THE BAND:
Sharon den Adel - Vocals
Robert Westerholt - Rhythm Guitar, death vocals
Ruud Adrianus Jolie - Lead Guitar
Jeroen van Veen - Bass
Martijn Spierenburg - Keyboards
Stephen van Haestregt - Drums


SET LIST:
1.) “Towards The End”
2.) “Stand My Ground”
3.) “Caged”
4.) “All I Need”
5.) “Frozen”
6.) “Somewhere”
7.) “The Cross”
8.) “Pale”
9.) “What Have You Done”
10.) “Memories”
11.) “Forgiven”
12.) “Utopia”

            Founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon Den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt within Temptation is a Dutch rock/metal band.  Although the band’s music was described as symphonic/gothic metal, Den Adel said they fell into a symphonic rock genre with various influences, and in a later interview with 3VOOR12, Sharon stated that "we consider ourselves more a symphonic rock band ... we are in my opinion no gothic band".
             Quickly signed to DSFA(Doesn’t Stand For Anything)Records the band releases their first CD titled ‘Enter’ in 1997.  The sound of ‘Enter’ was very melodic and doom paced, influenced by gothic doom metal, heavily relied on fast keyboards and drums and heavy guitar riffs. The album was well received and the band embarked on a four gig tour across the country, after which they performed at the Dynamo Open Air festival in Eindhoven, one of the Netherlands' largest heavy metal festivals. The band rounded out 1997 by embarking on their first international tour, of Germany and Austria.
             As the band continued to tour through 1998 their profile had elevated them to the main stage at Dynamo ’98.  However, Within Temptation had released no new material (and did not have plans for a second album at this point), to which end they elected to release an EP, ‘The Dance’, with three songs (plus two remixes) that would further mature the sound from ‘Enter’.
            After two years the band finally took a break from touring.  During the year long sabbatical from touring the band took the time to construct a studio as well as pursuing person interests.
             2000 was an eventful year for the band as they returned to touring, playing three Dutch festivals; Waterpop, Bospop and Lowlands. In addition they went to work on their second album, releasing Mother Earth in the Low Countries on December 1. The album was a moderate success in the Dutch charts the first few weeks after its release.
            The band released the single "Our Farewell", which never entered the charts. The second single from Mother Earth, "Ice Queen", was regarded as the breakthrough release for the band; in March 2002 it climbed to #2 in the Netherlands but was their first #1 single when it climbed to the top in Belgium. The success rebounded to ‘Mother Earth’, which continued to climb in the Dutch album chart, ending the year at #3.
            In 2002 after going through several line-up changes they had their first concert in France and a headline gig in Mexico City. They attained their first major award, the Dutch Silver Harp. They bolstered this by embarking on a major international tour supporting Paradise Lost in 2003 and re-releasing Mother Earth on the GUN Records label across more European countries; it was a success in Germany, where it went platinum and reached #7 in the charts; the re-release of "Ice Queen" also charted well in the top 30. In turn the Benelux regions got a different release, a cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill". The band headlined music festivals across the Netherlands, while their ‘Mother Earth’ tour DVD claimed the prestigious Edison Award.
             Plans for the band's third album came to fruition in 2004, with the release of The Silent Force on November 15, 2004, across Europe. It was produced by Daniel Gibson and an instant #1 in The Netherlands and charted well in many European countries. In support of the release they embarked on another large international tour in 2005, with dates across Europe (including their first major UK concert in London) and a one-off show in Dubai. "Stand My Ground" and "Memories", the first singles from the new album, continued the band's run of chart success, culminating in a second Edison Award. The third single was "Angels". "Stand My Ground" was later to be promoted on the trailer for the film Blood and Chocolate. The band also provided some of the sound track to the videogame Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade released in March.
              In January 2006, Within Temptation won the Dutch Pop Prize (best Dutch pop contribution) and Dutch Export Prize (best-selling Dutch artist outside The Netherlands); the latter one given to them for the third time in a row. The band also reported that they were busy working on their next album, due to be released during the fall, and that they would start playing at festivals starting in April, in addition to going on an international tour at the end of the year.
              On August 5, 2008, the band's albums ‘Mother Earth’ and ‘The Silent Force’ were released in the US for the first time through Roadrunner Records.
            The album The Heart of Everything from Within Temptation was released on March 9, 2007, in the Netherlands, and in the United States on July 24. Two tracks, called "The Howling" and "Sounds of Freedom", were recorded as promotion material for the video game The Chronicles of Spellborn, and the first of these opens the album. The full track listing was revealed on January 10. The band embarked on their first North American tour with Lacuna Coil in May to promote the North American release of the album. Roadrunner Records also released a limited edition EP called The Howling, which was available only at Hot Topic stores, containing the title track plus popular tracks from their former album ‘The Silent Force’.
