CONCERT REVIEW: Within Temptation & Evanescence Differ In Delivery But Are Comparable In Excellence

In a time span of 3 days we have arguably seen the 3 most influential bands within the orchestral metal scene, with Nightwish leading the charge two days ago, and the absolutely insane co-headliner bill of Evanescence and Within Temptation playing two sold-out shows in Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome, the first one taking place tonight.

As The Netherlands is a home game for Within Temptation, it was up to them to play last, but with both bands playing the exact same time, it didn’t really much matter.

It’s been a while since Evanescence played a ‘regular’ show in The Netherlands, as the last show in Amsterdam was a seated concert with an actual orchestra to promote the release of the album with reimagined songs Synthesis back in 2018. Bottomline, the fans were due for an epic regularly styled Evanescence concert and they got what they wished for. The band has a legendary status in the scene, with many fans growing up with Evanescence‘s earlier albums Fallen and The Open Door, but tonight’s show really focused on their 2021 album The Bitter Truth more than anything else. Over the years, Amy Lee‘s iconic voice has changed a bit, making the very high notes from the band’s early work a little harder for Lee to reach. This was particularly noticeable during songs like Going Under, but even if not every note was perfect, Amy Lee‘s voice is unequivocally an absolute force. The band brought along a triangle-shaped setup on stage, with multiple levels where the band members were stationed and displayed a stunning lightshow throughout the performance. Besides from going through the motions, Evanescence also performed a medley consisting of Lose Control, Part of Me & Never Go Back and invited Within Temptation vocalist Sharon den Adel on stage for the performance of Use My Voice, another song from the band’s 2021 album The Bitter Truth. While the new Evanescence songs are incredible, I believe the majority of the fans in the venue were more ecstatic for the band’s earlier work, resulting in a record-number of phones recording bits of My Immortal and Bring Me To Life, which were the last songs on tonight’s setlist. Check out some photos from the epic performance below and keep scrolling for Within Temptation photos!

It was a home game for Within Temptation, but still a bit different than their more recent previous shows. Surrounding the band’s 2019 album The Resist, the band played shows all over the country, including Amsterdam’s AFAS Live and Tilburg’s Poppodium 013, but with multiple shows happening in this small country, the Ziggo Dome was out of reach capacity-wise. This time however, with this incredible co-headliner tour with Evanescence, the Ziggo Dome worked out just fine. In fact, this show was so popular, that they added a second night, which sold out shortly after the announcement as well.

Just like Evanescence, Within Temptation also do have a special place in many hearts, as fans have grown up with the band’s music as they started making waves in the late 90s of the last century, but have garnered some new generation fans too with recent songs having some features from younger artists to appeal to younger generations. As a result, Within Temptation played a very varied setlist, with the iconic Mother Earth and Ice Queen from the band’s 2000 album Mother Earth being played as well as 2 songs from 2022: Don’t Pray For Me & Entertain You. Stage wise, Within Temptation had a very interesting set-up, with a huge prop of a mask, which is featured on the band’s artwork for the single The Purge on stage, with lights coming out of its eyes, as well as multiple screens across the stage to compliment the music and in the case of Paradise (What About Us) display footage of Tarja, who has a vocal guest feature on this only track of Hydra that was played tonight. In addition, Within Temptation brought the works, from pyro to co2 cannons, all the way to an airborne swing on which Sharon Den Adel levitated during the performance of All I Need.

Within Temptation‘s stage was absolutely packed with screens, props, lights and musicians, whereas Evanescence opted for a more calm presence and focused more solely on the music. While both bands’ music could be considered similar (genre-wise), they each had a very different approach to deliver this music in a live capacity, which made the night even more special. Personally, I like me some chaos, so Within Temptation‘s rather bombastic set-up worked wonders for my entertainment. On the other hand, there was something very satisfactory about Evanescence‘s cleanliness of the triangle-shaped stage and the minimalistic but reciprocal displays on the big screen and the contrast of the grandiloquent lightshow, which truly was out of this world.

Check out the photos from the Within Temptation performance below and let us know if you are attending any of the remaining shows.

Glenn van den Bosch

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