATION released the debut album ‘Enter’ already one year later. With their bombastic Goth Metal, the band immediately conquered the hearts of people all over Europe. After singer Sharon became mother last year, the band kept it quiet. But in March 2007 they were back with the new album which was presented on several festivals during summer and now also in the clubs all over the continent. Besides four other German gigs, the band played the E-Werk in Cologne on 10th October, supported by Finnish THE 69 EYES and Dutch DELAIN. When I arrived just 30 minutes after opening, I still had to pass a very long queue telling me that the venue must have been at least nearly sold out.
Delain
DELAIN was started by ex-WITHIN TEMPTATION keyboardist Martijn Westerholt who also chose the band’s name after a Stephen King novel. The debut album ‘Lucidity’ was recorded with contributions of several well-known musicians such as Marko Hielata (Nightwish), Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation) or guitarist Ad Sluyter (Epica). In 2005, the band signed a record deal with Roadrunner Records. Despite the fact that Delain is, first and foremost, a project, Martijn and the talented Charlotte Wessels make up the core of the band. Martijn wrote most of the songs, whereas the characteristic voice of Charlotte gives Delain its own identity. DELAIN are Charlotte Wessels (vocals), Martijn Westerholt (songwriter & synths), Ronald Landa (guitar & backup vocals), Rob van der Loo (bass) and Sander Zoer (drums). http://www.delain.nl/ / http://www.myspace.com/delainmusic
Music
First remarkable thing when listening to DELAIN is the serene and poppy sound differing quite a bit from the usual Goth Metal stuff. Based in Charlotte’s voice, the band delivered a short but energetic set containing just six songs. The album contains some interesting duets: Liv Kristine sings with Marko Hielata on 'Day For Ghosts' and with Charlotte on 'See Me In Shadow'. But there was also a duet with Sharon den Adel who was a great counterpart to Marko's intense vocals on 'No Compliance' with her distinctive voice. And what could have been more obvious than Sharon on stage together with DELAIN on that tour? And so, 'No Compliance' performed together with her was surely the highlight of the set. Musically, the songs were based on keyboards, heavy guitars and tight drums, all combined with great melodies. The sound in the E-Werk was really good from the very beginning and so you could enjoy a sound-wise really good show.
Performance
DELAIN only had little space on stage, parted by a big band-backdrop from the back of stage where already the set for WITHIN TEMPTATION as well as THE 69 EYES was built up. But those five people on stage did not need much space to rock the house. Anyone was in good mood and especially Charlotte came over very fresh. You could see her smiling a lot into the audience and trying to thank in German just to appreciate the warm welcome in Cologne. Also the light show was very fine right from the start, setting the head banging people into the right light. Good start for the evening!
Setlist
01. Silhouette of a Dancer
02. Shattered
03. No Compliance
04. See Me in the Shadows
05. The Gathering
06. Pristine
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 7.7
The 69 Eyes
After being guest on several Open Airs during the summer, it was now time for the Helsinki Vampires to conquer club stages again, this time to support Dutch WITHIN TEMPTATION. The Finnish Gothic Glam Metal band surely does not need any close introduction anymore. With hits like ‘Gothic Girl’ (actually a top 10 single in Finland!) and ‘Dance D’Amour’ in their back catalogue, THE 69 EYES are surely one of the most popular Gothic Rock bands. THE 69 EYES are Jyrki69 (vocals), Jussi69 (drums), Bazie (guitar), Timo Timo (guitar) and Archzie (bass). http://www.69eyes.com / www.myspace.com/theofficial69eyes
Music
For their appearance as WT support, the band chose some kind of best-of program delivering such well-known hits as ‘Devils’, ‘Feel Berlin’, ‘Brandon Lee’ or final song ‘Lost Boys’. As always, the band entered the stage during the intro from the “Lost Boys” soundtrack and energetically started their set. I had the impression that the band was in a much better mood than during the open airs in summer. Maybe clubs just fit them more. The band was very well received by the audience who they could convince with their dark touched hymnal Rock songs and Jyrki’s charismatic voice just fitting perfectly to the devilish anthems.
Performance
Like always, the guys were wearing their Glam Rock outfits with leather jackets and pants, lots of chains and cloths. And as usually, the guys were born posers playing around with the audience. Again, there were some fans in the audience coming just to see THE 69 EYES. And again, I spotted some Finnish flags in the crowd. Different to the Area4 festival where I saw them latest, Jyrki was speaking to the audience much more this time. After ‘Feel Berlin’ he started a little speech claiming that they are on tour the 10th day now and that it was fun so far and thanking his “new Dutch friends from DELAIN and WITHIN TEMPTATION. Tonight I wanna dedicate the following song to Sharon of WITHIN TEMPTATION!” and just ‘Sister of Charity’ started.
