Hydra World Tour

Hydra World Tour

Promotional artwork of North American leg of the tour
Tour by Within Temptation
Associated album Hydra
Start date 20 February 2014
End date TBA
Legs 5
Shows 66 in Europe
13 in North America
8 in South America
1 in Asia
(To date)
Within Temptation concert chronology
The Unforgiving Tour
(2011–2013)
Hydra World Tour
(2014–)

Hydra World Tour is a concert tour by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation in support of their sixth studio album, Hydra, released by Nuclear Blast on 31 January 2014. To date, it is their eight major tour and their third to see them playing worldwide. The tour passed over four continents and was divided into several legs according to the local of playing, presenting minor setlist variations from concerts of the same leg and a few more variations from leg to leg.[1] A special leg was entitled "Theatres on Fire", in which saw the band playing seated shows exclusively on theatres.[2] The tour was commercially successful and managed the band to play on even bigger spaces, an improvement already seen on their last world tour, as well presenting their first concert at the Wembley Arena and selling out theatre tickets for their theatre seated concerts in the Netherlands. A live album with footage from the Amsterdam concert was released later in 2014 under the name of Let Us Burn – Elements & Hydra Live in Concert.[3]

Background

The tour was originally planned to start on January, 2014, but then it was postponed to a month later, so the band could polish more the songs before releasing the album and also have more time to rehearsals for the following tour.[4] After a period of radio and television appearances for acoustic performances and interviews, the band scheduled to embark officially on the tour. On 20 January, the band announced a try-out show for testing the songs live at the Effenaar, in Eindhoven (NL), to be held on 20 February, having the tickets sold out on the same day.[5] The first official show happened on 26 February, in Helsinki, Finland, and the arena tour is going to pass primarily in Europe, abranging a few summer festivals. Due to great demand, several venues were changed to big ones in the purpose to comport more people.[6][7] Due to the great reception of Hydra in the U.S., the band decided to tour again in North America, travelling from West to East coast and passing over twelve cities, being two in Canada and having some venues with sold out tickets, while on the last tour the band passed over only five cities.[8] On 2 May, the band announced through their Facebook page that they were going to record the concert at the Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, in which happened on the same evening.[9] The great part of the concert would late appear on the DVD Let Us Burn - Elements & Hydra Live In Concert together with some parts of the previous tour Elements 15th anniversary show. As the end of the European leg, the tour had an attendance of over 120.000 people.[3] After the great reception of the previous albums on North America as well the North American leg of the Hydra World Tour, Nuclear Blast decided to release a together re-issue of both Enter and The Dance on November 10, 2014, in order to give the new listeners access to the band early material.[10]

The band opted to focus on playing Hydra songs in its majority, being "Dog Days" the only one not played yet, and maintain their signature songs from previous releases, as Stand My Ground and Ice Queen, during great part of the presentations. As the album contains four invited vocalists, their part in the respective songs are played on tape as the videos are showed on the big screen, allowing these artists to appear somewhow during the concerts,[11] except for "Whole World is Watching" in which was played with guest vocalist Piotr Rogucki on Polish dates and was played only by den Adel in an acoustic version.

Theatre Concerts

Right after the end of the arena concerts, the band announced via their website that on early 2015 they were going to embark on a new theatre tour[2] passing over Dutch cities and later one extra show in Luxembourg. The special leg of the tour came out differently from their previous theatre concerts in which the band used to present primarily acoustic renditions of their songs, with the Hydra seated leg featuring only a few acoustic versions and somewhat different renditions from them.[12][13] The theatre leg ambientation was made sightly different from the common concerts in order to also present a visual spectacle in support of the music. The band made use of holographic projections to auxiliate the stage design and effect of some songs, such as a pre-recorded virtual orchestra playing on the stage and virtual holographic duets such as the one from den Adel and Anneke van Giersbergen during the presentation of "Somewhere".[13]

Reception

Piotr Rogucki performed his parts on "Whole World Is Watching" at Polish dates and also on some radio and television appearances.

