I cannot tell you how excited I was to discover that my favorite band, Within Temptation, would be playing in Hamburg, Germany (my favorite city in the world) while I was studying there. I bought the ticket in August of 2012 in anticipation of the show scheduled for February, 2014 (the show was later moved to April which lead me to go on to see six more shows of the Hydra World Tour, click here to read about the different shows!!!).
The show took place on April 7, 2014 at the Sporthalle in Hamburg, Germany. The hall was located far from where I lived in Hamburg, but that did not stop me from being the first one in line at around 7:30 AM. My fiancée and I waited alone in line watching the crew unload the equipment from the truck until around 11 am when the next group of people arrived.
The crew at the hall ended up setting up the dividers around that same time. They ended up blocking off the front of the hall and left room for about 3 or 4 entrances. At this time a gentleman from Ireland had joined my fiancée and I in line, and the three of us committed to the entrance at the far left when one looked at the building.
As it turned out, we were the only ones waiting in our line as more and more people arrived throughout the afternoon (with most lining up in the center two lines). Around half an hour before the doors opened (at 18:00), a crew member came out, looked at the long line in front of the central entrance, ushered that first group of people away from the far right entrance, and laughed when he saw my small line of four people. He then announced to the big line that the line I was in was a line open for General Admission, but nobody seemed to hear him because nobody moved. Shrugging, he went back into the hall. Later, my finanée would remark that we should have taken a picture at how long the line coming from the center two entrances was versus how short ours was.
At 18:00, they doors opened and we were the first two into the hall. I foolishly thought I could bring a half-drank Rockstar in the hall and was slightly held up as I threw it away. Luckily, my fiancée and I were able to get right up to the front of the line leading down the stairs into the concert hall (which was blocked off until 19:00 and the show started at 20:00).
When it finally was time to enter the hall, I ran full speed and was able to get the very front and center seat, making waiting twelve hours totally worth it!!!
The opening band was Delain. I had never seen them perform and had rarely listened to their music, but they had an awesome charisma on stage. The singer noticed me and pointed straight at me (00:25) during their hit song, We are the Others (the one song by Delain I knew by heart at that time).
After Delain finished their set, there was a fifteen minute break before Within Temptation came on to open with the lead song on their newest album Hydra, Let Us Burn.
I love to see Within Temptation perform live because they have an AMAZING stage presence. While this was only my second show ever after the 15 year Anniversary Elements concert, I knew that Within Temptation would be amazing live!!!
As usual, they did not fail to live up to their very high standard despite the small arena they were playing in. The concert itself featured almost every song off their new album Hydra (including Dog Days which I later regretted not asking my financée to film), several songs off their previous album The Unforgiving, and many Within Temptation classics like Mother Earth.
And as usual to Within Temptation, they closed the concert with their break through song, Ice Queen!
After the concert, my fiancée and I made our way to the merch stand so I could buy a t-shirt then we proceeded to take pictures with Charlotte from Delain!
We then reunited with our Irish friend and walked around the back of the hall to the tour bus to try to get a chance to meet the band. Amazingly enough, the bassist Jeroen was walking towards the bus. As a fence separated the bus from the crowd, we had us walk to a gap in the fence. He then posed with us for pictures and signed the vinyl in my limited Hydra Box set!!!! While we were waiting there, I also got to meet the pianist Martijn and he also signed the vinyl.
We then decided to wait it out for Sharon, the lead singer, even though it was well past midnight at this point and we had been waiting all day since 7:00 am. And the waiting proved to be not in vain. Around 1:30 am, Sharon finally came out. I was so EXCITED!!!!! I finally got to meet my greatest idol!!!!!!! She was so NICE it was unbelievable!!! I could not belive how kind it was for her to come out of the bus and take a picture with every remaining fan (around twenty or so).
I was so blown away, I had forgotten to ask her to sign a couple of things I had brought. So we walked back over to her and she signed the last couple things including the vinyl of my limited edition Hydra!! After our long day we made our way back over to the Sbahn only to find out that it has already closed!!!! 😦
Luckily, we were able to get a night bus and our long long but unforgettable day came to a close around 4:00 am back at the Europa Kolleg. Click here to read about my experience at the Wembly Arena Show in London!
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