Bevrijdingsfeest, Pijnacker, the NetherlandsMay 6th 2005
Within Temptation
A week of festivities because of Queens’s day and Liberation day was the reason for the Royal Society of Pijnacker to organise a concert in a big tent at one of the training fields of a local soccer team. Apart from a Dutch party rock band ‘Band zonder Banaan’ (Band without a banana) and the ever present DJ’s the people were treated with a concert of the popular gothic rock band Within Temptation.
It’s about half past 8 when I enter the tent, filled with a number of fanatical Within Temptation fans and a large amount of friendly locals who seemed more interested in a party than the music that was played. To them everything must have been fine as long as there was sufficient beer available at one of the bars. The DJ’s didn’t really know how to create a suitable atmosphere for the upcoming concert of Within Temptation, unless any of you consider Dutch reggae/ska band for the 80’s ‘Doe Maar’ a suitable choice.
This however didn’t seem to bother the fans who were eagerly awaiting the removal of the curtain to reveal the band on stage with all of it’s props well in place. Within Temptation has been on tour throughout Europe, has done a very successful club tour and are now playing at a number of local festivals to satisfy the needs of their ever growing number of fans. Being Holland’s best selling band abroad they sure didn’t forget their fans at home. Lights dimmed and the music stopped, just a bit fashionably late the band kicked off with their concert.
Music
I’ve seen a number of concerts of Within Temptation and there seems to be a great difference between seeing them live on stage or performing live on TV. For some reason they don’t seem too lucky with TV live performances, because again the band showed they are well capable of making some fine music. The overall technical skill of the band seems to be as well as you might expect form an experienced band. The vocals of Sharon were well capable of matching this level tonight. With just a few minor hick-ups due to the over enthusiastic performance Sharon knew how to capture the audience’ attention with her voice. The sound in the tent wasn’t bad at all; as far as I could judge it being just in front of the stage, it was well balanced without any big rumble in the bass. Well done by the sound engineer I’d say.
I’ve seen a number of concerts of Within Temptation and there seems to be a great difference between seeing them live on stage or performing live on TV. For some reason they don’t seem too lucky with TV live performances, because again the band showed they are well capable of making some fine music. The overall technical skill of the band seems to be as well as you might expect form an experienced band. The vocals of Sharon were well capable of matching this level tonight. With just a few minor hick-ups due to the over enthusiastic performance Sharon knew how to capture the audience’ attention with her voice. The sound in the tent wasn’t bad at all; as far as I could judge it being just in front of the stage, it was well balanced without any big rumble in the bass. Well done by the sound engineer I’d say.
Performance
When the curtains opened we saw the band entering the stage under an orange light with a projection at the back. The projection screen was as usual flanked by two inflatable pillars standing on a raised platform at the back of the stage, just in front of the pillars Stephen and Martijn were situated behind their gear well visible to the audience. The two boxes right in front of the drumkit and keyboards were alternately used by Ruus and Robert, while Jeroen was swinging his bass wherever he liked. Sharon was dressed in a dark tulle dress with a white corset ornamented with purple details. Behold the setting for the concert which lasted just over an hour and featured basically all the recent hits and fan favourites. Songs like ‘Stand my Ground’, ‘Memories’ and the good old ‘Running up that Hill’, ‘Mother Earth’ and ‘Ice Queen’ sure got the audience going as well as it did the band. The chemistry in the band is good, bouncing up and down on stage during many of the songs Ruud and Sharon even competed together on who could jump highest. Small details that show a band is enjoying themselves on stage, something that clearly pleased the crowd. With a band like this you do expect the lights to be good, and they were. Plenty of light on Sharon, enough light on the other band members yet enough darkness left to keep the video projection visible. The video’s shown on the screen just show some scenery, very relaxed and by no means distracting you from the band’s performance. The use of pyrotechnics was limited, but the use of the fire was compensating for this. A flashing light on stage warns for the use of pyro or fire but in their enthusiasm both Sharon and Ruud seemed to just forget all about it and had to be saved by their fellow band members. On the downside, there was a bit too much smoke by the end of the show, and unfortunately the organisation arranged a tent which had support poles in front of the stage every 3m. Though giving it an ugly sight the band made sure everybody could see them, they were moving around the stage almost non-stop.
When the curtains opened we saw the band entering the stage under an orange light with a projection at the back. The projection screen was as usual flanked by two inflatable pillars standing on a raised platform at the back of the stage, just in front of the pillars Stephen and Martijn were situated behind their gear well visible to the audience. The two boxes right in front of the drumkit and keyboards were alternately used by Ruus and Robert, while Jeroen was swinging his bass wherever he liked. Sharon was dressed in a dark tulle dress with a white corset ornamented with purple details. Behold the setting for the concert which lasted just over an hour and featured basically all the recent hits and fan favourites. Songs like ‘Stand my Ground’, ‘Memories’ and the good old ‘Running up that Hill’, ‘Mother Earth’ and ‘Ice Queen’ sure got the audience going as well as it did the band. The chemistry in the band is good, bouncing up and down on stage during many of the songs Ruud and Sharon even competed together on who could jump highest. Small details that show a band is enjoying themselves on stage, something that clearly pleased the crowd. With a band like this you do expect the lights to be good, and they were. Plenty of light on Sharon, enough light on the other band members yet enough darkness left to keep the video projection visible. The video’s shown on the screen just show some scenery, very relaxed and by no means distracting you from the band’s performance. The use of pyrotechnics was limited, but the use of the fire was compensating for this. A flashing light on stage warns for the use of pyro or fire but in their enthusiasm both Sharon and Ruud seemed to just forget all about it and had to be saved by their fellow band members. On the downside, there was a bit too much smoke by the end of the show, and unfortunately the organisation arranged a tent which had support poles in front of the stage every 3m. Though giving it an ugly sight the band made sure everybody could see them, they were moving around the stage almost non-stop.
Setlist
1. Intro
2. See who I am
3. Jillian
4. Angels
5. The promise
6. Pale
7. Forsaken
8. Stand my ground
9. Memories
10. Running up that hill
11. Caged
12. Mother Earth
----
13. Decipher of Fools
14. Ice Queen
1. Intro
2. See who I am
3. Jillian
4. Angels
5. The promise
6. Pale
7. Forsaken
8. Stand my ground
9. Memories
10. Running up that hill
11. Caged
12. Mother Earth
----
13. Decipher of Fools
14. Ice Queen
Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 7
Lights 7
Total 8 (7.7)
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 7
Lights 7
Total 8 (7.7)
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