NIGHTWISH in Concert!!! XDDD
[Edit: My bad! I've been spelling Tuomas's name wrong! ^^;; All fixed now!]
So I've always had "different" taste, so it's not unusual for me to go to concerts/plays/musicals alone. People in Southern California just don't seem to get the appeal of live theater, etc... the proximity of Tinsel Town being the cause of this miasma, no doubt.
But I, who was bitten by the bug during that semester in London where I got to live in the West End and take in a play at least once a week thanks to my drama class, am the ultimate sucker for live theater, be it musical, plays or concerts. So, whenever one of my favorite bands is playing in the region, I make an effort to go see them, even if I have to go alone because their comings and goings are rare in these parts (being a fan almost exclusively of foreign bands, this is an unavoidable risk).
So it was that I was driving myself alone in the dark after work yesterday to a dingy little theater in Santa Ana called the Galaxy Theater. What a shame, I thought, it could have been at the gorgeous, state-of-the-art and significantly-closer-to-my-house House of Blues in Downtown Disney, but no... I have no idea why they had this venue change because the theater was PACKED when I got there an hour before the concert. It would definitely have filled up HoB, and it's not like Nightwish had brought along any pyrotechnics that would violate Disney this or that, so... ::shrug::
Anyway, the theater itself wasn't so bad. It was obviously old and though there was no smoking inside, the ghost of thousands of cigarettes past still lingered off the black-painted walls, upholstery and carpet. The place was dimly lit, as expected, replete with sticky wood paneling and two separate bar areas. But I have to say, I really liked that-- this atmosphere reminded me exactly of East Coast clubs (Toad's in particular), and for some reason, I always relate quality, small-time bands with the East Coast (or at least, NOT with the West Coast). The setting was just perfect. :)
After ordering a bottle of water from the bar (hey, designated driver, remember?), I checked out the concert hall-- large moshpit area in the front which was already PACKED to the GILLS, surrounded by three wide tiers of cozy booths and tables-- the "restaurant" area. Apparently, you needed to make dinner reservations to land yourself these primo seats (they were the *only* seats, actually, but I prefer standing for concerts anyway--less obstacles to knock over when I inevitably start jumping up and down ^^; ). Still, I didn't want to join the moshpit and risk being groped, so I lingered by the bar until I spotted some nice-looking people I could join at a table.
It was a table of three young men, average to nice looking, one of whom had long black hair and a pleasant profile. Target sighted, I thought. The one guy who was facing my way looked up at me a few times, so I thought it was a fairly safe bet. They also had a fourth chair sitting vacantly at their table, so after observing awhile to see if anyone was sitting there, I swooped in.
"Hi guys, mind if I join you?" I said cheerfully.
And that's when I realized my mistake. All three of them looked blankly at me and then glanced at each other nervously. No response. Uh-oh, I thought. But still, it hadn't been an "Oh, no, there's a scary person talking to me" type of look. So I tried again.
"Is anyone sitting there?" I asked again. "It's just that I didn't reserve a table, so..."
They looked at one another again and then one of them looked at me and started saying something like, "Someone, yes..." while gesturing vividly.
Ahh, they don't speak English, I realized. Well, Nigthwish is a Finnish band, right? I laughed it off and made placating gestures. A royal screw-up, but a totally unforeseeable one-- "language barrier" rarely comes up as one of the many things that can go wrong with picking people up (not that that was my intent-- just wanted to meet some fellow Nightwish fans!).
Anyway, it was getting to be a bit awkward between their embarrassed apologies and mine, so I just turned and plopped down in a chair at the empty table next to theirs. A waitress would likely come and kick me out of it presently, I thought, but after that scene, I didn't want to crawl back to the bar just yet. I flipped open my cellphone and called a friend to kill some time and put some distance between the awkward scene and my next "move."
As I was chatting, a bespectacled soccer mom-looking lady who had been wallflowering along the back wall came over and asked if anyone was sitting in the chair across from me. I told her she was welcome to it, though I wasn't actually supposed to be sitting at the table. She took the chair anyway. As I wrapped up my convo with my friend, a friendly-looking leather-clad couple came over and asked her if they could take another of the chairs and she repeated my disclaimer to them. They seemed all right with the risks and sat down as well.
After I bid my friend good-bye, it was easy striking up a conversation with my fellow table-squatters. The couple were called Sarah and Mike, the former being a fangirl type and the latter a stout-and-silent type. The soccer mom's name was Lorraine, and I had guessed her archetype to a tee-- she was here chaperoning her teenaged son and his friends (she definitely had a "lost parent dragged to Anime Expo by their kids" look, amiably taking everything in with a slightly bewildered air ^^). Her other son was at a soccer play-off. ^__~
Anyway, we gave the perfunctorily skimpy self-intros and chatted Nightwish for awhile. Sarah heartily agreed that "Ghost Love Score" was Ultimate Love and Happiness (though she said she liked "Beauty of the Beast" more ;__; ). Still, after enduring my little sister's jibes about Tarja's voice continuously for several months, it was wonderful to find a sympathetic and agreeing audience to declare "'The Escapist' makes me happy to be alive" to.
