Within Temptation

In 2001, a good friend of mine came back from a trip to Holland proclaiming he had heard this great band I was absolutely going to love. He brought me their cd which I popped in on the way home from picking him up. Heavy guitars? Check. Melodramatic Strings/Orchestra? Check. Catchy Loops? Check. Badass chick singer? Double Check.

The band in question was Within Temptation and I have been waiting since the day I put that cd in my player to have the opportunity to see them live. Until the past few weeks they had never toured the US and I missed them by a few weeks when I went to Denmark. However, Lacuna Coil managed to get them over here, and of all the places in the SE they could play, they ended up in COLUMBIA!!!!

The show was unbelievable. I had wondered how well they would translate to small clubs after regularly playing large venues and stadiums in europe...they didnt miss anything. Hands down one of the tightest shows I have seen, but sequences tend to help that.

Afterwards, I went into fullblown dork mode and sought out the band members in order to get my 2 discs signed. They were a bit taken back since they have had no US released cd's, but gladly signed my euro release discs and spoke with myself, my 2 brothers and Jen. It was my brother Joe's second concert ever (lucky kid, I had to wait til I was 17...he gets to go at 13 since I take him) and he was blown away, particularly after getting to meet them.

Jen even mentioned we had tried to get tickets for the sold out Virginia show and the drummer took my email address so he could let us know if they had a guestlist up there. They did, he put us on it and emailed us, but the email didnt get here til 6pm day of show. No way we could make it in time, even if we had the gas money to drive to Va. and back. I was a little sad, but no regrets since I got to see and meet them 2 days prior. I find it unbelievable that he actually emailed me. This is a band that sells out 100k plus stadiums in europe.

They are releasing their new disc, The Heart of Everything, July 24th in the US. It will be the first cd of theirs released in the states and according to the band will contain some tracks from The Silent Force. Highly recommended, particularly if you like Evanescence or bands in that genre. (FYI, WT pre-dates Evanescence) Please buy it so I get to see them in the states again!

Before you point it out to me Mr. BD, yes, I am a dork. But if ever I cant be a dorky fan someone needs to shoot me.

N.

PS - Those are some of the shots I took from the show.