The tour received generally positive reviews amongst critics. In reviewing the bands presentation at the Wembley Arena, London, Ian Gittins from The Guardian classified the performance with 3 stars out of 5. Gittins commented the diversity the band delivered during the concert, praising the transition of "the portentous Our Solemn Hour" in which sampled "a Winston Churchill speech and veers off into cod Latin" to the "melodramatic romanticism of the sultry arthouse original and bellow it from a windswept mountaintop" that the band offered with a cover of Lana del Rey's Summertime Sadness during the final encore. Gittins ended his review classifying the band as a "complete hokum and yet oddly enjoyable".[14] British website Bring the Noise also considered "Our Solemn Hour" and the final encore containing "Summertime Sadness" as the night main highlights, also praising den Adel's vocal hability and the stage additional effects as the use of pyrotechnics, giving the concert a 10/10 score.[15] However, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet cited "Summertime Sadness" as the weakest point of the concert at the Sweden Rock Festival.[16] Robert van Gijssel, reviewing the first Amsterdam concert for Dutch newspaper Volkskrant also gave the presentation a 3 out of a possible five score. van Gijssel criticized the use of video recordings on the big screen during the songs that were originally duets, commenting that it "felt like you were standing up watching a music video" and classifying it as "showstoppers". On the other hand, van Gijssel praised the "extraordinarily in shape" voice of den Adel and cited "Our Solemn Hour", "Angels" and Dutch early 2000s hit "Ice Queen" as the highlight moments of the concert.[17] Flemish newspaper De Morgen also criticized the use of video recordings during the Antwerp concert, naming the show as the "Disneyland of virtual duets", but giving a score of 3.5 out of a possible 5 stars and praising den Adel's "angelic voice" as well the constant band interaction with the public.[11] Also Flemish Gazet van Antwerpen praised the performance, commenting not only about the style variation of the band but also the public, in which contained "from blushing teen girls tattooed to thirty year old Metallica-shirt men".[18] Metal Hammer commented more positively about the use of virtual duets on the screen, saying that it may be a low point on the concert but den Adel manages to overcome it with her performance in songs like "Fire and Ice" and also "get the crowd jumping" during "Stand My Ground" and "Ice Queen".[19] French newspaper Le Parisien commented positively about their passage through Paris, stating that the group delivered "a very good performance with a few remarks about", praising den Adel's vocal performance particularly during "Angels" and "Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)".[20] On 12 September 2014, the band received the award for Best Live Band at the Metal Hammer Awards.[21]

