After Forever back on stage: Tilburg world reunion
On 23 October 2024, After Forever announced that a reunion concert would take place in 2025. For many fans, this announcement felt like a bombshell, and they reacted with disbelief, surprise and euphoria. After Forever coming back together? That seemed impossible. It was announced as a one-off concert. The show sold out quickly, and a second date was added.
To recall: After Forever released their debut album “Prison of Desire” in 2000 and soon grew into one of the pioneers of symphonic female-fronted metal. Their combination of heavy riffs, symphonic layers and the impressive voice of Floor Jansen gave the band a unique profile. Although After Forever disbanded in 2009, the group remained an international springboard for Floor Jansen, who later gained worldwide fame with Nightwish, and for Mark Jansen, who started a new success story with Epica. The influence of After Forever still resonates today and remains a lasting reference within the genre. After Forever was also a spin-off of the Rock Academy in Tilburg. Floor Jansen was part of the first class of students. This show was, therefore, a homecoming.
The international nature of the fan base in a sold-out 013 was impressive. For this unique chance to see After Forever live one more time, hardcore fans had flown in from all over the world: England, Finland, the United States and even someone from Chile with an After Forever tattoo on their arm.
Everyone was, of course, curious about which line-up After Forever would take the stage with. It turned out to be Angel Wolf-Black on lead vocals, Mark Jansen and Sander Gommans (original line-up) on guitars, Luuk van Gerven (original line-up) on bass, Ariën van Weesenbeek (Epica) on drums, and Jeffrey Revet from Stream of Passion on keyboards. Bas Maes (ex-After Forever) also played several songs on guitar.
The setlist mainly consisted of songs from After Forever’s first two albums (“Prison of Desire” (2000), “Decipher” (2001)), with a few songs from “Invisible Circles” towards the end.
The set began with the instrumental intro “Ex Cathedra”. Fans embraced each other as the cellos and choir of “Ex Cathedra” filled the venue. Then “Monolith of Doubt” started somewhat roughly, as if the touring discipline had not yet fully settled in. Yet this added an underground feel, as though one had stumbled upon a secret gig after a whispered tip-off. Straight from the rehearsal room, which made everything feel more real and natural. It was the last chance to see the group live.
During “My Pledge of Allegiance”, the audience went wild and started jumping. Sander hardly needed to do anything: a small bow to the audience and his charisma were enough to fire up the crowd. The singer threw herself into the Eastern scales of “My Pledge of Allegiance”, while the military-sounding drum rhythms drove the hall forward. From the very first notes, people thought Floor was back, but it turned out to be someone else. With her rounded voice and long black hair, Angel Wolf-Black proved to be a worthy replacement for After Forever. With “Intrinsic”, Angel once again showed she could handle the coloratura passages of Floor flawlessly. The high note at the end of the line ‘Exposed to life, we can only divine’ cut straight to the bone.
With “Yield to Temptation”, the crowd completely let go in the rage of the music, headbanging furiously, and with “Zenith”, the tempo was pushed even further: blast beats and pounding riffs in the thrash metal intro, before smoothly shifting into a halftime feel.
“Forlorn Hope” referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was a problem that many hoped would be resolved back then, but unfortunately, it persists today. The music of After Forever, therefore, remained painfully relevant. There was also a brief detour to the album “After Forever” from 2007 with the songs “Discord” and “Energize Me”. The show closed with “Follow in the Cry”. From beginning to end, After Forever proved that the band still stood on a world-class level. Whether an After Forever tour would follow remained uncertain, but Mark Jansen had hinted that it would not, as Epica remained his priority.
