After waiting to see this show since January due to rescheduling, WITHIN TEMPTATION fans are queuing around the block in excitement to see the biggest symphonic metal show of the year. Supported by DELAIN, the Birmingham Academy show is no doubt a sell out with two strong female voices gracing the stage for metal fans who've traveled far and wide to see them come together.  Both bands mix opera style vocals with heavy metal, creating a sound that is addictive to your ears.
 

DELAIN pounce on stage and automatically capture the audience's attention with their edgy symphonic metal sound, fronted by vocalist Charlotte Wessel's who has a voice which is unique to any other singer's. The band play a mixture of old and new tracks which has the packed out venue pumped up instantly and singing along to every track such as ''Army Of Dolls'', ''Stardust'', ''Not Enough'' and more. Guitarist and bassists Timo Somers and Otto Schimmelpennick Van Der Oije are fueled by the audience's enthusiasm and are constantly running all over the stage and head banging in sync with each other, they are simply a force to be reckoned with. Surprisingly Charlotte Wessel's voice is not damaged the slightest after a humongous tour with WITHIN TEMPTATION and she sounds a lot better than she does on any DELAIN album.
 

Setlist:
1. Go Away
2. Get the Devil Out of Me
3. Army of Dolls
4. Stardust
5. Electricity
6. Sleepwalkers' Dream
7. The Gathering
8. Not Enough
9. We Are the Others
 

In front of a huge cinema screen is a stage fit for one of the biggest symphonic metal bands in the world, WITHIN TEMPTATION. The band open up with newest track ''Let Us Burn'' from new album ''Hydra'' which had its fans singing along to every single word whilst vocalist Sharon Den Adel slowly made her way down the stairs into the centre of the stage to rock out with the rest of the band, after the first 3 songs all members of the band were in all corners of the stage performing solo's with each other. Sharon was as energetic as a teenage girl singing in their bedroom with their hairbrush and Ruud Jolie just wanted to impress everyone he possibly could with how many riffs he was performing. The finale of the ''Hydra'' tour of England was as explosive as it could get, playing fan favourites from every era of their discography such as ''What Have You Done'', ''Jillian'', ''Ice Queen'' and ''In The Middle Of The Night'' and a entertaining cover of Lana Del Rey's ''Summertime Sadness'' which matched perfectly to Sharon Den Adel's vocals.
 

Setlist:
1. Let Us Burn
2. Paradise (What About Us)
3. Faster
4. Iron
5. Edge Of The World
6. In The Middle Of The Night
7. Jillian
8. Angels
9. Dangerous
10. And We Run
11. See Who I Am
12. Stand My Ground
13. The Cross
14. Covered By Roses
15. Mother Earth
16. What Have You Done
17. Whole World Is Watching
18. Summertime Sadness (Lana Del Rey)
19. Ice Queen

The ''Hydra'' tour is not something to be missed for any reason, if you aren't a fan of either DELAIN or WITHIN TEMPTATION then you automatically will be after the show and will be listening to the whole catalogue of their music. WITHIN TEMPTATION put on a show you will not see anywhere else by any other band and DELAIN prove that they're going to be the next big thing in Symphonic Metal.