TNT + WITHIN TEMPTATION – Trondheim – Borggården

This is my first review, and lucky as a girl can be, I got to review both TNT and Within Temptation, two bands I know quite well and have listened a lot to, especially TNT.

TNT:

Being born and raised in Trondheim, TNT has become a part of my childhood and rock `n roll education. To put it like this, I will play "Intuition" on my wedding-day, but I will try to be as objective as I can here. I`ve only been to one TNT concert prior to this one, on a smaller venue some years back,when Tony Harnell was about to leave. That concert-experience  was going to be hard to top. This time with another lead-singer and a much larger venue. A huge stage in the middel-aged styled «Borggården», with the towers of Nidaros Cathedral rising up in the background, the stage was set to blow minds. This was the last concert with the band for Tony Mills, TNT`s lead-singer for the past 7 years. At 20.00 sharp, the band took the stage with a bang! The lights,well known guitar-riffs , pure rock and roll. The set was fantastic, and even though I missed songs such as «Eddie» and «Tonight I`m falling for you», they made it up by rocking my socks off with  «Everyone`s A Star», «Intuition» , «Seven Seas» and more.

The band is so laidback on stage , you can tell at once that this is something they`ve been doing for many years. And let me be honest with you, this was an orgasmic experience for me. The way Ronni Le Tekrø handles his guitar during his solos is so good, and Diesel Dahls drumsolos took me straight to 7<sup>th</sup> heaven. The bands dynamic was so smooth that you could just float away into the music. Now, as for the lead-singer himself,  his vocals impressed me. I have to admit I didn`t have the highest expectations about him. Most TNT fans have the former leadsinger Harnell on a pidestal, and that pidestal is not easy to claim. Mills is no Harnell, but the man can sing! His high  notes sent chills down my spine, his voice is perfect for TNT`s older songs and helped the band preserve their sound in the new ones . But I have to be honest, his presence on the stage was not very positive. For people who know the man personally this is maby just the way he is, but for an audience who only can judge by his preformance, he seemed irritated, bored and fed up. Though I must say I can understand why, seeing that the audience in question apparently didn`t know they were at a rock`n roll concert, being professional is key here. Even I know that working the audience is important, making that connection between band and crowd so they all can get lost in the music together. Acting as if you don`t wanna be on that stage is not the right way to do it. Ronni Le Tekrø knows this, just the facialexpressions he makes while playing, the way he laughs and fools around on stage, you can tell he fucking loves being up there. Mills should pick up a thing or two from that.

The definite highlights from this concert was «Everyone`s A star» and «Harley Davidson» , during these numbers they really got the crowd joining in. Then there is Ronni Le Tekrøs interesting tradition of suddendly singing the norwegian lullaby «Jon Blund» ( Sandman), while making akward moves which brings humor and a little dose of WTF to the set. And Diesel Dahls facialexpressions, got to love them. The man looks as if he is about to shit himself, and a drummer is only doing his job right when he looks that way.

Finally, I have to comment on the audience. What an anticlimax! If any of you who attended the concert are reading this then let me tell you something! You don`t attend a rockconcert just to stand there, nipping your wine and finding yourself too bothered to even give a decent round of applause. It`s TNT! You should be jumping, singing along (loudley) and give the band the respect they deserve!

Standing right up and down is what you do in an artgallery, not at a rockconcert!

WITHIN TEMPTATION:

It`s definitively been a few years since Within Temptation was a hot topic.  Honestley, after Mother Earth I haven`t gotten around to checking out any of their newer material. How I regret that now! I can admit right now that I`m a reborn fan!

When it was Within Temptation`s time to take the stage at 22.00, it was dark in Borggården. The place has been filled up with people. A lightshow blitzed from the stage.  A huge screen in the background of the stage suddenly started to play a wierd film, and a creepy womans voice in british starts to rant about how she is a fighter of evil, and how she will condemn all evil spirits to rot in hell. Then the screaming from the crowd starts , and first up on stage is the keyboardist, Martijn Spierenburg . And from a female prespective, not bad to look at!

Then enters the guitars and bass. And then Sharon Den Adel`s voice fills the venue . Her live vocals are simply breathtaking.

The concert was an ass-kicker. The screen in the backround was showing scenes from music-videos and films of fire and other effects that matched the feel of the songs, Sharon in front of it making moves that just gave the whole thing an insane flow. The connection between band and crowd was an experience!

The way Ice Queen was preformed with almost perfect vocals, perfect flow in sound and a background of snowy mountains  was bone-chilling. «Angels» was accompanied by the musicvideo playing behind. Another home-run! I get goose-bumps thinking about it. «Faster» was definently a crowd-pleaser. A beautiful concert, and there couldn`t have been a more perfect band for this exact venue. The scenery, the sounds, the choirs in the background, it all made it quite magical. And the audience really stepped up for this one. Go see a Within Temptation concert, or you`re missing out!