‘Brandon Lee’ was marked by a long devilish laughter towards the end and people in the crowd just freaked out. Before the set ended, the obvious final question was asked: “Do you wanna rock?” And the crowd wanted to rock to ‘Lost boys’ which is always one of the fan favourites. Must say it was a pretty cool show this time supported by a well adjusted light show.
Setlist
01. Intro “Lost Boys”
02. Devils
03. Never Say Die
04. Dance D’Amour
05. Ghosts
06. Feel Berlin
07. Sister of Charity
08. Brandon Lee
09. Perfect Skin
10. Lost Boys + Outro
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8
Within Temptation
Dutch WITHIN TEMPTATION (WT) surely does not need any introduction anymore. Founded by Robert Westerholt and Sharon den Adel in 1996, the band grew more and more popular over the years. The big breakthrough in The Netherlands took place at the end of 2001 with the single ‘Ice Queen’. Since then this band regularly hits high chart positions and has received many awards until now. For the third time in a row they received the Export Award for being the best selling Dutch artist abroad.
Throughout the years WT has changed its music from doom / gothic metal into, for many people, more accessible bombastic, symphonic rock, with lyrics still mainly inspired by fantasy books and movies. The latest album ‘The Heart of Everything’ was released back in March 2007. The current line-up is as follows: Sharon den Adel (vocals), Robert Westerholt (guitars), Ruud Jolie (guitars), Jeroen van Veen (bass), Martijn Spierenburg (keyboards) and Stephen van Haestregt (drums). http://www.within-temptation.com/ / http://www.wt-music.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/withintemptation
Music
Having a new album in stock it was just sure that several songs out off it were presented during the show, such as the title track of the album ‘The Heart of Everything’ in the middle of the set. The new album is still pure WT, but many things have changed and evolved. Sharon shows how versatile she is as a singer and you could also hear that during the live show. Her voice during the evening was brilliant - full of power and melody; siren, emotional and sensitive. Also the guitar use is brought to a new level delivering more power also to the live performance. Besides several new songs, the set also contained lots of songs from ‘The Silent Force’ and ‘Mother Earth’. Sharon's voice was powerful as you know it from previous shows. ‘The Howling’ with its catchy melody, easy to remember, with the accents more laid on the guitars and it a short guitar solo was very well received by the audience. After the main set had finished with ‘The Truth Beneath The Rose’ the band of course had to come back for some more songs. The encore contained a little surprise for the fans with ‘Jane Doe’ and finished with the mega hit ‘Ice Queen’ to release a satisfied audience into the autumn night.
Performance
First of all, the stage decoration as to be mentioned which was again brilliant and as always something special. In from a giant backdrop, a podium was built up where drum set and keyboards have been placed. Behind those instruments you could spot a big chimera on each side of the stage framed by two tall light columns on each side of stage. It all looked pretty impressive and created some mystic mood which was supported during the whole show by descent lights flooding the stage into different shades of blue and red. Additionally, some projections into the backdrop have been used too.
But further to the show itself. All musicians seemed to be in brilliant mood, the guys were posing like hell with their guitars and Sharon was moving fast on stage, banging her head, laughing a lot and singing with so much intensity. You nearly could think being a mother now gave her new power for her stage performance too. She looked really pretty too in her green corsage and that short black skirt. All band members were amusing themselves. Robert and Ruud were jamming their guitars like madmen, at times walking over to Sharon, exchanging funny, evil looks. Stephen and Martijn mostly looked concentrated in their own little world called drums and keys. Jeroen was walking around in the back, at times coming forward and stamping his feet on the rhythm of his bass guitar.
Sharon and Ruud made most eye-contact with the audience, giving their fans some personal attention, which is always adorable. Seeing the reactions of the audience made you know that they loved the show a lot. So much applause, so many screams, so loud chants! Brilliant!
Setlist
01. Our Solemn Hour
02. The Howling
03. Jillian
04. Stand My Ground
05. Forsaken
06. The Cross
07. What Have You Done
08. The Heart Of Everything
09. Mother Earth
10. See Who I Am
11. Angels
12. Hand of Sorrow
13. All I Need
14. The Truth Beneath The Rose
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15. Deceiver of Fools
16. Jane Doe
17. Restless
18. Ice Queen
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 8.3
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)
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