Within Temptation review 9/15

[Diabolik]

Damn!!!! Just got back from Within Temptation at the House Of Blues. I have been a big fan of them for many years. I didnt know what to expect crowd wise with what type of fan would be there. I came a little late to miss the shitty opening acts. A theme I will continue to do I think. Walked in and it was already packed in there. I figured they would have a good crowd but this was actually shocking. here is a band I was into that no one listened to in the states it seemed. now since they are on Roadrunner...Wham! first off I dont know what Top 40 radio station plays thier stuff but the show was filled with Frat Boys and Sororiety girls. It made me sick. Everyone was dressed up like it was some fall dance. There were little amounts of real metal heads there. Not many goth kids. Just lots of ordinary folk. There has to be some station playing there stuff. There is no way these people could have discovered this band on thier own.

I walked in on the last song of ths first band. Crap emo-metal. Moved my way up closer. Got in a pretty good area. Stood behind a fat short lady so no one would block my view and no one really could move her so I had a decent spot. The second act The Dear And Departed were so damn shitty. Total emo shit. They were from england or something but moved to LA and now on this tour. The only applause they got is when they kept saying....who is hear to see Within Temptation. I really hate when openers do that....it is like..no! we are here to see you shit band play then leave. To me it is a poor attempt for a shitty band to get the applause thier music cannot generate.

Then after a 30 minute wait....Wtihin Temptation came on. They had a great back drop. it was this silouete of a forest and wolves but in the sky they had a projector going the whole time with videos and stuff....it looked like it was really the sky. Very cool. Right from the moment they came out the crowd was really into it. The whole floor was shaking like it was going to fall through from all the over weight people jumping and stuff. The sound was perfect. It sounded very much like the CD and Sharon's voice was perfect and on key the whole time. They were having a blast on stage too...laughing and moving around. It is nice to see bands enjoying what they are doing. I think they were really surprised with the reaction. They played lots from the new disc...which bugged me with so many older great songs over looked. The new songs that I didnt care for on disc were great live and now have made me want to go back and hear them again on disc. This is one of the few bands where I wanted to hear more slow songs and the ballads. Sharons voice is incredible and I was hoping to hear "Our Farwell" or "In Perfect harmony" which is my favorite song by them. No luck. They pounded out song after song. The crowd never got bored and they knew how to keep it going. Here is most of the set list.

Mother Earth
What Have You Done
Our Solemn hour
Angels
The Heart Of Everything
All I Need
Ice Queen
Stand My Ground
See Who I am
Memories
Deceiver Of Fools
and a few other songs too...cant remember at the moment

The downfall is that there were lots of assholes there too. These one loser metalhead guy and his mowhawked buddy who have a band since they decided to talk about it the whole show while Within Temptation were playing kept trying to move over into my space....aint going to happen. Even though they were twice the size of me. i wasnt giving my space up behind the fat lady. Then during the middle of the set thier even big loser buddy comes up and tries to get into where I am standing. I planted my feet tight and refused to move over. He realized what was going on and left the area. Then we had the four frat boys bumping chest and trying to mosh to them. Lots of people got pissed. By this time the floor area got messed up and I was stuck behind a taller guy but he moved after a few songs. This girl next to me was a die hard fan and there were these tall guys in front of her so me being the super sweet guy let the girl stand in front of me. She kept on thanking me the rest of the night. The show got out later than I thought it would. Went home and ate a beef sandwich then. All in all...it was a great show and a great night. I even had last minutes doubt going in the afternoon since I was totally being lazy today. I knew I would have regretted not going. I would have after seeing them play live. Cant wait till they come back which I have a feeling they will on a larger scale tour. Hopefully next time they bring over a good opening act.

 

[Diabolik]

Also, I hate stupid/rude/annoying people.

this show was full of them. I think the more mainstream the band..the worse the crowd is.

 

[OrbWeaver]

Hey Diabolik, did the girl you were next to have long red hair and black-rimmed glasses?

 

[Diabolik]

Hey Diabolik, did the girl you were next to have long red hair and black-rimmed glasses?

no, she had short hair. The one girl who was really cute who I let stand in front of me had blue stripes in her hair.

 

[Walter_Langkowski]

Diabolik, if you have been to the HOB before and you say packed, was it really close to capacity or did it just look crowded from your viewpoint?

And I think it's very interesting if this band is drawing hundreds of people in Chicago. I never would have believed that in a million years. I saw them at the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands in 2000, and they seemed like a lesser, more symphonic The Gathering, IMO. They were nice people though. Interesting what a dedicated record label can do for a band though...

