{"id":4821,"date":"2014-09-27T14:51:24","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T21:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/?p=4821"},"modified":"2014-09-27T14:51:24","modified_gmt":"2014-09-27T21:51:24","slug":"within-temptation-amaranthe-perform-at-club-nokia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/2014\/09\/27\/within-temptation-amaranthe-perform-at-club-nokia\/","title":{"rendered":"Within Temptation & Amaranthe Perform At Club Nokia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>September 26th 2014, Club Nokia, Los Angeles CA: <\/strong>On the back of their successful sixth\u00a0studio album ‘Hydra’ released earlier this year via Nuclear Blast Records, Dutch symphonic metal group Within Temptation are currently on a short 12-show North American tour of selected ‘major market’ cities with Swedish melodic metal band Amaranthe as sole support, starting off in San Francisco on September 25th and arriving in downtown Los Angeles for a gig at the state-of-the-art Club Nokia last night. Fans of both bands, both local and from out of town, traveling from surrounding cities and states this tour is not visiting this time, lined up early in the evening in anticipation of a great show. As for myself, it turned out to be a ‘metal’ concert experience entirely different from the norm.<\/p>\n

Upon arriving, I was miffed to discover that the line to enter the venue was held on ground level outside the building in which Club Nokia is located on the third floor, in a barricaded snake-pit, much like a Six Flags or Disneyland ride, instead of outside the doors of the venue itself. At close to 7:30, the line was finally released to board the escalators to Club Nokia. Looking at this crowd I felt largely out of place, as black shirts were rarer than I’ve ever seen at a metal concert, I recognized only two people in total, and the number of females was alarmingly high even though the pretty ones were few and far between. It certainly was the kind of show the girls drag their boyfriends to rather than the other way round. Soaking in this bizarre atmosphere, I was ready to find out what these two bands would bring to this lovely stage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At 8 PM,\u00a0Amaranthe<\/strong>, with three singers, multiple backing tracks and just the one guitar player, hit the stage for a 40-minute set. I did not enjoy them as a headline act at the Roxy last year and I’m afraid I have to say the same about this performance as well. Make no mistake, credit needs to be given to frontwoman\u00a0Elize Ryd as she undoubtedly has the pipes, but the music around her from the rest of the band fails to deliver. To have to require three singers (not playing any other instruments) in a band wherein at any point during the set at least one of the male singers is seen not singing and merely cheerleading, is as much of an overkill as the dudes in Slipknot banging on kegs calling themselves percussionists. That aside, buried beneath the vocal layers and electronic dance backing tracks, the solitary guitar was least prominent. Amaranthe’s live show was just not powerful in any way whatsoever. Either that or their music is simply not my thing, but then again, it shouldn’t be classified as metal or even rock, because it really isn’t.<\/p>\n

Check out a gallery of 11 Amaranthe photos from the show below (click here<\/a> to view their downloadable versions or if you’re on a non-Flash device):<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Set List:<\/strong>
\n01. Digital World
\n02. Hunger
\n03. Invincible
\n04. 1.000.000 Lightyears
\n05. Massive Addictive
\n06. Afterlife
\n07. Amaranthine
\n08. Call Out My Name
\n09. Drop Dead Cynical
\n10. The Nexus<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After a long 40-minute intermission, Within Temptation <\/strong>arrived on the stage, firstly undergoing a false start and then redoing the intro tape before finally starting the set proper with the appearance of singer Sharon den Adel, the band’s sonic and visual centerpiece. Clad in a white top, she was all smiles throughout the set and not only delivered great vocals, showing her experience and maturity, but genuinely looked like she enjoyed doing it. And even though the initial segment of the set came across as soft, thankfully the guitars took center stage for large portions of its remainder as Within Temptation presented some of their heavier material to redeem the set to a large extent in the eyes and ears of the seemingly meagre number of metalheads in attendance. These tunes were accompanied by a sequence images from Within Temptation’s epic music videos in the stage backdrop to make it all the more expressive.<\/p>\n

They ended the show with a four-song encore which also included two acoustic numbers, and overall seemed to satisfy their fans here, but with that said, I definitely feel they have it in them to turn it up a notch and make their show more powerful, not only musically but perhaps also with a little less of smiling and white clothing, and this ‘power’ doesn’t necessarily come through merely in the heavier songs but also in the melodic ones when played with the right emotion, expression and collective sonic precision from all members. But all things considered, fans of symphonic rock in the rest of the continent should find themselves enjoying Within Temptation’s live show which should only get better with every stop of this tour.<\/p>\n

Check out a gallery of 34 Within Temptation photos from the show below (click here<\/a> for downloadable versions or if you’re on a non-Flash device):<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Set List:<\/strong>
\n01. Paradise (What About Us?)
\n02. Faster
\n03. Let Us Burn
\n04. In the Middle of the Night
\n05. Fire and Ice
\n06. Our Solemn Hour
\n07. Stand My Ground
\n08. Summertime Sadness\u00a0(Lana Del Rey\u00a0cover)
\n09. The Cross
\n10. And We Run
\n11. See Who I Am
\n12. Dangerous
\n13. Edge of the World
\n14. What Have You Done
\n15. Mother Earth
\nEncore:<\/em>
\n16. Covered By Roses
\n17. Never-Ending Story\u00a0(Acoustic)
\n18. Sin\u00e9ad\u00a0(Acoustic)
\n19. Ice Queen<\/p>\n

Remaining Tour Dates:<\/strong>
\n09\/28\/14\u00a0\u00a0 Gothic Theater \u2013 Denver, CO
\n09\/30\/14\u00a0\u00a0 First Avenue \u2013 Minneapolis, MN
\n10\/01\/14\u00a0\u00a0 Vic Theatre \u2013 Chicago, IL
\n10\/02\/14\u00a0\u00a0 Royal Oak Music Theatre \u2013 Royal Oak, MI
\n10\/03\/14\u00a0\u00a0 The Sound Academy \u2013 Toronto, ON \u2013 CANADA
\n10\/05\/14\u00a0\u00a0 Metropolis \u2013 Montreal, QC \u2013 CANADA
\n10\/07\/14\u00a0\u00a0 Ram\u2019s Head Live \u2013 Baltimore, MD
\n10\/09\/14\u00a0\u00a0 Electric Factory \u2013 Philadelphia, PA
\n10\/10\/14\u00a0\u00a0 Terminal 5 \u2013 New York, NY
\n10\/11\/14\u00a0\u00a0 The Palladium \u2013 Worcester, MA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal September 26th 2014, Club Nokia, Los Angeles CA: On the back of their successful sixth\u00a0studio album ‘Hydra’ released earlier this year via Nuclear Blast Records, Dutch symphonic metal group Within Temptation are currently on a short 12-show North American tour of selected ‘major market’ cities with Swedish melodic metal … <\/p>\n

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