Within Temptation - Live in Concert
September 11, 2011 - Terminal 5 New York City

It has been 4 years since Within Temptation has played a concert in North America and the fans that were lucky enough to attend one of the 6 showcase shows in September were treated to an amazing musical experience from one of the premiere bands in female metal. Although the stage setup was more minimalistic than their previous headlining tour, the band was as majestic as ever.

Coming to New York City's Terminal 5 on September 10th, the band played a venue that was almost 3 times the size of the hall they played back in 2007 and were able to sell it out well in advance. Bass player Jeroen stated afterwards that he didn't expect these kinds of crowds with the band being relatively unknown in the United States but that he was pleasantly surprised with the attendance and to expect Within Temptation to return as soon as they can.

For fans who have only heard the band's latest release The Unforgiving, the show started out with the Mother Maiden short film projected onto their backdrop. Gone are the days of Sharon's ball gown dresses and instead she came out in pants where she was able to interact and rock out while right up with the crowd the whole night. From the introduction the band then continued on with 4 songs from the new album. Shot In The Dark, In The Middle Of the Night, Faster, and Fire and Ice all sounded great live as this was the first time that the American crowd had a chance to hear these songs in a concert setting. The band was as tight as they had been in 2007 and had the crowd on their side from the first notes of the show. After treating the crowd to a wonderful selection of songs from The Unforgiving, the band went into a song that was unexpected to hear so early on in their set.

Ice Queen from their first full length album Mother Earth has been the staple closing song for Within Temptation during their whole career. Robert talked afterwards about moving the song and noted that although it has been a tradition for the band to close with Ice Queen, they decided to break tradition and try something new by playing it earlier in the set.

Making this move proved to be an excellent choice as the whole crowd started chanting the "aaah aaah" part with Sharon and was electrified from that point on at the concert. Old and new fans alike sang along to this staple song of the Within Temptation catalogue.

From there the band played another new song Iron, before playing their first song from their previous album The Heart of Everything. As chants of Sanctus Espiritus started up, the crowd knew that the band would next play Our Solemn Hour. This song being one of the most popular on the album had the whole crowd singing along. After that moment, the band finally got around to playing a song from The Silent Force.

Before starting the next song, Sharon took time to talk about 9/11 in what was the most touching moment of the night. She went on to say how on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attacks that it would be fitting to play a song from The Silent Force as the whole album was inspired by the incidents 10 years ago. Specifically the band wrote Stand My Ground in response to how they felt about being strong in the face of such an incident. After the show Sharon told me about people from Holland who also were killed and that the terrorist attacks were more than just an American event and affected the whole world and changed things so much. Then after a moment of silence, the opening strings of Stand My Ground started and the New York City crowd was completely lost in the moment and felt the song more than they ever had before.

After that chilling moment, the Sinead short film was projected on the backdrop and the band then played the song of the same name from The Unforgiving. Now that the crowd was alive again, the band went into a song that always gets the crowd to sing along, What Have You Done. As usual, when the band gets to the parts of the song sung by Keith Caputo, Sharon holds out the microphone to the audience to get them to scream "What Have You Done Now". The crowd ate it up and you could see Sharon smile each time the crowd sang back to her.

From there the band played their last song from The Heart of Everything album, The Howling. This was their first song that was released as a single in the United States after they signed with Roadrunner Records US, and the crowd sang along and knew every word of the song. Then the band played their last 2 songs from The Silent Force album, Angels and Memories. During the end portion of Angels, Sharon was singing one of her patented high notes when the microphone blew out. Instead of getting frustrated or losing her composure, she laughed about it while Ruud played the baseball "batter's up rally theme" to get the crowd jumping. Sharon then jumped up and down along with the crowd while the technicians worked their magic. Robert then commented that there must have been "ghosts in the attic" which caused the equipment malfunction and the crowd laughed along. Finally after getting her microphone back, Sharon went right into a moving rendition of Memories to close out the main portion of the show.

During the first encore of the night, the band played their final songs from the Mother Earth album. They played the classics Deceiver of Fools and Mother Earth. Both of these songs sounded incredible as always and for the fans who have known about the band from the beginning, it was a real treat to hear these songs in concert. When playing Mother Earth the band was in perfect sync and Sharon showed why she has the voice of an angel.

To close the show, the band played a final song from The Unforgiving as a second encore. Usually people leave a venue after a first encore, but the whole crowd stuck around to hear Stairway to the Skies. This left the crowd knowing that the band's newest work is just as good as its oldest work. Within Temptation took their bows, shook hands with the crowd, gave out picks and drumsticks, and most importantly, let the crowd know that they planned to come back for a full tour of America and wouldn't wait 4 years to do it again. This was a very special concert put on by an amazing band and everyone over here in America has something to look forward to in 2012 when the band returns to the States.

After the show, the band had a small meet & greet set up. They invited an 11 year old girl who had noted that this was her first concert ever. You could see the sheer excitement on her face in getting to meet the band. Also invited was a 12 year old girl from Louisiana named Kate. Kate was the runner up for the band's The Unforgiving contest and was so happy to get the chance to finally meet her favorite band. When Sharon came up to give her a hug, Kate was in tears of joy and Sharon just smiled. Seeing the interaction of the band with their fans just gives another dimension into how great a band Within Temptation is. Not only are they great performers, but also great people who care about their fans. I hope that everyone gets the chance to see this incredible band in concert and have the chance to meet them as well.

Set list:
Intro - Mother Maiden Short Film
Shot In The Dark
In the Middle of the Night
Faster
Fire and Ice
Ice Queen
Iron
Our Solemn Hour
Stand My Ground
Sinead Short Film
Sinead
What Have You Done
The Howling
Angels
Memories

Encore #1:
Deceiver of Fools
Mother Earth

Encore #2:
Stairway to the Skies

A VERY SPECIAL THANKS to Roadrunner Records USA and AT Productions/Germany
For more Information about the band:

Official Website
Facebook
Roadrunner Records

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