 

[Jasonic]

Interesting what a dedicated record label can do for a band though...

You hit the nail on the head there.
Every label is cashing in on the female fronted thing.
I am not dissing WT, as I have not heard them.

The problem from a business standpoint is this trend has come and gone.
I mean by the time Lacuna Coil released KARMACODE, how many people even cared?

Sure, I will get blasted by Bob for this comment, but it's true.
No way in hell WT would have headlined HOB if they had a male vocalist.

 

[Walter_Langkowski]

You hit the nail on the head there.
Every label is cashing in on the female fronted thing.
I am not dissing WT, as I have not heard them.

The problem from a business standpoint is this trend has come and gone.
I mean by the time Lacuna Coil released KARMACODE, how many people even cared?

Sure, I will get blasted by Bob for this comment, but it's true.
No way in hell WT would have headlined HOB if they had a male vocalist.

Well, you can't say that you don't have a point. I love good bands, whether there is a dude or a broad singing for them. I really don't understand when I hear people (usually dudes) saying that they don't like female singers. Whatever.

Anyways, Lacuna did set the trend, even though it's not what I consider a huge trend, like all the dog-barker Hardcore bands out there, but it's still a trend. So it's interesting to me that they can headline the HOB under any circumstances. Obviously the label is doing something (don't ask me what) to promote the album. I just would never have thought they could draw that type of crowd, love them or hate them.

 

[Diabolik]

You hit the nail on the head there.
Every label is cashing in on the female fronted thing.
I am not dissing WT, as I have not heard them.

The problem from a business standpoint is this trend has come and gone.
I mean by the time Lacuna Coil released KARMACODE, how many people even cared?

Sure, I will get blasted by Bob for this comment, but it's true.
No way in hell WT would have headlined HOB if they had a male vocalist.

Well if they had a male vocalist they would be a totally different band. I know you think thatfemale vocalist are a gimmick, but us non-muslims look at female singers differently.

 

[Diabolik]

The show was really crowded. The main floor was packed and all the outside areas were packed with people. The back bar area was open, but this out drew Sonata, Hammerfall/Edguy, and maybe almost Blind Guardian. I would say Blind Guardian was more filled, but for a band that has had no word of mouth or even that popular in the states....that is a great turnout.

I know Jason is sore about a band with a girl doing good, and it really isnt a trend Jason...there have been female singers from way back when. You know they can vote now too. Even get jobs that make as much as us men.

 

[OrbWeaver]

How can you like Nightwish, but not Epica or After Forever? The bands don't sound exactly alike, but all three are rather similar. Well...they were BEFORE NW fired Tarja, anyway. But I digress...the only major difference betwen NW and the other two is the lack of growlies. AF and Epica utilize male growls, while NW does not. Is that why you don't like the other two bands?

 

[Diabolik]

How can you like Nightwish, but not Epica or After Forever? The bands don't sound exactly alike, but all three are rather similar. Well...they were BEFORE NW fired Tarja, anyway. But I digress...the only major difference betwen NW and the other two is the lack of growlies. AF and Epica utilize male growls, while NW does not. Is that why you don't like the other two bands?

I couldnt have said it better myself. Ignore Jason and his crazy beliefs. I guess girls are not metal enough for them. Funny how these are the same people who never listened to these bands making the comments. I think they are just scared to expand thier minds and taste.

They are missing out on such great acts like Arkona, Cruachan, Orkrist, Oratory and so on.

 

[Jasonic]

Bob - It's called matter of opinion.

You are missing out on some great epic doom metal if you got over your personal opinion that all doom is slow and droning.

For example, you have seen enough crappy gore metal bands at Milwaukee Metalfest which will prevent you from EVER checking out a band from that genre. That's how I feel about the whole female fronted symphonic genre. I have heard enough to know it isn't for me. I don't need to check out ten more bands just to come to the same conclusion.

As I said, I wasn't disrespecting Within Temptation by calling it a trend.
It's the mainstream that has made ANY female fronted band seem to be a trend.

No need to get so defensive about it.

 

[Diabolik]

Bob - It's called matter of opinion.

You are missing out on some great epic doom metal if you got over your personal opinion that all doom is slow and droning.

For example, you have seen enough crappy gore metal bands at Milwaukee Metalfest which will prevent you from EVER checking out a band from that genre. That's how I feel about the whole female fronted symphonic genre. I have heard enough to know it isn't for me. I don't need to check out ten more bands just to come to the same conclusion.

