It was May when Within Temptation announced their intention to celebrate their 15 years in the music scene with a special show called “Elementsâ€. The band would be accompanied by the Il Novecento Orchestra along with some special guest artists. So, on November the 13th I found myself in one of Antwerp’s biggest stadiums called “Sportpaleis†surrounded by 24.000 other people, anxiously waiting for the celebration to begin. The show was completely sold out, by the way! This was not surprising at all; Within Temptation’s fans are very loyal to their favorite band. A huge screen was covering the stage and the seats for the orchestra were already set, but the thing that totally caught my attention was the huge triangular box hanging from the roof decorated with various symbols and with two screens on its sides.At around 8 o’clock a documentary of different behind-the-scenes footage from the band’s album recordings and tours, started playing on the huge screen. It seemed interesting but unfortunately there was neither sound nor subtitles so it ended up being boring. While the crowd was watching this footage, the orchestra and the choir took their seats on the stage. The anticipation was growing! After 50 minutes the documentary finished and a video related to the “unforgiving†comic book series started playing on the screen while the maestro gave the downbeat to signal the beginning of this amazing show. The intro of “The Silent Force†album started off (the track was re-arranged with some small changes especially for this show). Within Temptation band members came on stage, while the triangular box slowly started coming down and a little girl dressed in black and dancing (actually, she was imitating Sharon’s “weird†dancing moves on stage) appeared along with them. To (almost) everyone’s surprise the band started playing “Ironâ€, a guitar- driven song from their latest album entitled “The Unforgivingâ€. The box came down, hiding the girl and when it went up again the girl had given her place to Sharon Den Adel who started singing dressed in a fabulous long black dress. She was also wearing a golden mask on her face (a small detail that made her whole outfit looking totally amazing). While she was running across the stage, she made the audience jumping and screaming “oh damn†along with her! The black dress came off revealing a golden corset and a golden skirt (it was something like “Lady Gaga meets Wonder womanâ€). “In the Middle of the Night†followed giving Robert the chance to make his appearance in an unusual way. The box was being lowered again but this time Robert was on top of it playing the guitar and making the crowd go wild! After two more songs from “The Unforgiving†album (“Faster†and “Fire and Iceâ€), the set continued with the fan- favorite tracks: “Our Solemn Hourâ€, “Stand My Ground†and “Angels†(in which Sharon put on white wings just like in the videoclip of the track).An acoustic set of “The Last Danceâ€, “Never-Ending Story†and “Say My Name†followed in which Sharon (now dressed in a green dress) and the boys were joined on stage by special drummers, stilt dancers, three little girls (dancers) and Within Temptation’s ex-band member Ivar De Graaf who played the acoustic guitar.The next track on the set list was “Candlesâ€, a song from their very first record called “Enter†in which Sharon was accompanied on the vocals by the grunter virtuoso George Oosthoek (ex-Orphanage). Three dancers appeared on the stage again (they were performing some kind of modern dance performance) and the band was also joined by their ex-members Martijn Westerholt (Delain) on keyboards and Michiel Papenhove on guitars. The song “Sinead†followed immediately. For me, that was easily one of the greatest moments of that epic night. Despite the fact of being in the middle of the concert Sharon didn’t seem tired at all and continued jumping and running across the stage. We were all screaming “oh oh oh Sinead†and the disco balls that appeared made us go crazy! “Titanium†(by David Guetta feat. Sia), “Summertime Sadness†(by Lana Del Rey) and “Grenade†(by Bruno Mars), three of the band’s latest cover songs followed. These tracks fitted perfectly with the “pop†mood of “Sinead†(something that I was not really expecting) and the band seemed to enjoy playing their latest releases. One of my favorite songs, the epic and bombastic “The Promiseâ€, was next. The orchestra, Sharon (now dressed in a white Mother Earth-era like dress) singing in a more operatic way (oh yes! She made her well-known evil/witch-like face expressions, too!), the fireworks and the whole band gave their best in order to make the song the most spectacular moment of the night. “Memoriesâ€, taken from their album “The Silent Forceâ€, followed, and after that, the all-time classic Within Temptation song (“Mother Earthâ€) which featured a more prominent role for the choir! Sharon encouraged the crowd to sing along with her, while she was surrounded by inflatable thorny trees. The band left the stage but of course the night was not over. The encore was yet to come! “What Have You Doneâ€, one of their biggest hits, was coming. The crowd filled in for Mina (Keith) Caputo’s vocals while the videoclip of the track was playing on the huge videowall. The sweet ballad “Our Farewell†from the “Mother Earth†album followed. The soprano Isabella Scholten dressed in a beautiful white long dress joined Sharon on the stage and they performed a supreme duet! Then, it was now time for another Within Temptation famous song: “Ice Queenâ€. I have to admit that the crowd sang their lungs out together with Sharon and the flowing confetti that was falling on us made the whole moment even more magical! Of course all good things (or should I say awesome things?) come to an end. Within Temptation