             The album debuted at #1 in the Dutch Album 100, making it their second number-one album. It reached #1 in Finland, #1 in Belgium for the second time, the top 10 in eight countries and top 100 in eleven countries. As of March 30, 2007, the album had sold 150,000 copies in first week.
            The song "What Have You Done" was the first single released from the album. Its initial music video was recorded on the 12, 13 and 14 of December 2006 at the Koko club in London, and a CGI studio in Windsor. It features Keith Caputo of Life of Agony on guest vocals. Fans were allowed to participate in the making of the video, although this first version left the band feeling disappointed (comments made by the band at their March show in Lyon). Shortly after, a completely new video for the song was made. The song peaked at #1 in the Netherlands and #1 in Finland.
             The second single, released across Europe in June, was "Frozen". The video, filmed in Romania, deals with child abuse, and sales of the single was to raise money for a children's charity, Child Helpline International. "The Howling" was chosen as a digital single release for the UK (not to be confused with the US EP release), and another video was also shot. The extended version of the "Frozen" single features an unreleased b-side, "Sounds of Freedom", as mentioned the second song written for the promotion of the computer game The Chronicles of Spellborn.
              Within Temptation started their very first U.S. tour a few months after the European release of The Heart of Everything, supporting Lacuna Coil, and appearing alongside In This Moment, Stolen Babies, The Gathering, and Kylesa. The tour, dubbed The Hottest Chicks in Metal Tour 2007, was largely a success.
           The Heart of Everything was released in the U.S. on July 24, and the promotional single of "What Have You Done" shipped to rock stations July 2. This was the band's first album to be released in America followed by the previous albums Mother Earth and The Silent Force a year later.
            In support of the new album, Within Temptation decided to kick off their first headlining US tour in Fall 2007. The band played 13 shows, starting on September 5, 2007, in Boston and ended on September 23, 2007, in Tempe, Arizona.
           On October 19, 2007, Within Temptation released the video for their third single "All I Need". The single was released in Europe around November 12 and features the single and album versions of the title track plus demo versions of "The Last Time" (previously unreleased track), "Frozen" and "Our Solemn Hour.
          In November 2007, the band released info that their concert at Beursgebouw, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, was filmed for possible inclusion on a new concert dvd (either parts or all of the show). On February 7, 2008, the band performed a 10,000 audience show entitled Black Symphony at the Ahoy in Nederlands together with The Metropole Orchestra, a choir and several guest artists, and it was later revealed that this show would be filmed in its entirety for DVD and Blu-Ray together with a double cd, which was to be released on September 22, 2008, (international) and September 23, 2008 (in the U.S.). The trailer for the DVD (containing the entire live performance of the song "Our Solemn Hour" from the show) was released on the band's Opendisc feature on July 16, 2008. Another single from ‘The Heart of Everything’, Forgiven, was released to promote the Black Symphony release.
          "After the Theater Tour that will start next week, me and the rest of Within Temptation are gonna take a whole year off. For the last 7 years we've been hopping from studio to tour bus to airplane to boat to studio again to tour bus to bicycle to airplane to an occasional swimming pool on the top of a hotel to tour bus again. We all really needed a break from the band..."
          Their song "What Have You Done" is now on the video game "Guitar Hero: World Tour
          Their song "The Truth Beneath The Rose" is currently featured in the commercials for The Tudors, season 3, on ShowTime.
          The Band has set new dates to restart the Theatre Tour in 2010.
          On August 11, 2009, on their official website, Sharon announced that an acoustic album would be released in late October/early November called An Acoustic Night at the Theatre. It would include several acoustic songs from their tour in November 2008. On the 30th of October the album was released, the single was released with the album called ‘Utopia’. The song is a duet between Sharon and Chris Jones and was released on October 23.



            ‘An Acoustic Night At The Theatre’ is Within Temptation’s third live CD.  This is the acoustic set list the band played during their Theatre Tour in November, 2008.  The album also includes a new studio recording, "Utopia”, which was released as a single in October 23, 2009. The song is a duet with Chris Jones.  The songs are acoustic in the sense as amplified acoustic.  For me this is the first time I have had the pleasure of hearing the band.  From what I heard on this CD along with the different audio tracks online.  I tend to agree with Sharon that the band does not have a real gothic metal sound however more of a symphonic metal sound.  This being the first I had ever heard the band I thought Sharon’s vocal sound was very reminiscent of Amy Lee & Evanescence to also even a Candice Night of Blackmoore’s night feel.  Too me the music on this release was completely mesmerizing!!!!  If you are into good solid acoustic symphonic metal this will be the release for you.