As I said, I wasn't disrespecting Within Temptation by calling it a trend.
It's the mainstream that has made ANY female fronted band seem to be a trend.

No need to get so defensive about it.

Nice defense muslim. You have always been against female singers. Even back in your punk days. I can care less if you like them or not it is just funny that you have refered to them as gimmicks in the past many of times.
maybe once you you realize that woman are equal to us men that you will open up your heart and realize how great female fronted bands are!!!

 

[OrbWeaver]

I find Nightwith a lot more musically interesting. On a few songs.

That makes sense. No one has written a song quite like Tuomas Holopainen as of yet. And that's all I'll say before I start ranting about NW.

 

[Jasonic]

Nice defense muslim. You have always been against female singers. Even back in your punk days. I can care less if you like them or not it is just funny that you have refered to them as gimmicks in the past many of times.
maybe once you you realize that woman are equal to us men that you will open up your heart and realize how great female fronted bands are!!!

Dude, that's complete bullshit.
I liked MANY female fronted punk bands.
Definitely moreso than female fronted metal bands.

I have been in two female fronted punk bands actually, come to think of it.

I just don't care for it so much in metal.
Once again, dont know why this bothers you so much.

You are completely missing my point in referring to the genre as a gimmick too. Ask yourself this.... Do you in all honesty think that Leave's Eyes, Within Temptation, Bleeding Through, the Gathering, etc, would be getting so much commercial attention had it NOT been for the mainstream success of Evanecense? Sure, most of these bands were around before them. The bottom line is that every underground metal label / booking agent is jumping on this as quick as they can.

Do you really think when Roadrunner began in its early days with bands like Type O and Biohazard that they would have even listened to a demo of a band like Within Temptation? Definitely not.

I am speaking purely from a business perspective, which you are misinterpreting as my bashing of said bands in this genre.

 

[Diabolik]

when you say that labels are all jumping to get female fronted bands is nuts. There is just more and more around now. They have fan bases and yes! labels see dollars signs with them. There are some who exploit the fact there is a girl singing and then some who dont advertise it. There are lots of labels that have changed with what they release. Look at The End Records releasing Tubring. Who would have thought. Jason what it boils down to is your anger towards woman. It always has and always will. Go start your Jihad somewhere else.

 

[OrbWeaver]

To be fair, I haven't seen him hate on women at all in this thread. From what I've been reading, it seems like female vocals just aren't generally a style he likes in metal. Kind of like how some people like cream in their tea, and others don't. Also, some people like female vocals in metal, as long as they aren't operatic. I've heard one or two people even go so far as to say that Tarja, Simone, etc...don't fit with metal because of the vocals, but those same people like women who sing like Veronica from Benedictum. I may not like those opinions, but it's their personal taste. It appears to me that in Jason's case, he just doesn't like the melody that female vocals often bring to metal. Personally, I think he's missing out, but that there, is my opinion.

Though Jason, I do wonder - do you like Benedictum?

 

[Diabolik]

To be fair, I haven't seen him hate on women at all in this thread. From what I've been reading, it seems like female vocals just aren't generally a style he likes in metal. Kind of like how some people like cream in their tea, and others don't. Also, some people like female vocals in metal, as long as they aren't operatic. I've heard one or two people even go so far as to say that Tarja, Simone, etc...don't fit with metal because of the vocals, but those same people like women who sing like Veronica from Benedictum. I may not like those opinions, but it's their personal taste. It appears to me that in Jason's case, he just doesn't like the melody that female vocals often bring to metal. Personally, I think he's missing out, but that there, is my opinion.

Though Jason, I do wonder - do you like Benedictum?

I have known Jason for over really about 13 years or so and when he found God or whatever he prays to. he has really become a closet woman hater. Once he got heavy into being a muslim and crap he has treated woman as a lower class. You should see how he tips female waiters. Usually on a good day he wont drop the money on the floor and make them crawl for it. Sure he comes across nice and wholesome here. So did all muslims before 9/11. I am keeping an eye out so I dont see him driving his car into the HOB when Nightwish plays claiming Jihad.

 

[Jasonic]

All I have to say to this thread is X 1000000

 

[Jasonic]

Bob, I just re-read your post.
I have known you for a hell of a lot longer than 13 years.
I first met you (and your brother) at the old Hillside Record conventions in the late 80s