Fourteen years have passed since the first time that Within Temptation visited Greece for the first time, at that Rockwave festival with Judas Priest. This time, the show was all theirs and of course, a lot has changed in the band since then.
At 20.00′, The Silent Wedding began the duty of supporting the show. The unacceptable announcement of their participation just a week ago, resulted in people not even knowing the existence of a support band and many asking left and right who these guys were! I would like to talk about the treatment of Greek band by some promoters in another column. The Silent Wedding literally saved themselves with a great performance, looking very tight as a band with a solid and clear sound. After all, they have experience from good live performances in the past and had no difficulty in winning over the audience with good songs and a very good, as well as intense stage presence for 45 minutes.
A few minutes after 21.30, the intro and the first notes of “See Who I Am” excited the approximately 4,000 people who have flooded Technopolis, but it quickly becomes clear that things with the sound are not good at all. The guitars sound like…something else. At the end of the song and after the problem has been identified, Sharon engages the audience for two – three minutes, the problem is fixed and “In The Middle Of The Night” gives everyone, band and crowd, the proper boost which follows with ” Faster”. The band is missing something, a distinctive personality and an excellent bassist. Jeroen van Veen was unable to appear due to the plague of the last two years and was replaced by Ivar de Graaf, the band’s first drummer in a forced role change. Almost all of the band’s hits are heard with Sharon Den Adel giving a recital and performance having a unique way of both singing and communicating with the audience
In “Raise Your Banner” she appeared with the Ukrainian flag for the obvious reasons while starting “Mother Earth” with which the band closed the show, she invited three little girls from the front rows of the audience to the stage throughout the song and moved everyone with her action. Maybe two more songs could have been heard, Within Temptation’s set lasted 83 minutes, I don’t know if that was due to the change of bass player or any other reason. Personally, however, the Dutch left me satisfied as always and I can’t wait to see new things and of course more live shows.
P.S.: I get to the point of being impressed by the absence of smoke generators, this stupidity of the Greek stadiums that some (I want to avoid characterizations) ostentatiously transport to the concert venues.
Setlist: See Who I Am, In The Middle Of The Night, Paradise (What About Us), The Purge, Faster, Stand My Ground, Entertain You, And We Run, Raise Your Banner, Supernova, The Reckoning, Our Solemn Hour, Stairway To The Skies, Ice Queen, Mother Earth.
Δημήτρης Καζαντζής
Photos: Peter Papapetros
