‘T Paard, Den Haag, The NetherlandsApril 8th 2005
Within Temptation and Autumn
On this cold Friday evening Within Temptation and Autumn performed in ‘t Paard who had just won the price for night temple of the year 2005 which is of course a great honour. After waiting in line in the cold it was time to enter the venue. All bags were turned inside out and bottles of water were confiscated and never to be returned. Security made sure all was safe and checked. The entire venue was sold out and everybody was looking forward to the show.
Autumn
As they say themselves, they don’t limit their style to one genre. They are associated with the popular gothic metal genre even though most of them have a metal back ground. Their songs are about ancient themes such as witch craft, mysticism and spirituality. They were founded in 1995 and have since released two albums, ‘When lust evokes the curse’ in 2002 and recently ‘Summers end’ of which they have released their single ‘Gallery of Reality’.
Music
After a lovely intro the band entered the stage, when they started to play the first thing I heard all around me was ‘pump up the “volume”. The sound was indeed quite soft and Nienke (vocals) was tuned in too soft. Their second song was their new single ‘Gallery of Reality.’ The lyrics of Autumn are audible but they don’t grab your attention. Jens sometimes sings along with Nienke and they are tuned in to each other, Meindert enforces the songs with his grunts. Due to the soft sound it wasn’t convincing.
After a lovely intro the band entered the stage, when they started to play the first thing I heard all around me was ‘pump up the “volume”. The sound was indeed quite soft and Nienke (vocals) was tuned in too soft. Their second song was their new single ‘Gallery of Reality.’ The lyrics of Autumn are audible but they don’t grab your attention. Jens sometimes sings along with Nienke and they are tuned in to each other, Meindert enforces the songs with his grunts. Due to the soft sound it wasn’t convincing.
Performance
At the start of their performance Nienke made her entrance, she made some contact with the audience by looking around the venue but after a while she didn’t make any more contact. The guitarists didn’t do so either but they did have fun with each other and that showed they were having a good time which was fun to see. There was not that much light, most of the time the entire stage was lit with blue or green lights and front light was missing as well. There were not that many fans of Autumn in the audience, there were only about 20 people cheering and participating at the start of the show but during the performance more people joined in. Performing on the little space left in front of the curtain with the Within Temptation logo they were a nice warm up for Within Temptation.
At the start of their performance Nienke made her entrance, she made some contact with the audience by looking around the venue but after a while she didn’t make any more contact. The guitarists didn’t do so either but they did have fun with each other and that showed they were having a good time which was fun to see. There was not that much light, most of the time the entire stage was lit with blue or green lights and front light was missing as well. There were not that many fans of Autumn in the audience, there were only about 20 people cheering and participating at the start of the show but during the performance more people joined in. Performing on the little space left in front of the curtain with the Within Temptation logo they were a nice warm up for Within Temptation.
Rating
Music 6
Performance 6
Sound 5
Light 5
Total 6 (5,7)
Music 6
Performance 6
Sound 5
Light 5
Total 6 (5,7)
Within Temptation
After being warmed up by Autumn and perhaps a beer or two the entire audience was ready for what they had been waiting for, the performance of Within Temptation. All shows in the Netherlands are sold out and the audience was full of anticipation. It was definitely more crowded in font of the stage and al lot warmer as well.
Music
Within Temptation entertained us with a mixture of their last two albums and surprised most of the audience with a ‘golden oldie’ from their album ‘The Dance’ namely ‘The other half’. Some were pleasantly surprised others were more shocked, especially by the grunts of Robert. This evening the audience joined in with Sharon and sang along with quite a few songs. Especially their hits ‘Ice Queen’, ‘Mother Earth’, ‘Stand my Ground’ and ‘Memories’ were great successes. At one point they even set in their own song “we gaan nog niet naar huis” (we are not going home), which is a familiar Dutch song. Sharon even let someone in front of the stage sing through the microphone. It was fun and the band enjoyed it as well.
Within Temptation entertained us with a mixture of their last two albums and surprised most of the audience with a ‘golden oldie’ from their album ‘The Dance’ namely ‘The other half’. Some were pleasantly surprised others were more shocked, especially by the grunts of Robert. This evening the audience joined in with Sharon and sang along with quite a few songs. Especially their hits ‘Ice Queen’, ‘Mother Earth’, ‘Stand my Ground’ and ‘Memories’ were great successes. At one point they even set in their own song “we gaan nog niet naar huis” (we are not going home), which is a familiar Dutch song. Sharon even let someone in front of the stage sing through the microphone. It was fun and the band enjoyed it as well.
Performance
After the lights went out everybody was curious what would happen with the large curtain with the Within Temptation logo on it. It dropped and immediately the band set in with the first song, a great and impressive start to this concert. This evening Sharon wore a dress which looked like a wedding dress only with an extra touch of course, with purple straps on it. A new addition to her outfits these days are the sparkling ‘stones’ on her forehead. The entire band seemed to enjoy themselves this evening especially Robert seemed to have fun. Their décor seems to be becoming a trademark, they were there again this evening; the angels and large pillars and last but not least the projections on the backdrop. The stage lights make the projections at one with the rest of the stage for they are usually in similar colours.
After the lights went out everybody was curious what would happen with the large curtain with the Within Temptation logo on it. It dropped and immediately the band set in with the first song, a great and impressive start to this concert. This evening Sharon wore a dress which looked like a wedding dress only with an extra touch of course, with purple straps on it. A new addition to her outfits these days are the sparkling ‘stones’ on her forehead. The entire band seemed to enjoy themselves this evening especially Robert seemed to have fun. Their décor seems to be becoming a trademark, they were there again this evening; the angels and large pillars and last but not least the projections on the backdrop. The stage lights make the projections at one with the rest of the stage for they are usually in similar colours.
Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 7
Light 8
Total 8 (7,8)
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 7
Light 8
Total 8 (7,8)
More articles about Within Temptation
Concert Review - Paaspop, Schijndel 2005
Concert Review - Berlin 2005
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