Line-Up

The Band

Guest musicians

Support

Setlist

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue
Try-Out Show
20 February 2014 Eindhoven Netherlands Effenaar
European Leg
26 February 2014 Helsinki Finland Cable Factory
28 February 2014 Moscow Russia Arena
1 March 2014 Saint Petersburg A2
4 March 2014 Vilnius Lithuania Teatro Arena
5 March 2014 Minsk Belarus Sporthalle
6 March 2014 Kiev Ukraine Stereoplaza [A]
8 March 2014 Poznań Poland Sala Ziemi
9 March 2014 Warsaw Torwar Hall
11 March 2014 Prague Czech Republic Mala Sports Hala
12 March 2014 Bratislava Slovakia Incheba Expo Arena
14 March 2014 Budapest Hungary Petőfi Csarnok
15 March 2014 Vienna Austria Gasometer
16 March 2014 Zurich Switzerland Hallenstadion
6 April 2014 Munich Germany Tonhalle
7 April 2014 Hamburg Sporthalle
8 April 2014 Cologne Palladium
9 April 2014 Ludwigsburg Arena Ludwigsburg
11 April 2014 Manchester United Kingdom O2 Apollo Manchester
12 April 2014 London Wembley Arena
14 April 2014 Newcastle O2 Academy Newcastle
15 April 2014 Glasgow O2 Academy Glasgow
16 April 2014 Birmingham O2 Academy Birmingham
18 April 2014 Frankfurt Germany Jahrunderthalle
19 April 2014 Erfurt Thüringenhalle
20 April 2014 Berlin Columbiahalle
22 April 2014 Toulouse France Le Phare
24 April 2014 Lyon Halle Tony Garnier
25 April 2014 Paris Le Zénith
27 April 2014 Nantes Le Zénith
28 April 2014 Lille L’aeronef
29 April 2014 Antwerp Belgium Lotto Arena
2 May 2014 Amsterdam Netherlands Heineken Music Hall
3 May 2014
26 June 2014 Milan Italy Alcatraz
Summer Festivals
6 June 2014 Espoo Finland Kivenlahti Rock
7 June 2014 Sölvesborg Sweden Sweden Rock Festival
12 June 2014 Copenhagen Denmark Copenhell
13 June 2014 Donington Park United Kingdom Download Festival
14 June 2014 Weismain Germany Legacy Open Air [B]
6 July 2014 Barcelona Spain Barcelona Metal Fest
18 July 2014 Dour Belgium Dour Festival
3 August 2014 Lokeren Lokersen Festival
8 August 2014 Leeuwarden Netherlands City Rock
9 August 2014 Hildesheim Germany M'era Luna Festival
14 August 2014 Avenches Switzerland Rock Oz’Arènes
5 September 2014 Havířov Czech Republic Havířov Festival
North American Leg
25 September 2014 San Francisco United States The Regency Ballroom
26 September 2014 Los Angeles Club Nokia
28 September 2014 Denver Gothic Theatre
30 September 2014 Minneapolis First Avenue
1 October 2014 Chicago The Vic Theatre
2 October 2014 Detroit Royal Oak Music Theatre
3 October 2014 Toronto Canada Sound Academy
5 October 2014 Montreal Métropolis
7 October 2014 Baltimore United States Rams Head Live!
9 October 2014 Philadelphia Electric Factory
10 October 2014 New York Terminal 5
11 October 2014 Worcester Palladium
Fall concerts
19 October 2014 Tokyo Japan Loudpark Festival
30 October 2014 Kiev Ukraine Stereoplaza [A]
14 November 2014 Weissenhaeuser Strand Germany Metal Hammer Paradise
South America
20 November 2014 Mexico City Mexico Teatro Metropólitan
21 November 2014 San Salvador El Salvador Cifco
23 November 2014 Bogota Colombia Downtown Majestic
25 November 2014 Santiago Chile Teatro Caupolicán
26 November 2014 Buenos Aires Argentina Teatro Flores
28 November 2014 Recife Brazil Clube Português
29 November 2014 Rio de Janeiro Circo Voador
30 November 2014 Sao Paulo Audiosp
Summer Festivals 2
31 March 2015 Kiev Ukraine Stereo Plaza
4 April 2015 Schijndel Netherlands Paaspop
23 May 2015 Raalte Ribs ‘n Blues Festival
29 May 2015 Gelsenkirchen Germany Rock Im Revier
31 May 2015 Munich Rockavaria
5 June 2015 Vienna Austria Rock In Vienna
21 June 2015 Dessel Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting
26 June 2015 Piešťany Slovakia Topfest Festival
27 June 2015 Kavarna Bulgaria Kavarna Rock Fest
9 July 2015 Vizovice Czech Republic Masters of Rock
11 July 2015 Heerlen Netherlands Park City Live
24 July 2015 Kotka Finland Kotkan Meripäivät
25 July 2015 Pratteln Switzerland Z7 Summernights
30 July 2015 Kostrzyn nad Odrą Poland Przystanek Woodstock
31 July 2015 Wacken Germany Wacken Open Air
1 August 2015 Chemnitz Wasserschloss Klaffenbach
6 August 2015 Villena Spain Leyendas Del Rock
7 August 2015 Vagos Portugal Vagos Open Air
8 August 2015 Walton-on-Trent United Kingdom Bloodstock Open Air
9 August 2015 Montreal Canada Heavy Montreal

References

  1. "Hydra World Tour concerts and setlists". Setlist.fm. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Hydra Theatre Tour announced". Within Temptation. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Within Temptation to release DVD". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  4. "Within Temptation Postpone European Tour". Soundscape Magazine. 2013-10-06. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  5. "Hydra Try Out Show – Sold Out". Within Temptation. 2014-01-30. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  6. "Tour update". Within Temptation. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  7. "Venue change in Lyon". Within Temptation. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  8. "North American tour announced". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  9. "Facebook DVD announcement". Within Temptation. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  10. "Enter and The Dance re-released". Bravewords. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  11. 11.0 11.1 http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/1007/Muziek/article/detail/1870045/2014/04/30/Within-Temptation-Disneyland-der-virtuele-duetten-1-2.dhtml
  12. "Theatre tour dates". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  13. 13.0 13.1 "Within Temptation at Carre". www.planetmosh.com. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  14. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/apr/15/within-temptation-goth-metal-wembley-arena-review
  15. http://www.bringthenoiseuk.com/201404/music/live/live-review-within-temptation-delain-wembley-1242014
  16. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/rockbjornen/article19019130.ab
  17. http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3647976/2014/05/03/Concert-Within-Temptation-voelde-alsof-je-half-in-een-videoclip-stond.dhtml
  18. http://www.gva.be/opinie/metal-maniac/within-temptation-in-de-lotto-arena-het-verslag.aspx
  19. http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/features/2014-06-13/download-2014-black-label-society-and-within-temptation
  20. http://rocknroll.blog.leparisien.fr/archive/2014/05/07/within-temptation-14957.html
  21. http://www.metal-hammer.de/news/meldungen/article633849/das-sind-die-gewinner-der-metal-hammer-awards-2014.html
  22. http://www.within-temptation.com/tournews/rescheduling-show-in-kiev/

External links