Soon after, the opening band, Paradise Lost (my Milton complex was so happy~) started up. The audience gave them politely noisy cheers after each song, but there was little in the way of bouncing or head-banging. No, no, we were saving our love for Our Band... :) PL wasn’t bad, though-- a few of their songs were even pretty catchy (the memorable ones being "One Second" and "Just Say Words"-- their album-titling track "In Requiem" wasn't bad either). But really, after 45 minutes of their fairly monotonous music, I was ready for them to get off the stage. They finally wrapped up around 9pm and we had an intermission of sorts while the crew set up the stage for Nightwish. They'd already put the huge Nightwish banner up at the back of the stage (featuring the pendulum from the Dark Passion Play cover) and added two large, square-shaped panels with an image of blue ocean waves on them to flank the stage (looked like the artwork from the back of the Highest Hopes compilation CD). It took them nearly an hour to set up, do numerous sound checks, give us several false alarms, etc, before the stage ninjas finally cleared the stage and the lights dimmed.
Finally, at 9:50, the stage lit up in a wash of blue light. Soft, soothing chords of a woman's voice filled the room, calling to mind mysterious ocean depths. Drum beats accompanied it after awhile, and as the song broke into an all-out exciting and epic BGM (sounding like something Hans Zimmer would write), Jukka, the drummer, appeared on stage, pumping his fist into the air (which was holding a styrofoam cup, out of which he sipped a moment later-- LoL! I guess Time and Tide and Musical Cues wait for no one, eh?). Then, Tuomas, Marco and Emppu all appeared, taking bows and waving to thunderous applause. If I'd been afraid that the audience was going to be sleepy after their unresponsiveness to Paradise Lost, I had nothing to fear. ^__~ Like me, they were all just waiting for Our Band.
Jukka tapped off and we launched straight into “Bye Bye Beautiful” (unsurprisingly the song to kick off with-must wrap up old business, right? :D). In fact, let me write out the entire set list for you here and then review each song individually:
(Yeah, no “Ghost Love Score,” as expected. ;___; But even more devastatingly, no “The Escapist,” which is hands down the best song on the new CD (though only included in the Japanese album as a bonus track), which I was sure they’d play for us… Alas, no-and DESPITE that, it was an awesome concert!!)
So, kickin’ it off with the upbeat and powerful “Bye Bye Beautiful,” which is the band’s farewell to their previous and original singer, Tarja Turunen). Very exciting, got the energy going, and it gave Annette a nice entrance, gliding out of the smoky, backlit blue light to take center stage and launch into the short opening verse. I was surprised at her live voice-it was a lot poppy-er than it sounds on the album (almost cutesy, like T.A.T.U.). I suspect she was having a bit of an off-day vocally, because she didn’t try to go for any of the crazy, killer high notes that she hits so beautifully on the CD (except in “The Poet and the Pendulum,” which I’ll talk about later). She was perfectly in-tune and solid for everything she did sing, however, and obviously an accomplished singer, so I wondered if the choice not to go up to the high stuff was just to give us a different side of her singing? I dunno, but I was a bit sad not hearing the killer high notes at the end of “Amaranth” and “Ever Dream.” But anyway~
Marco is AMAZING. *__* I have gained a new respect and liking for him after this concert (same goes for Jukka-he’s actually pretty cute and he *does* have long hair like the rest of the guys-it’s just neatly tied back in a ponytail and all but hidden by his Zorro-like black bandanna ^^). But Marco-yeah, his voice is just infallible; you could ask him to sing at 4am while he’s piss drunk and he’d still sound perfect, I think. He’s just got one of those really rich, velvety, perpetually well-oiled voices like Elvis (not the greatest comparison, sorry). And he and Emppu were so cute-once in awhile, they’d put their downy, blonde heads together while they played and bounce along together. ^___^ So very cute cuz 1) I’m a sucker for camaraderie, and 2) considering how tiny Emppu is, it was like a mother hen and a baby chick cuddling! All that pretty, blonde hair made them look related, LOL~ (yeah, on what planet big, scary Viking-looking Marco looks like a motherly chicken, I don’t even know-it was just the first analogy that came to mind @__@; ).
So “Bye Bye Beautiful” was fantastic. Tuomas is a lot of fun to watch, but surprisingly, he didn’t really speak at all during the concert. He just stayed off to the left side of the stage, bowing shyly when acknowledged by Marco or Annette (our MCs ^^). And he was so much fun to watch when he played, hands latched to the keyboard as though they were glued while the rest of his body swayed and thrashed wildly along with the music. It was so intense sometimes that it was almost the look of someone grabbing onto an electric fence and being electrocuted… as nasty a metaphor as that is, for the amount of movement and energy that the music was pumping through him while his fingers stayed utterly attached to the keyboard as though compelled by some exterior force, it’s a pretty apt comparison (though it didn’t look goofy or frightening at all, of course!).
Oh, another funny detail I only noticed after the concert when I wandered up to the stage is that Tuomas has attached a sort of statuette of Jack Sparrow to his keyboard. @__@;;;; I read afterwards on the website that he's a big fan of Jack Sparrow (which is probably unsurprising, considering his make-up, and also Hans Zimmer’s hand in the movie’s score :D). The statuette was made of something ceramic-looking, almost like those gaudy, strangely grotesque, cheaply-made Jesus statuettes you can get at small Catholic churches. Considering Tuomas’s Jesus complex (well, he was born on Christmas Day and is really into martyring himself, as “The Poet and the Pendulum” shows), I guess that’s logical. But seeing Jack Sparrow up there, and in that way-LoL! I tried to take a pic of it, but the backlighting was too intense. All you can see is this little black silhouette with its arms waving over its head. ^^;
*ahem* But back to the set list!
