Before I had a beard, I had Within Temptation CDs. Before I even had Within Temptation CDs, I did not know that my lifelong (so far) love affair with female fronted metal would begin with obsessively listening to bands like Within Temptation,After Forever, Delain, Epica, Nightwish,, Sirenia, Tristania, and in more recent years continue with Unleash the Archers.
What I do know, is that in a strange form of what can only be referred to coalescence is that everything in my musical interests is coming full circle. I'll get to that later, if I can remember as I ramble through all of this.
Every year in Australia, we get a music festival called "Knotfest" - yes, it is somewhat related to Slipknot (who played this year) - but every year, the festival-side of it skips my town, but sometimes, we're lucky to get a sideshow. Last year, that sideshow was Pantera. This year, it was Slipknot, but that wasn't my intent, or my goal.
This year, it was Within Temptation, and they weren't coming to Adelaide. I had discussed with a close friend that if they did indeed do a sideshow in the next town over (next town over in Australia is an eight and a half hour drive!) - we would go. And we would go with glee, as a pilgrimage to the sound waves generated by Sharon and her band.
I sourced tickets. We didn't care how much they cost, we were going, to after all, be travelling some ~800KM to go see the band. We planned the day of our departure, got annual leave from our day jobs, and packed our respective bags.
I am generally an early riser, and a bad sleeper, but there was one opportunity to "get it all right" on the fateful morning of our departure. I left my house at 4AM, arrived at a service station near my friends house, fuelled up the car, then drove to his house, and saw the lights come on as soon as I parked outside.
He jumped in the car, and we set the GPS. We were off to our hotel, it was early morning on a Wednesday, and the cruise control was set.
I am pleased (and also, evidently, still alive) - that we made that journey (there... and back) and all along the way, shared memories and thoughts of the band we had both grown up listening to so intently. Our shared musical tastes were almost entirely matched, and the road was open and mostly free of traffic. It was freeing.
We arrived at our hotel after a lot of swearing and navigating the most narrow hotel parking lot I've ever seen (and a multi-level one at that) - before checking into our 2 bedroom apartment as part of the complex, resulting in me wanting to promptly then go to the gym after so many hours of sitting in a automobile seat.
We made it, we were safe, and the concert venue was a mere 15 minute walk from the hotel, with the concert to happen the following night.
I had the fortunate luck of my sister in law residing in the same city in which we had just arrived, and got to see her after two or three years, and it was a lovely reunion. We ate Ramen and spoke about all manner of things, my excitement for the musical concert being first and foremost among these.
The night went quickly, and the following day was concert day.
We got to the concert hall, Max Watts, about two hours before doors were due to open. In the line, we were around 30 people away from the front, but we made fast friends with the other individuals present, and promised to look out for each other in the mosh pit, as only good metal heads do.
In fact, everyone was so intently chatting; that they didn't even notice all the band members of Within Temptation wander straight past the line and into the front entrance of the venue. They were wearing their civvies, though, but they're a distinctive bunch.
What followed was an incredible show. The opening band, Suldusk, was a local outfit bereft of a drummer - who was due to see his first child born that night. They had drumtracks pre-recorded, and it worked. They were an incredible mix of what I can only describe as the outcome of what would happen if you were to combine Cradle of Filth and Enya.
Onto the main event, then?
When Within Temptation strolled out onto the stage, I'd never heard such noise in the back of my ears. The crowd was deafening, and that was even with my set of properly fitted Etymotic ear plugs to help... not go deaf.
While I have listened to Within Temptation for a decade and a half, the first part of their set list was from the most recent album, which I had not consumed as veraciously as their older albums. So for me, the concert didn't really start until "Shot in the Dark", but boy did I enjoy the new tracks, and energy from the crowd; as the titular "Bleed Out" caught my musical pattern recognition and I started singing along.
I was also incredibly impressed with "Don't Pray For Me", delivered with energy and precision. It was after those tracks that I went pretty mental as they played their break out single "Stand My Ground", and moved onto higher energy, more crowd involvement through "What Have You Done" and "Faster", before winding down a little bit with an amazing rendeition of Angels.
If that wasn't enough, they came back out for an encore. A four song long encore... it opened with "Our Solemn Hour" (delivered with such VOLUMNE that the hairs on my legs were moving with each kick of the bass drum) before slowing back down with "All I Need". Then... something I thought I'd never hear live. "Ice Queen" was absolute music to my ears. Why? Because one of my highschool art projects, and one of the things that got me ionto story telling through visual art, was based on the narrative that song tells.
Before they left the stage, though; they played an absolutely incredible rendition of "Mother Earth", and what a song to end on. Heavy energy, a great theme, and me, covered with litres of sweat (probably both my own, and that of those around me) saw the night with bows, screams, cheers, and an incredibly satisfied audience, myself included.
Its been about four weeks since the concert, and the high isn't over yet.
In a few months, I'll be going to see an Australian band called Killing Heidi, who, upon reflection, were probably the first rock band I listened to that had a female singer. This concert, that upcoming concert, and other events (Which I'll write about soon, I promise) - see 2025 as so far, the best year of my life, even with everything "else" that is going on with the World, at the moment.
