25th November 2022
Evanescence & Within Temptation - “The Worlds Collide Tour 2022” - Support: Smash Into Pieces
Finally! In November 2022, the concert that was supposed to have taken place in April 2020 could finally take place. From April 2020 it was postponed to September 2020, then to September 2020, then to September 2021 and finally to March 2022. Well, in November 2022 the dream of many fans finally became reality: EVANESCENCE and WITHIN TEMPTATION were guests in Düsseldorf!
Smash Into Pieces
But before the two headliners of the evening, the Swedish Rock band SMASH INTO PIECES was allowed to kick off the concert. The quartet was formed in 2009 and has released an incredible seven albums since 2013. Especially in the last years the band released an album every year and showed to be very productive during the pandemic. In the well-filled Mitsubishi Electric Hall, the masked drummer APOC first entered the stage, positioned himself at the front of the stage and gave a small monologue under a sound backup from the tape, before finally the whole band came on stage and opened the set with ‘Wake Up’.
SMASH INTO PIECES delivered a flawless performance during the seven songs they performed during the exact 30 minutes. Their very polished Rock songs were quite well received, singer Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye and guitarists Benjamin Jennebo and Per Bergquist offered an expressive show, on the big stage they were very keen to move. However, the musical performance seemed a bit too polished. This also includes the singing. And because partly also the mouth movements of singer Sörbye didn’t match the singing, the assumption is close that the music was partly not played live, but came from the tape.
Setlist
01. Wake Up
02. Glow in the Dark
03. Let Me Be Your Superhero
04. Sleepwalking
05. Running Away from Home
06. Forever Alone
07. Boomerang
Rating
Music:6
Performance: 6
Light: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 6.5 / 10
Evanescence
The next 75 minutes after the obligatory changeover break belonged to EVANESCENCE. The American Alternative Rock band headed by singer Amy Lee celebrated their big breakthrough in 2003 and released ‘Fallen’, an album that has sold 17 million copies to date, making it one of the most successful albums of the millennium. Only Amy Lee remains from the line-up at the time of the debut album. However, the singer has gathered a band around her, whose members, with one exception, have been making music together with her for 15 to 16 years and together represent a well-established band.
EVANESCENCE started their performance with ‘Broken Pieces Shine’, one of a total of seven songs from the current album ‘The Bitter Truth’ from 2021, so the current work was clearly the focus of the evening. Of course, however, it was the songs from ‘Fallen’ that the audience responded to the most. So ‘Immortal’ and ‘Bring Me To Life’, the last two songs of the evening, were frenetically sung along and celebrated. EVANESCENCE have to live with this burden, their almost 20 years old debut album is just too big. But also with the songs of the current album and the other songs Amy Lee and Co knew how to convince.
Especially drummer Will Hunt stood out. With his massive drum set in the center on a higher level in the background he was enthroned and well visible and just watching him drumming in front of the impressive visualization at the back of the stage was a lot of fun. The guitarists Tim McCord as well as Troy McLawhorn were quite active, only bassist Emma Anzai, only in the band for a few months, preferred to stay in the background and appeared only rarely dominant. Amy Lee was everywhere. When she was not in the front at the edge of the stage, she was possibly also on the higher level in the back to additionally play the keyboard, or she sat in the front center at the piano during the quieter songs.
All in all, EVANESCENCE was a lot of fun. The band was in a good mood, the light was great, the sound was great, the thumb clearly goes up.
Setlist
01. Broken Pieces Shine
02. Made of Stone
03. Take Cover
04. Going Under
05. Wasted on You
06. Lose Control / Part of Me / Never Go Back
07. Far From Heaven
08. Your Star
09. End of the Dream
10. Better Without You
11. Call Me When You’re Sober
12. Imaginary
13. Use My Voice
14. Blind Belief
15. My Immortal
16. Bring Me to Life
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Light: 9
Sound: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
Within Temptation
After another changeover break, WITHIN TEMPTATION were finally allowed to complete the evening. The Dutch symphonic metal band, founded in 1996 by singer Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt, also performed for 75 minutes during the event. A typical double headliner show. Unfortunately, I could only experience a small part of the concert due to health reasons. But what I experienced during the first six or seven songs was a very intoxicating show. Especially Sharon den Adel spread an infectious joy of life. But it was not only the singer who spread good vibes: the whole band seemed very motivated and eager to play and as a band the band from the Netherlands inspired from the first song on.
Setlist
01. Our Solemn Hour
02. Faster
03. Paradise (What About Us?)
04. Stand My Ground
05. Angels
06. The Purge
07. Raise Your Banner
08. Entertain You
09. Supernova
10. The Reckoning (with Amy Lee)
11. Don’t Pray for Me
12. All I Need
13. Ice Queen
14. What Have You Done
15. Mother Earth
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 10
Light: 10
Sound: 8
Total: 9 / 10
All Pictures by André Wilms
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