Next, the band launched straight into “Amaranth,” which is just a fabulously fun, catchy song. Everyone jammed awesomely to this. Sounded great with some added, creative keyboarding by Tuomas. And, as expected, Annette’s “DAY BREAK!!!!” at the end is just *awesome* live. *___* <3 (So High and Mighty Color, somehow! :D)
After “Amaranth,” Annette and Marco made the band’s first greeting to us. They both speak perfect English (as I think everyone in Scandanavia does?), though Marco did say “Ga-LAX-y Theater.” <3 ^_____^ <3 And he speaks in his growling Viking voice… too bad, because after being introduced to his beautiful acoustic voice in “The Islander,” I thought he might be like a mild-mannered giant who was just made to scream and yell for the sake of Tuomas’s music… or something… ^^;; LoL!
Anyway, they jumped into “Dark Chest of Wonders” next-our first Tarja song! Annette sounded FANTASTIC on this one-her vibrato was just so rich, and she went up to the higher notes in the big climactic parts toward the end. Very nice!
As the long and exciting “DCW” concluded, the lights cooled and the guitarists and Jukka sort of faded into backstage for a bit, leaving only Annette standing beside Tuomas, who was playing a beautiful and slightly extended version of the piano part at the beginning of “Ever Dream.” This was it-the song that won Annette the coveted title of Nightwish lead singer! I was extremely excited, to say the least! Well, as I thought, her lovely lower range and clear, rock voice sounded great during the verses. But, as I mentioned before, she didn’t venture into the higher ranges that the song is originally sung in during the chorus, choosing instead to sing a sort of harmony/counter-melody version of it. This worked fine, especially with Marco roaring “Dream oooof meeeeee~~~” in the background. ^^
I’d also like to note while I remember, that there’s a lot of obvious affection and fraternity between the whole band-Annette included, despite the short time she’s been their singer- and it was so nice to see. From their recorded CDs and public image, all you get is that they’re a group of dark and angsty individuals who seem to be lead around by their drama king leader (forgive me, fellow fans-this was just a very initial superficial impression ^^; ), but when you actually see the way they all interact, the way Annette gives a quick affectionate squeeze of the shoulder or a pat on the head to her band mates, or how sweetly Tuomas smiles when he actually raises his eyes to look at Emppu on a solo or Marco or Annette tearing it up on the vocals, or how the guitarists do their “mother hen and baby chick” thing (LoL!), they have just such a comfortable and friendly relationship that it makes watching them and being their fan even better, somehow. I think I really understand why they asked Tarja to leave now-Nightwish, as Tuomas said in the open letter, is a way of life for them, and it’s nice to see this happy and united front. Especially because the music is so dark and despairing-sounding at times, it’s nice seeing that the band members’ real lives actually contain a lot of love and affection. ^___^
Anyway, forging onward, we came next to the exotic-sounding “Whoever Brings the Night.” Annette and Marco introduced it as “something evil”-LoL! As though their lyrics aren’t dark and twisted on a regular basis! ^__^ <3 It sounded awesome live-a lot more appealing than on the CD. It was written by Emppu-chan, I think, and while it’s very innovative, it doesn’t move me as much as some of the other tracks. But again, it did sound awesome live! :D
After the exciting end of “WBtN,” the lights went out onstage and we wondered if we had hit an intermission. But in the next moment, a soft blue light filled the stage again and soothing sounds (ocean-like?) filled the theater. Marco strolled back on carrying an acoustic guitar and sat himself down near the edge of the stage and started up the opening riff of “The Islander,” one of my favorite tracks from Dark Passion Play. It’s got an entirely romantically seafaring feel to it (in a very Melville-ian sense), and is the story of an old man who keeps a lighthouse “at the end of the world” all alone, keeping a light of hope, a reminder of civilization, burning for all the weary sailors who find themselves far from home in his lonely oceans. The lyrics are very beautiful, talking about his quiet, solitary life, the things he has seen in his long years, and his embarkation on a final voyage. Annette supports the song with some beautiful, ringing harmonies, but Marco’s soft, non-screaming voice is beautiful on its own, too. Very nice, soothing interlude to all the excitement, and the perfect segueway into…
“The Poet and the Pendulum!!” At last, serving as the midpoint to our concert, the grand masterwork itself~~~!
