Leiden’s LVC venue is small but pleasant, backing onto a canal; the crowd mostly seemed to consist of local grassroots fans, who quietly and patiently wait for the band in the absence of a support act.

After Forever enter the stage to a recording of Childhood in Minor, the opener to the band's most recent album, Invisible Circles. As they burst into the initial choral staccato of Beautiful Emptiness, soprano Floor Jansen appears still on stage, before dropping to her knees right into the front row of the crowd, and breaking into her equally powerful rockier voice. It soon becomes apparent that her voice is able to shine even more in a live setting than on record, as she adds spits and extra vibrato.

The first few songs of the set are played in the order they appear on record, seamlessly. Because of the progressive nature of the songs rather than being predictable, it has the effect of stitching them together like a small symphony. And despite the technical complexity of the songs, the band sound tight and are clearly well rehearsed.

The lyrics on this album come from the viewpoints of different people and Floor shows these differences in her voice and facial expression, adding drama and making the concept behind the songs come alive, particularly in the song Between Love and Fire. The dialogue in the middle of this song, which has been criticised for its soap-opera cheesiness, is played from a recording. Surprisingly, though, with the band stood completely still and all stage lights down, it is possibly less torturous than on record.

The deep grunts of guitarist Sander Gommans also provide variety to the dynamics in sound and performance, complementing the soaring notes of Floor. The pair have a particular chemistry on stage, as they sing along each others lines and smile relentlessly. Floor is a captivating and charismatic front woman as she claps, dances and air guitars; she does not appear like an “opera diva gate-crashing a metal show” as one magazine said of Nightwish’s soprano, Tarja Turunen. Instead, Jansen, with leather trousers and nose ring, looks not an inch out of place as she throws the horns to the crowd.

She is sure not to take the spotlight all the time though, even leaving the stage at certain points when she is not needed, such as during Yield to Temptation, a song which sees Gommans and other guitarist Bas Maas join up on stage many times, gurning at each other as they frantically hammer out chunky riffs and solos as if in a duel. Bas also sings on Two Sides, if only for a few lines. He displays, what I found to be, a surprisingly strong voice, which hopefully will feature more on the next album.

The Evil that Men Do, an Iron Maiden cover from 2003’s Exordium mini album, was dismissed by many fans and critics alike, but witnessing the band’s energy in performing it, it is clear that they love the song and simply enjoy to play it, rather than being concerned about reviews.

Everyone besides Floor and keyboarder Joost van der Broeck exits the stage for the beautiful ballad Eccentric. Even alone centre stage, Jansen is able to captivate the crowd, gazing into a rose she is holding. At the end of the songs, she hands it to a member of the crowd, just one example of the band’s interaction with their audience; at other points in the set Bas raises his beer to some girls at the front appreciatively, and at one point 2 fans actually get on stage to present Sander with a gift.

Unfortunately, because of the limited stage space, keyboard player Joost is confined to the back of the stage. But this does not prevent him prowling his alley of 4 keyboards like a chained animal. As he beams out into the crowd, he seems to have perfected playing without actually looking at the keys! The live mix is particularly on form, with the rich synths featuring highly.

It would not even be possible to tell that the drummer this evening, Koen Herfst, is a stand in that has been with the band little over a month. The man usually in the seat, Andre Borgman, is currently battling cancer and towards the end of the set Floor reminds everyone of his absence; the crowd responding touchingly by chanting his name.

The band spend about 1 hour 40 minutes on stage in total, with a fairly comprehensive set list, though it must be noted that 50% of the songs are from Invisible Circles; some fabulous numbers from their first 2 albums are omitted, including the singles Emphasis and My Choice. Perhaps the only disappointment of the evening was that no songs were performed from their forthcoming album Remagine, for which recording sessions had begun the preceding week. Gommans has made numerous comments online about what we can expect from the record, but it is a shame that the band did not choose to give their fans the opportunity to preview any of these songs.

Set closer Follow in the Cry - from 2000 debut, Prison of Desire - takes on a whole new meaning in the live setting. As Floor sings the lines “I embrace you… I shall make my life subordinate to you/ Follow you wherever I go”, she points out into the audience as if she means it. In spite of the misfortune After Forever are currently facing, they seem to enjoy themselves on stage immensely, being driven by the crowd and each other. The LVC may only be small, but the band’s huge sound and stage presence makes it feel even smaller.

Setlist:
Childhood in Minor (intro)
Beautiful Emptiness
Between Love and Fire
Sins of Idealism
My Pledge of Allegiance Part 1
Beyond Me
Digital Deceit
Through Square Eyes
The Evil that Men Do
Yield to Temptation
Eccentric
Two Sides
Glorifying Means
Forlorn Hope
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Line of Thoughts (instrumental)
Monolith of Doubt
Follow in the Cry

Overall Score:   8 /10