This week we spent a few nights in Amsterdam, the main reason being to see Within Temptation play live at the Koninklijk Theater Carré as part of their theatre tour.

I’ve been a fan of the band for a long time. I’ve seen them live in the UK, but their ‘home’ shows (they are a Dutch band) always seem to be just that bit more special.

If you have come across this blog because you are going to see one of the shows as part of this tour I’m going to do you a favour and tell you to leave, now. You don’t want to read this – it will spoil the show for you. Seriously – go away, enjoy the show and come back after 🙂

Within Temptation are very fond of using orchestra’s and choirs as part of their music and shows. The Black Symnphony included the full The Metropole Orchestra and the Pa’dam Choir. I wish I’d seen that live, the DVD is amazing. I did not expect the same for this tour, you don’t expect a band to travel to 22 venues with an orchestra & choir. They did a damn good job at replicating it though 🙂

On stage, at a higher level, was another walkway with a screen across it. At various points throughout the concert people appeared on the screen – playing instruments, singing the harmonies. it was really well done and gave a great feel to the music. They also had a (real) violinist & cellist to add that little bit extra.

But the best bit was when the lead singer, Sharon, performed on that level. I’m assuming there was some kind of screen in front of the screen, so she was between two areas. What it did was make her look almost holographic. Which worked fantastically well when she sang ‘Somewhere’ and a video version of Anneke Van Giersbergen appeared to duet the track with her. The interaction between the real Sharon & video Anneke looked really good – you could almost believe Anneke was really there.

The gig was made of tracks from all their albums, rather than just focusing on their latest album Hydra:

• The Cross
• Hand of Sorrow
• Shot in the Dark
• And We Run
• The Heart of Everything
• Towards the End
• Jillian (I’d Give My Heart)
• Somewhere
• Mother Earth
• The Last Dance
• Paradise (What About Us?)
• The Truth Beneath the Rose
• Forgiven
• Stand My Ground
• Iron
• Covered By Roses
• Ice Queen
• Sinéad
• Stairway to the Skies

The Last Dance – bit blurry due to it being recorded on a mobile but sound is picked up well

It was great. The visuals were stunning, with great work done to get the effects they did, the sound was excellent with Sharon being in fantastic form, and the band played great.