finished this amazing show with the power ballad “Stairway to the Skiesâ€- a suitable song to say goodnight- . Sharon and Robert thanked us for being there and for supporting them for the past 15 years and after a gracious bow left the stage!While I was extremely tired (soaring knees, no voice at all, ready to go to bed and sleep for days and stuff like that!) I realized what was so awesome about that show: in only a few hours we watched Within Temptation’s evolution through time. From the pure gothic metal era of “Enterâ€, to the more mainstream rock era of “The Unforgivingâ€. From songs like “Candles†to songs like “Sineadâ€, we witnessed every “element†of what made Within Temptation who they are today! A dream came true that night! And indeed, it exceeded everything we have ever seen, heard of experienced form this band before! Thank you Within Temptation!Setlist:IntroIronIn the Middle of the nightFasterFire and IceOur Solemn HourAngelsThe last danceNever-Ending Story (Feat. Iva De Graaf)Say my NameCandles (Feat. George Oosthoek, Martijn Westerholt and Michiel Papenhove)SineadTitanium (David Guetta cover)Summertime Sadness (Lana Del Rey Cover)Grenade ( Bruno Mars Cover)The PromiseMemoriesMother Earth-Encore-What Have You DoneOur Farewell (Feat. Isabella Scholten)Ice QueenStairway to the Skies
Within Temptation is nominated for the Toppop3 Hall of Fame, thanks to Dennis Weening.The Dutch television show Toppop 3 is putting together a hall of fame consisting of the most influential Dutch artists and bands.Guests on the show can nominate Dutch acts they feel have done the most for the Dutch music scene and deserve to be taken into the Hall of Fame.Last Saturday, Dennis was a guest on the television show and explained why he thinks Within Temptation deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, before hanging up Sharon’s picture on the wall. You can watch the episode here.From the 1st of December, people can start voting which 10 artists should make it to the final Toppop3 Hall of fame, on this page.
Due to the Q top 1000, Q-Music NL is not airing the normal program this week. Therefore, Sharon will not be talking to Jeroen van Inkel this afternoon. You can listen to ‘Van Inkel in de Middag’ next Thursday, to hear Sharon talk about next week’s cover.However, you should tune in to Q-Music Belgium tomorrow morning, as Sharon will reveal our new cover on ‘De Ochtendshow’. Turn on your radio between 07.30 – 08.00 (GMT+1) to hear next week’s cover.
It’s Within Temptation Friday on Q-Music Belgium! This morning, Sharon revealed a new song we turned into a Within Temptation-song.Some of you had already guessed which song it would be, with the hints we’d given. This week’s cover is ‘Little Lion Man’ by Mumford & Sons.“This is an amazing band, and not only this song is great, they have so many songs that are absolutely incredible. We were warned about covering a song from this band, as this is one of Q-Music Kurt’s favorite bands. We hope he still likes us after this cover, because we turned it into something completely different. Mumford & Sons have a real folk sound with a lot of energy, which is something you don’t hear in a lot of folk music. It’s not close to our music style at all as we approach music completely different and use different instruments, which makes it quite the challenge.â€Things did not go about their usual way this morning, as Q-Music could not reach Sharon because apparently her phone was still locked even though she was on Twitter with all of you. So it was a little later than usual, but Q-Music did manage to get a hold on her!
Yesterday, Sharon went to Paul de Leeuw’s Dutch television show ‘Langs de Leeuw’.Sharon already visited Paul on his Belgian show ‘Manneke Paul’ and he invited her for this show as well to talk to a special guest who has something to do with our recent project
This morning, we were guests in the radio show ‘Evers Staat Op’ on the Dutch radio station Radio538 to play a total of 3 songs.This was one of the few times we performed songs completely electric instead of acoustic as we’ve done on the radio before. Edwin Evers talked to Sharon about the covers and how these came to be, touring over the world and highlights of our carreer, before we played Grenade, Faster and Never Ending Story.
6 songs are writtenThey hope to have it out the end of next year (2013).
Sharon will help Q-Music Belgium raise money for children in Belgium by recording the chorus for ‘het Meneer Konijnlied’.Q-Music started a campaign to raise money for a charity for children called ‘vzw Kindergeluk’ in January of this year. A cuddly toy called Meneer Konijn (Mr. Bunny), that belonged to a little girl who passed away 2 months after birth, has been travelling around the world and raising money for the charity with every kilometer it travelled.Sharon is joining in the campaign by recording a part of the title song for Meneer Konijn. Q-Music is hoping to have the song complete by tomorrow morning, when Sharon will also be on ‘De Ochtendshow’ to reveal this week’s cover. Tune in to Q-Music Belgium tomorrow to hear the result!Up ’til now, Meneer Konijn has travelled over 254.500,00 KM and raised over 5.000,00 euro.
Sharon will reveal a new cover for Q-Music tomorrow morning in ‘De Ochtendshow’. Listen to Q-Music Belgium tomorrow between 07.30 – 08.00 (GMT+1) to hear Sharon talk to Sven Ornelis and Kurt Rogiers about next week’s cover.We have already given you a ‘small’ hint, we bet you can’t guess which song it will be
For this Within Temptation Friday, we made our very own version of Adele’s ‘Skyfall’.Last week we turned an up tempo song into a ballad. This week… this ballad is no longer a ballad! We were working on this until 00.45 AM last night and got to present it to you this morning.
