The Bleed Out Tour was a concert tour by the Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, in support of their eighth studio album, Bleed Out, which was released on 20 October 2023. The tour was announced on 4 October 2023, and included a first leg in Latin America in April 2024 and a second leg in Europe and in the United Kingdom, which commenced on 21 September in Tilburg and concluded on 6 December 2024 in Amsterdam. It is the last tour to feature Martijn Spierenburg on keyboards before his departure from the band.
The tour featured singers Tarja Turunen and Alex Yarmak as special guests at selected dates. Supporting acts were annisokay, Green Lizard, and Blind8.
Background After touring for promoting their seventh studio, Resist, Within Temptation were scheduled to embark on the co-headlining Worlds Collide with Evanescence in March and April 2020 and to perform a row of summer festivals later that year. At that time, the band already had plans for a new studio album, and were also planning on entering the studio soon. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all plans shifted. The co-headlining tour was postponed several times until it could finally happen in 2022, and the remaining festival concerts had to be canceled. It impacted the plans for a full-length studio album as well and, combined with a new marketing strategy for releasing new music, the band opted to start releasing a series of stand-alone singles during the pandemic.
As the pandemic safety measures started to get lifted in some countries and live concerts were being gradually allowed to happen, the band started to perform live again. Between 2021 and 2023, they played at summer festivals, toured as an opening act for Iron Maiden in their Legacy of the Beast World Tour, and concluded the tour with Evanescence. The band performed all of the recently released singles during that period, but did not officially do so as a means of promoting a new album, as it was not finished at that time.
The group's eighth studio album, Bleed Out, was announced on 18 August 2023. On 4 October, a few weeks prior to the album release date, a European tour for supporting the record was then announced, with concerts scheduled to happen from October to December 2024. Ticket sales for the European leg began on 6 October 2023 at 9am.
Prior to the European leg, the tour visited Latin America in April 2024 for selected festivals and one solo concert in Mexico. Besides the Latin American dates, the band decided not to play in any more festivals until the European arena leg of the tour. Since the announcement, extra concerts were added in Antwerp and Lisbon, and the concert in Oslo had its venue changed due to high selling tickets.
The concept of the tour and its stage setting and decoration started being planned in the beginning of 2024 by the band themselves. In an interview for Metal Hammer, lead vocalist Sharon den Adel, who has a bachelor degree in fashion design, commented that she was developing costumes for the tour alongside a Dutch company who utilizes certain species of mushrooms for making biodegradable clothing.
Critical reception Critic Sofia Bergstrom from Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet praised the concert in Stockholm. In her four star review, she commended Within Temptation's stage presence, the openness in which the band addressed current topics throughout the songs that comprised the set list, and the duets between lead vocalist Sharon den Adel and guest vocalist Tarja Turunen. Reviewing the concert in Leeds, critic Jon Davis from The Yorkshire Post praised den Adel's vocal performance and commented that Within Temptation "still have one of the best voices in rock, and put it to terrific use".
Set list The following set list was performed on 24 April 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico, and is not intended to represent a majority of the performances throughout the tour. "The Reckoning" "Faster" "Bleed Out" "Paradise (What About Us?)" "Angels" "Raise Your Banner" "Wireless" "Entertain You" "Stand My Ground" "Supernova" "In the Middle of the Night" "All I Need" "Our Solemn Hour" "Don't Pray for Me" "The Cross" "Mad World" "What Have You Done" "Never-ending Story" (acoustic) "Ice Queen" (acoustic) "Mother Earth"
On dates with Tarja Turunen as the guest singer, she would join Sharon den Adel to perform "Paradise (What About Us?)", "The Promise", and "I Feel Immortal".
Tour dates + List of 2024 concerts Date City Country Venue19 April 2024QuitoEcuadorThe Metal Fest Ecuador 202421 April 2024SantiagoChileThe Metal Fest Chile 202424 April 2024Mexico CityMexicoAuditorio BB27 April 2024São PauloBrazilSummer Breeze Open Air Brazil21 September 2024TilburgNetherlands01322 September 2024GroningenDe Oosterpoort4 October 2024AntwerpBelgiumLotto Arena5 October 20246 October 2024CologneGermanyPalladium8 October 2024OsloNorwayOslo Spektrum9 October 2024StockholmSwedenAnnexet11 October 2024HelsinkiFinlandHelsinki Ice Hall12 October 2024TallinnEstoniaUnibet Arena14 October 2024BerlinGermanyVelodrom15 October 2024HamburgAlsterdorfer Sporthalle16 October 2024LeipzigHaus Auensee18 October 2024BudapestHungaryBarba Negra19 October 2024MunichGermanyZenith21 October 2024ViennaAustriaGasometer23 October 2024FrankfurtGermanyJahrhunderthalle24 October 2024PragueCzech RepublicSportovní hala Fortuna25 October 2024ŁódźPolandAtlas Arena27 October 2024CopenhagenDenmarkFalkoner Salen15 November 2024CardiffWalesCardiff International Arena16 November 2024LondonEnglandWembley Arena18 November 2024NottinghamMotorpoint Arena Nottingham19 November 2024LeedsFirst Direct Arena21 November 2024ParisFrancePorte de La Chapelle Arena23 November 2024BarcelonaSpainPalau Sant Jordi24 November 2024MadridPalacio Vistalegre25 November 2024LisbonPortugalAltice Arena26 November 202428 November 2024ToulouseFranceLe Zénith29 November 2024GrenobleSummum1 December 2024MilanItalyAlcatraz2 December 2024ZürichSwitzerlandThe Hall3 December 2024StuttgartGermanyPorsche-Arena5 December 2024Esch-sur-AlzetteLuxembourgRockhal6 December 2024AmsterdamNetherlandsZiggo Dome
+ List of 2025 concerts Date City Country Venue28 February 2025MelbourneAustraliaKnotfest Australia3 March 2025BrisbanePrincess Theatre6 March 2025MelbourneMax Watts31 May 2025HulstNetherlandsVestrock4 June 2025SölvesborgSwedenSweden Rock Festival6 June 2025PlzeňCzech RepublicMetalfest13 June 2025LeicestershireEnglandDownload Festival20 June 2025ClissonFranceHellfest Festival27 June 2025OsloNorwayTons of Rock28 June 2025GrenchenSwitzerlandSummerside 12 July 2025ZottegemBelgiumRock Zottegem18 July 2025LokalahtiFinlandKarjurock19 July 2025PeurunkaJohn Smith Rock Festival31 July 2025BraşovRomaniaRockstadt Extreme Fest2 August 2025WackenGermanyWacken Open Air8 August 2025VillenaSpainLeyendas del Rock16 August 2025EindhovenNetherlandsDynamo Open Air
Personnel Within Temptation Sharon den Adel – vocals Ruud Jolie – lead guitar Stefan Helleblad – rhythm guitar, backing vocals Martijn Spierenburg – keyboards (2024) Jeroen van Veen – bass guitar Mike Coolen – drums Vikram Shankar – keyboards (2025)
Guest musicians Christoph Wieczorek – vocals and guitars on "Shed my Skin" at selected dates Alex Yarmak – vocals on "A Fool's Parade" and "What Have You Done" at selected dates Tarja Turunen – vocals on "Paradise (What About Us?)", "I Feel Immortal", and "The Promise" at selected dates Martijn Westerholt – keyboards (8 August 2025)
References