The taped boy soprano’s voice filled the room beautifully with the soulful opening strains amidst sustained chords from Tuomas, who was alone onstage at the beginning of it (appropriately, since this is his song!). The band joined in soon after with the launch of the second movement of the 5-movement piece. Annette hopped in with the vocals and off we were on the beginning of what would be a raging 14-minute adventure complete with exposition, excitement, angst, screaming, a pendulum, death, denouement, an epilogue, and “The Beginning…” whispered by the boy soprano at the end of the song. If you haven’t heard this song, you really should-it truly is fantastic, whether you’re a fan of angst, martyrdom, Marco’s screaming voice, and Tuomas’s eulogy to himself or not. ^__~ LoL, sorry, I love to tease, but in all seriousness, there’s so much honesty and earnestness in this song-Tuomas really and truly does bare himself (figuratively and literally too, at least in the song-he’s raped, made a “whore for the cold world,” and naked when they find him dead, according to the lyrics) to us and puts himself in such a vulnerable position that you just have to forgive the egotism of it all (though I will still tease out of love ^^). And of course, it’s just an amazingly awesome song! :D
At the thrilling climax, when the choral voices’ frenzy of chanting leads up to a last cry of “Save me!” and the blade finally descends with an all-resounding “SWOOSH!!” Tuomos actually drew his hand sharply across his throat to match the slicing sound! I wasn’t sure whether he was doing it in all seriousness (and improvising, not having an actual pendulum to slice himself in half with :D) or semi-parodying his own song by matching said all-resounding “SWOOSH!!” with the “you’re dead” gesture, but yeah-I’m glad he did something, because that all important noise is like the central event of the song! It was a successful gesture, whether meant in jest or not. :D
As the sound of the heartbeat faded to a halt after the slice, the semi-subdued, semi-soothing strains of the epilogue-heaven part started up. I heard someone at the table next to mine who obviously hadn’t listened to Dark Passion Play say, “And now… Part 2?” Ha! More like Part 5-hadn’t he been paying attention? Anyway, Annette brought the song home with the sweetly subdued final bit, but I noticed again that she didn’t go up to hit all the high notes. She did, however, hazard the last two (“Search for beauty, find your SHORE” / “Save them all, bleed no MORE”), but the first one was a bit strained-she *almost* veered off-key, but pulled it back in time. The “MORE” was all right, though, and she brought us back with the “In the end I will always love you…” by really delivering that “you” with lush, vibrato’d deepness… ^__^).
So. So ends the great showpiece, “The Poet and the Pendulum.” The shape of the piece it rather like a Greek tragedy, starting slow and growing steadily, hitting some exciting, fast-paced bits in the center, reaching the screaming/angsty/dangerous bit in the middle, then building up for the ultimate climax and-SLICE! And then the denouement, when after all the excitement and terror and angst, you can relax in the gentle sounds of the epilogue. Utterly cathartic.
So it was that the entire room (and the band members) were looking rather exhausted by the end. Of course, it was just that satisfying emotional exhaustion you get after your feelings have been run through the gamut, and our clamorous applause and cheering was anything but tired. ^___^ The first thing Annette said was “I think Tuomas deserves a big applause for this,” and we all heartily agreed. That was the first time he drew himself up to be the center of attention-no drama queen anything for the most part of the concert so far, which was pleasantly surprising. I was really expecting him to be something like Yoshiki from X-Japan, who’s just a drama queen through and through and makes just everything the band does about him. ^^;;; But yeah, the fact that he had to have Annette ask us to applaud his incredible efforts before making himself known to us was pretty cool. He’s a very interesting guy, this Tuomas!
Anyway, Annette voiced all our opinions when she said, “Well, that’s a hard one to follow.” No kidding! But I don’t think anyone was ready to pack up and go home yet, despite how content and lassitudey we were all feeling at the moment. ^^ So Annette tried a little joking, saying, “Now, I want to go some place very hot and sweaty and dry… The men are all thinking something dirty, I think. But no, the girls know I am not thinking anything dirty. I am not thinking it, only the men. The girls know I mean-‘Sahara!’” LoL, it was incredibly cute of her. ^___^
So yes, “Sahara,” to get us back into the riotous feel of things. It’s one of the tracks I typically skip on DPP, but I have to admit, I love the “One thousand one” refrain that Marco sings in the background, especially as that is the final chord that lingers at the end of the song, after all the instruments and Annette have dropped out. Beautiful, beautiful chord! Again, much more exciting hearing it live than on the CD (though that final chord is a lot prettier and multi-layered on the CD, there being only one Marco to harmonize with himself on the stage ^^; ).
The next song was one I didn’t recognize. It had a refrain that went something like “Rise up! Rise up!” It was a fantastic song, though-upbeat and epic in just the way I like it. ^__~
[EDIT: Phantasm on the Nightwish forum has kindly supplied the missing song! It's "Higher Than Hope" from Once! ]
After that, we got our big treat: “Nemo!” As expected, Annette sounds AWESOME on this song, and she really let it rip up there with “NeMO my name forever moooooore~~~” at the end. ^__^ <3 So beautiful, so powerful~~ so… NEMO!!! <3 <3 <3
I guess that at this point, our energy level was running a bit low (still recovering from giving our hearts over to “The Poet and the Pendulum,” no doubt), so Marco threatened us with “hey, it’s at this point in the show where it could just be ‘one more song’ or not, depending on you ::wink::.” LoL, well, that got us cheering, for sure. And it got me to start screaming “ESCAPIST!!!!!!” at the top of my lungs, of course. I knew there was little chance of getting the old and non-single “Ghost Love Score” at this concert, but “The Escapist” is a song from the current album and I just HAD to hear it live because it’s my favorite song ever. <3
I kept the energy up, jumping, bouncing and screaming throughout the next song, “7 Days to the Wolves,” but it just wasn’t satisfying doing it from the third tier, surrounded by seated people. So I got my butt up, bid farewell to my companions, and tore down to the moshpit. My bouncing and screaming seemed to work, infecting the not-so-demonstrative back section of the moshpit with the need to wave their hands and head-bang, so I considered my work done. ^__~ The front of the moshpit was already doing their part, so with the back catching on, the entire moshpit was on fire and the band caught our enthusiasm.
