Marty’s photo of the day #2745: Greetings from Milan, Italy. Tonight is the night that brought us to Italy in the first place: Within Temptation in concert! Deb and I have a hotel room about a block and a half from the concert hall. The Fabrique is kind of like First Avenue in Minneapolis or the Showbox SoDo in Seattle. In other words, it’s a very large nightclub that is standing-room-only. I took this photo about eight hours before show time.
Within Temptation (from the Netherlands) travels with three semi-trailers full of gear and two luxury tour buses for the band and crew. Shhh . . . . the band is sleeping right behind me as I’m taking this photo On the opposite side of this semi-trailer is a line of very cold, bundled up people, waiting to be the first inside and up-against-the-stage. Who knows how long they’ve been there? Deb and I love Within Temptation, but we’re not that dedicated. We’ve now returned to our hotel to relax for a bit and then have dinner. I think we’ll show up 30 to 45 minutes early. We have no desire to get crushed against the stage.
Oh, and get this: We bought these tickets a year in advance, figuring this was our only chance to see one of the world’s best live rock bands in concert. Then, last night, Within Temptation announced a rare North American tour. Between February 28 and March 19, they will be performing concerts in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and other places. Oh darn . . . I guess we will have to see them again.