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Events and Reports - Within Temptation - Live with Lithium / Tapping the Vein / Paradise Lost - Feb. 20, 2003, Vega
After last night's cool triple concert I was more than ready for Within Temptation at Vega. A recommendation from Tajs introduced me to them a couple of months ago and since then I've been hooked on their enchanting music. They definitely had some high expectations to live up to. That they were able to exceed them by far is a testament to how incredible this band turned out to be live. Four bands were playing this night: Lithium, Tapping the vein, Within Temptation and Paradise Lost
Lithium didn't leave a very good impression with me. They should really work on their stage presence, which seemed to me to be very uninspiring. Tapping the vein only had time to play four songs. After the first two songs I almost left to get a beer, but magically the last two songs they played managed to capture me. They sounded very good and the front lady and lead singer, Heather Thompson seemed to be warmed up by then. Overall an ok show which should have been much longer.
Finally Within Temptation took the stage, and for about an hour they put on an enthralling performance. Everybody in the band looked like they were having huge fun and they were jumping around and doing everything they could to captivate the audience. That certainly worked with me, but the person who stole the show that night was the charming Sharon den Adel, who had an almost magical stage presence. By some inexplicable miracle her voice sounded even better and had more feeling than on record. The crowd was really into the songs and the fact that this hot babe was jumping around and headbanging through most of the show was quite impressive. Why the F... did I leave the camera at home?
The band mostly stuck to all the fantastic songs from Mother Earth, but some surprises found their way into the show too. A cover version of the Kate Bush song Running up that hill (From the album Hounds of love) was really excellent. The band played a new song too (I don't remember the name), which sounded very impressive, A good sign for the future. Songs like Mother Earth, Ice Queen, and Caged were so cool to hear live too.
After this fantastic show Anders and I went to the bar to reflect on what had just happened. We both agreed that this one was up there with our all time favourite concerts. Next time I see Within Temptation they will hopefully be headlining.
There really was no way to surpass this concert for me, so during the Paradise Lost we hung out at the bar and got some beers. After that we skipped the train home and went to TEX for the afterparty instead...
/Steen
Comments from Anders
What can possibly be better than a metal concert? Hey, I got it - two metal concerts in a row. When we arrived at Vega Steen and I were already in the right mood from yesterday's concert with Dream Evil, Masterplan and Hammerfall.
Lithium opened the show, and I can't say I was very impressed with their performance. A combination of bad music, technical difficulties, horrible stage show and a very small crowd made this a concert to forget. Well, enough said.
The American band Tapping the Vein were up next - I didn't know the band, and I was looking forward to hear what they were all about. Apparently Paradise Lost had chosen to use them as warm up band, so they had to be ok. The band was quite interesting - the female vocalist Heather Thompson did a real good job. She is not very tall, and I was very impressed that such powerful vocals could come from her.
The next band was the reason I went to this concert. Within Temptation from Holland is an excellent band, and I was looking forward to hearing how their live performance would be. This concert blew me away. I was up in front the whole time, and I just couldn't take my arms down. Within Temptation delivered a killer show with an awesome intensity and atmosphere. I am sure all members of the band made a nice performance, but vocalist Sharon den Adel really stole the whole picture. She was like an angel on the stage, and her voice was even better than on the albums. Her fairy look didn't make it easier to concentrate on the other musicians either. Steen has already mentioned some of the songs they played. For me the highlights were Deceiver of Fools and (of course) their hit Ice Queen both from their newest album Mother Earth.
After the Within Temptation concert we went to the bar, and we never made it to the Paradise Lost concert.
The performance of Within Temptation made this a night to remember. I think, however, that 4 bands playing were too much for just one evening. I would have preferred fewer bands playing for a longer time.
| | Written by Steen
Sunday, February 23, 2003 |
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RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by Met@l girl (Anonymous) - Monday, August 25, 2003 | Like Within Temptation? check out Autumn, quite the same sound, also from Holland.
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