Without another comment, they launched straight into another song-the popular “Wishmaster!” (or, as this hilarious video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=gg5_mlQOsUQ) about misheard lyrics calls it, “Fishmaster”) Very nice, and a great song to be moshpitting because everyone knows the “Master! Apprentice! Heartborn, seventh seeker!” bit, and the notes are staccato enough to be good for fist pumping.
After that wild and crazy good time, Annette said it was really time for the last song now, so they’d leave us with something sleepy and dull. “Just kidding! We’re going to give you something ‘angelic’ instead!” she said.
But of course, what Nightwish concert could be complete without “Wish I Had an Angel?” It was awesome, and again, Annette belted it out in a great way. We in the moshpit lost ourselves in mindless, sensory-overload pleasure, waving and jumping and singing along-it was a fantastic moment. ^___^
But then, sadly, it was all over (they actually meant it?! What about encores??). The band gathered at center stage for their bows, throwing out drum sticks and picks and sweat-smeared towels to the eager crowd. ^__~ The band stayed out for quite awhile, taking bows, waving and touching people’s hands. ^___^ Their group hug/bow was awesome because they really seemed to pull us in and include us in their moment. It was much more personal/inclusive than typical end-of-concert bows, in my opinion.
It was especially nice watching Tuomas’s expression during the final bows and cheering, when everyone in the theater was just screaming and bouncing and waving their hands and clapping-he was so moved, he looked like he would cry. For us? For this tiny gathering of mostly grungy, shaggy, black-clad guys (in the moshpit area, anyway) when they have played before thousands in huge outdoor arenas? Sure, we were all sending our hearts out to them, but being such big stars with 10 years of experience under their belt, how can our petty hearts still move them? I was very touched, and am totally sold as a fan for good. ^______^
Well, I was ready to stand there and scream myself hoarse(er, that is) until I got my “Escapist” encore (LoL! That’s what they call a one-track mind, but once you hear the song, you’ll understand ^^), but the audience was all obediently turning to exit. ;__; So I quickly snapped a few pics on my cellphone of the stage and the silhouette of the Jack Sparrow-cum-Jesus on Tuomas’s keyboards and left. There was a volunteer handing out Nightwish stickers as we were exiting (the pendulum from the DPP cover) who kindly gave me an extra one for my sis, too. ^__^ I had been worried, initially, that going to a rowdy concert alone-or at least, walking through the parking lot at 11:30 pm alone-might be a bit dangerous, but not at all. Everyone was still glowing with post-concert happiness and revelry and I had plenty of company to walk me all the way to the far corner of the parking lot where I had ended up parking. A guy even drove by cheering happily and brandishing out the window one of Jukka’s drumsticks, which he’d apparently caught (lucky!). And yeah, where “rowdy” is concerned, I think I was one of the worse ones. ^^;;
And so ends my incredibly long and drawn-out account of my first Nightwish concert. They’re coming back to the area (San Diego!) next May on this same tour (dang, that’s a long tour!), and I’m tempted to go see them again… ^____^ Well, we’ll see. For now, my heart will be happy with the lovely memories of that wonderful concert~
So I've always had "different" taste, so it's not unusual for me to go to concerts/plays/musicals alone. People in Southern California just don't seem to get the appeal of live theater, etc... the proximity of Tinsel Town being the cause of this miasma, no doubt.
But I, who was bitten by the bug during that semester in London where I got to live in the West End and take in a play at least once a week thanks to my drama class, am the ultimate sucker for live theater, be it musical, plays or concerts. So, whenever one of my favorite bands is playing in the region, I make an effort to go see them, even if I have to go alone because their comings and goings are rare in these parts (being a fan almost exclusively of foreign bands, this is an unavoidable risk).
So it was that I was driving myself alone in the dark after work yesterday to a dingy little theater in Santa Ana called the Galaxy Theater. What a shame, I thought, it could have been at the gorgeous, state-of-the-art and significantly-closer-to-my-house House of Blues in Downtown Disney, but no... I have no idea why they had this venue change because the theater was PACKED when I got there an hour before the concert. It would definitely have filled up HoB, and it's not like Nightwish had brought along any pyrotechnics that would violate Disney this or that, so... ::shrug::
Anyway, the theater itself wasn't so bad. It was obviously old and though there was no smoking inside, the ghost of thousands of cigarettes past still lingered off the black-painted walls, upholstery and carpet. The place was dimly lit, as expected, replete with sticky wood paneling and two separate bar areas. But I have to say, I really liked that-- this atmosphere reminded me exactly of East Coast clubs (Toad's in particular), and for some reason, I always relate quality, small-time bands with the East Coast (or at least, NOT with the West Coast). The setting was just perfect. :)
After ordering a bottle of water from the bar (hey, designated driver, remember?), I checked out the concert hall-- large moshpit area in the front which was already PACKED to the GILLS, surrounded by three wide tiers of cozy booths and tables-- the "restaurant" area. Apparently, you needed to make dinner reservations to land yourself these primo seats (they were the *only* seats, actually, but I prefer standing for concerts anyway--less obstacles to knock over when I inevitably start jumping up and down ^^; ). Still, I didn't want to join the moshpit and risk being groped, so I lingered by the bar until I spotted some nice-looking people I could join at a table.
