Within Temptation
The City Of Angels Welcomes Within Temptation
Dutch Symphonic Metal band, Within Temptation, took over Club Nokia on Friday, September 26 to an eagerly awaiting and enthusiastic crowd. It has been 6 years since they last visited the West Coast on Tour, (with the exception of an acoustic performance and promotion of their new Cd Hydra, at the Joint in Los Angeles back in January 2014). The night began with an impressive set by Amaranthe, Swedish Experimental Metal, combining elements of Pop, Dance and Techno into metal and the band, fronted by 3 singers Elize Ryd and Jake E on clean vocals and Henrik Englund covering the growls, got the crowd moving quickly. Performing songs from their upcoming Massive Addiction CD, as well as songs from their previous two albums, it was clear from their energy and performance why they were the perfect choice to open the show for Within Temptation.
As they prepared the stage for Within Temptation, the anticipation mounted, and for many this would be their first time seeing the Dutch Symphonic Metal Pioneers as part of this long awaited West Coast Tour. The lights dimmed and a short video called “Dragon” appeared on the screen. The band appeared onstage and opened with “Paradise” (What About Us?) the first single off of their latest 2014 release “Hydra.” The song was recorded as duet with Sharon den Adel and Tarja Turunen, and of course, everyone was hoping Tarja would make an appearance, but she was not present at the show. From the beginning the band had the audience singing and that would set the tempo for the entire evening as they sang along to every song. The beautiful voice of Sharon den Adel performed flawlessly and can only be described as the voice of an Angel. The band performed most of the biggest songs of their career with highlights including the new song Paradise (What About Us?), Faster, Stand My Ground (in which Sharon made a dedication to equality) and a cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness, but really too many highlights to mention. Their entire show was one powerful moment after another with amazing stage presence and energy. The audience was treated to a four song encore after begging for more which included an Acoustic version of Sinéad and the last song of the evening Ice Queen.
Check out the Within Temptation photo gallery here!
The set list was:
- Paradise (What About Us?)
- Let Us Burn
- In the Middle of the Night
- Fire and Ice
- Our Solemn Hour
- Stand My Ground
- Summertime Sadness (Lana Del Rey Cover)
- The Cross
- And We Run
- See Who I Am
- Dangerous
- Edge of the World
- What Have You Done
- Mother Earth
- Covered By Roses (Encore)
- Never Ending Story (Encore)
- Sinéad (Acoustic) [Encore]
- Ice Queen (Encore) Faster
The crowd rose to their feet with their hands in the air as
a token of gratitude and to thank the band for this once
ina lifetime experience and leaving the band with an
amazing picture of their evening in Los Angeles. If you
missed this show be sure to catch them at one of the
dates listed below, as it is unclear as to when these great Symphonic Masters will return to the US.