It was a table of three young men, average to nice looking, one of whom had long black hair and a pleasant profile. Target sighted, I thought. The one guy who was facing my way looked up at me a few times, so I thought it was a fairly safe bet. They also had a fourth chair sitting vacantly at their table, so after observing awhile to see if anyone was sitting there, I swooped in.
"Hi guys, mind if I join you?" I said cheerfully.
And that's when I realized my mistake. All three of them looked blankly at me and then glanced at each other nervously. No response. Uh-oh, I thought. But still, it hadn't been an "Oh, no, there's a scary person talking to me" type of look. So I tried again.
"Is anyone sitting there?" I asked again. "It's just that I didn't reserve a table, so..."
They looked at one another again and then one of them looked at me and started saying something like, "Someone, yes..." while gesturing vividly.
Ahh, they don't speak English, I realized. Well, Nigthwish is a Finnish band, right? I laughed it off and made placating gestures. A royal screw-up, but a totally unforeseeable one-- "language barrier" rarely comes up as one of the many things that can go wrong with picking people up (not that that was my intent-- just wanted to meet some fellow Nightwish fans!).
Anyway, it was getting to be a bit awkward between their embarrassed apologies and mine, so I just turned and plopped down in a chair at the empty table next to theirs. A waitress would likely come and kick me out of it presently, I thought, but after that scene, I didn't want to crawl back to the bar just yet. I flipped open my cellphone and called a friend to kill some time and put some distance between the awkward scene and my next "move."
As I was chatting, a bespectacled soccer mom-looking lady who had been wallflowering along the back wall came over and asked if anyone was sitting in the chair across from me. I told her she was welcome to it, though I wasn't actually supposed to be sitting at the table. She took the chair anyway. As I wrapped up my convo with my friend, a friendly-looking leather-clad couple came over and asked her if they could take another of the chairs and she repeated my disclaimer to them. They seemed all right with the risks and sat down as well.
After I bid my friend good-bye, it was easy striking up a conversation with my fellow table-squatters. The couple were called Sarah and Mike, the former being a fangirl type and the latter a stout-and-silent type. The soccer mom's name was Lorraine, and I had guessed her archetype to a tee-- she was here chaperoning her teenaged son and his friends (she definitely had a "lost parent dragged to Anime Expo by their kids" look, amiably taking everything in with a slightly bewildered air ^^). Her other son was at a soccer play-off. ^__~
Anyway, we gave the perfunctorily skimpy self-intros and chatted Nightwish for awhile. Sarah heartily agreed that "Ghost Love Score" was Ultimate Love and Happiness (though she said she liked "Beauty of the Beast" more ;__; ). Still, after enduring my little sister's jibes about Tarja's voice continuously for several months, it was wonderful to find a sympathetic and agreeing audience to declare "'The Escapist' makes me happy to be alive" to.
Soon after, the opening band, Paradise Lost (my Milton complex was so happy~) started up. The audience gave them politely noisy cheers after each song, but there was little in the way of bouncing or head-banging. No, no, we were saving our love for Our Band... :) PL wasn’t bad, though-- a few of their songs were even pretty catchy (the memorable ones being "One Second" and "Just Say Words"-- their album-titling track "In Requiem" wasn't bad either). But really, after 45 minutes of their fairly monotonous music, I was ready for them to get off the stage. They finally wrapped up around 9pm and we had an intermission of sorts while the crew set up the stage for Nightwish. They'd already put the huge Nightwish banner up at the back of the stage (featuring the pendulum from the Dark Passion Play cover) and added two large, square-shaped panels with an image of blue ocean waves on them to flank the stage (looked like the artwork from the back of the Highest Hopes compilation CD). It took them nearly an hour to set up, do numerous sound checks, give us several false alarms, etc, before the stage ninjas finally cleared the stage and the lights dimmed.
Finally, at 9:50, the stage lit up in a wash of blue light. Soft, soothing chords of a woman's voice filled the room, calling to mind mysterious ocean depths. Drum beats accompanied it after awhile, and as the song broke into an all-out exciting and epic BGM (sounding like something Hans Zimmer would write), Jukka, the drummer, appeared on stage, pumping his fist into the air (which was holding a styrofoam cup, out of which he sipped a moment later-- LoL! I guess Time and Tide and Musical Cues wait for no one, eh?). Then, Tuomas, Marco and Emppu all appeared, taking bows and waving to thunderous applause. If I'd been afraid that the audience was going to be sleepy after their unresponsiveness to Paradise Lost, I had nothing to fear. ^__~ Like me, they were all just waiting for Our Band.
Jukka tapped off and we launched straight into “Bye Bye Beautiful” (unsurprisingly the song to kick off with-must wrap up old business, right? :D). In fact, let me write out the entire set list for you here and then review each song individually:
- Bye Bye Beautiful
- Amaranth
- Dark Chest of Wonders
- Ever Dream
- Whoever Brings the Night
- The Islander
- The Poet & the Pendulum
- Sahara
- Once (?)
- Nemo
- 7 Days to the Wolves
- Wishmaster
- Wish I Had An Angel
(Yeah, no “Ghost Love Score,” as expected. ;___; But even more devastatingly, no “The Escapist,” which is hands down the best song on the new CD (though only included in the Japanese album as a bonus track), which I was sure they’d play for us… Alas, no-and DESPITE that, it was an awesome concert!!)
So, kickin’ it off with the upbeat and powerful “Bye Bye Beautiful,” which is the band’s farewell to their previous and original singer, Tarja Turunen). Very exciting, got the energy going, and it gave Annette a nice entrance, gliding out of the smoky, backlit blue light to take center stage and launch into the short opening verse. I was surprised at her live voice-it was a lot poppy-er than it sounds on the album (almost cutesy, like T.A.T.U.). I suspect she was having a bit of an off-day vocally, because she didn’t try to go for any of the crazy, killer high notes that she hits so beautifully on the CD (except in “The Poet and the Pendulum,” which I’ll talk about later). She was perfectly in-tune and solid for everything she did sing, however, and obviously an accomplished singer, so I wondered if the choice not to go up to the high stuff was just to give us a different side of her singing? I dunno, but I was a bit sad not hearing the killer high notes at the end of “Amaranth” and “Ever Dream.” But anyway~
Marco is AMAZING. *__* I have gained a new respect and liking for him after this concert (same goes for Jukka-he’s actually pretty cute and he *does* have long hair like the rest of the guys-it’s just neatly tied back in a ponytail and all but hidden by his Zorro-like black bandanna ^^). But Marco-yeah, his voice is just infallible; you could ask him to sing at 4am while he’s piss drunk and he’d still sound perfect, I think. He’s just got one of those really rich, velvety, perpetually well-oiled voices like Elvis (not the greatest comparison, sorry). And he and Emppu were so cute-once in awhile, they’d put their downy, blonde heads together while they played and bounce along together. ^___^ So very cute cuz 1) I’m a sucker for camaraderie, and 2) considering how tiny Emppu is, it was like a mother hen and a baby chick cuddling! All that pretty, blonde hair made them look related, LOL~ (yeah, on what planet big, scary Viking-looking Marco looks like a motherly chicken, I don’t even know-it was just the first analogy that came to mind @__@; ).
So “Bye Bye Beautiful” was fantastic. Tuomas is a lot of fun to watch, but surprisingly, he didn’t really speak at all during the concert. He just stayed off to the left side of the stage, bowing shyly when acknowledged by Marco or Annette (our MCs ^^). And he was so much fun to watch when he played, hands latched to the keyboard as though they were glued while the rest of his body swayed and thrashed wildly along with the music. It was so intense sometimes that it was almost the look of someone grabbing onto an electric fence and being electrocuted… as nasty a metaphor as that is, for the amount of movement and energy that the music was pumping through him while his fingers stayed utterly attached to the keyboard as though compelled by some exterior force, it’s a pretty apt comparison (though it didn’t look goofy or frightening at all, of course!).
Oh, another funny detail I only noticed after the concert when I wandered up to the stage is that Tuomas has attached a sort of statuette of Jack Sparrow to his keyboard. @__@;;;; I read afterwards on the website that he's a big fan of Jack Sparrow (which is probably unsurprising, considering his make-up, and also Hans Zimmer’s hand in the movie’s score :D). The statuette was made of something ceramic-looking, almost like those gaudy, strangely grotesque, cheaply-made Jesus statuettes you can get at small Catholic churches. Considering Tuomas’s Jesus complex (well, he was born on Christmas Day and is really into martyring himself, as “The Poet and the Pendulum” shows), I guess that’s logical. But seeing Jack Sparrow up there, and in that way-LoL! I tried to take a pic of it, but the backlighting was too intense. All you can see is this little black silhouette with its arms waving over its head. ^^;
*ahem* But back to the set list!
Next, the band launched straight into “Amaranth,” which is just a fabulously fun, catchy song. Everyone jammed awesomely to this. Sounded great with some added, creative keyboarding by Tuomas. And, as expected, Annette’s “DAY BREAK!!!!” at the end is just *awesome* live. *___* <3 (So High and Mighty Color, somehow! :D)
After “Amaranth,” Annette and Marco made the band’s first greeting to us. They both speak perfect English (as I think everyone in Scandanavia does?), though Marco did say “Ga-LAX-y Theater.” <3 ^_____^ <3 And he speaks in his growling Viking voice… too bad, because after being introduced to his beautiful acoustic voice in “The Islander,” I thought he might be like a mild-mannered giant who was just made to scream and yell for the sake of Tuomas’s music… or something… ^^;; LoL!
Anyway, they jumped into “Dark Chest of Wonders” next-our first Tarja song! Annette sounded FANTASTIC on this one-her vibrato was just so rich, and she went up to the higher notes in the big climactic parts toward the end. Very nice!
As the long and exciting “DCW” concluded, the lights cooled and the guitarists and Jukka sort of faded into backstage for a bit, leaving only Annette standing beside Tuomas, who was playing a beautiful and slightly extended version of the piano part at the beginning of “Ever Dream.” This was it-the song that won Annette the coveted title of Nightwish lead singer! I was extremely excited, to say the least! Well, as I thought, her lovely lower range and clear, rock voice sounded great during the verses. But, as I mentioned before, she didn’t venture into the higher ranges that the song is originally sung in during the chorus, choosing instead to sing a sort of harmony/counter-melody version of it. This worked fine, especially with Marco roaring “Dream oooof meeeeee~~~” in the background. ^^
I’d also like to note while I remember, that there’s a lot of obvious affection and fraternity between the whole band-Annette included, despite the short time she’s been their singer- and it was so nice to see. From their recorded CDs and public image, all you get is that they’re a group of dark and angsty individuals who seem to be lead around by their drama king leader (forgive me, fellow fans-this was just a very initial superficial impression ^^; ), but when you actually see the way they all interact, the way Annette gives a quick affectionate squeeze of the shoulder or a pat on the head to her band mates, or how sweetly Tuomas smiles when he actually raises his eyes to look at Emppu on a solo or Marco or Annette tearing it up on the vocals, or how the guitarists do their “mother hen and baby chick” thing (LoL!), they have just such a comfortable and friendly relationship that it makes watching them and being their fan even better, somehow. I think I really understand why they asked Tarja to leave now-Nightwish, as Tuomas said in the open letter, is a way of life for them, and it’s nice to see this happy and united front. Especially because the music is so dark and despairing-sounding at times, it’s nice seeing that the band members’ real lives actually contain a lot of love and affection. ^___^
Anyway, forging onward, we came next to the exotic-sounding “Whoever Brings the Night.” Annette and Marco introduced it as “something evil”-LoL! As though their lyrics aren’t dark and twisted on a regular basis! ^__^ <3 It sounded awesome live-a lot more appealing than on the CD. It was written by Emppu-chan, I think, and while it’s very innovative, it doesn’t move me as much as some of the other tracks. But again, it did sound awesome live! :D
After the exciting end of “WBtN,” the lights went out onstage and we wondered if we had hit an intermission. But in the next moment, a soft blue light filled the stage again and soothing sounds (ocean-like?) filled the theater. Marco strolled back on carrying an acoustic guitar and sat himself down near the edge of the stage and started up the opening riff of “The Islander,” one of my favorite tracks from Dark Passion Play. It’s got an entirely romantically seafaring feel to it (in a very Melville-ian sense), and is the story of an old man who keeps a lighthouse “at the end of the world” all alone, keeping a light of hope, a reminder of civilization, burning for all the weary sailors who find themselves far from home in his lonely oceans. The lyrics are very beautiful, talking about his quiet, solitary life, the things he has seen in his long years, and his embarkation on a final voyage. Annette supports the song with some beautiful, ringing harmonies, but Marco’s soft, non-screaming voice is beautiful on its own, too. Very nice, soothing interlude to all the excitement, and the perfect segueway into…
“The Poet and the Pendulum!!” At last, serving as the midpoint to our concert, the grand masterwork itself~~~!
The taped boy soprano’s voice filled the room beautifully with the soulful opening strains amidst sustained chords from Tuomas, who was alone onstage at the beginning of it (appropriately, since this is his song!). The band joined in soon after with the launch of the second movement of the 5-movement piece. Annette hopped in with the vocals and off we were on the beginning of what would be a raging 14-minute adventure complete with exposition, excitement, angst, screaming, a pendulum, death, denouement, an epilogue, and “The Beginning…” whispered by the boy soprano at the end of the song. If you haven’t heard this song, you really should-it truly is fantastic, whether you’re a fan of angst, martyrdom, Marco’s screaming voice, and Tuomas’s eulogy to himself or not. ^__~ LoL, sorry, I love to tease, but in all seriousness, there’s so much honesty and earnestness in this song-Tuomas really and truly does bare himself (figuratively and literally too, at least in the song-he’s raped, made a “whore for the cold world,” and naked when they find him dead, according to the lyrics) to us and puts himself in such a vulnerable position that you just have to forgive the egotism of it all (though I will still tease out of love ^^). And of course, it’s just an amazingly awesome song! :D
At the thrilling climax, when the choral voices’ frenzy of chanting leads up to a last cry of “Save me!” and the blade finally descends with an all-resounding “SWOOSH!!” Tuomos actually drew his hand sharply across his throat to match the slicing sound! I wasn’t sure whether he was doing it in all seriousness (and improvising, not having an actual pendulum to slice himself in half with :D) or semi-parodying his own song by matching said all-resounding “SWOOSH!!” with the “you’re dead” gesture, but yeah-I’m glad he did something, because that all important noise is like the central event of the song! It was a successful gesture, whether meant in jest or not. :D
As the sound of the heartbeat faded to a halt after the slice, the semi-subdued, semi-soothing strains of the epilogue-heaven part started up. I heard someone at the table next to mine who obviously hadn’t listened to Dark Passion Play say, “And now… Part 2?” Ha! More like Part 5-hadn’t he been paying attention? Anyway, Annette brought the song home with the sweetly subdued final bit, but I noticed again that she didn’t go up to hit all the high notes. She did, however, hazard the last two (“Search for beauty, find your SHORE” / “Save them all, bleed no MORE”), but the first one was a bit strained-she *almost* veered off-key, but pulled it back in time. The “MORE” was all right, though, and she brought us back with the “In the end I will always love you…” by really delivering that “you” with lush, vibrato’d deepness… ^__^).
So. So ends the great showpiece, “The Poet and the Pendulum.” The shape of the piece it rather like a Greek tragedy, starting slow and growing steadily, hitting some exciting, fast-paced bits in the center, reaching the screaming/angsty/dangerous bit in the middle, then building up for the ultimate climax and-SLICE! And then the denouement, when after all the excitement and terror and angst, you can relax in the gentle sounds of the epilogue. Utterly cathartic.
So it was that the entire room (and the band members) were looking rather exhausted by the end. Of course, it was just that satisfying emotional exhaustion you get after your feelings have been run through the gamut, and our clamorous applause and cheering was anything but tired. ^___^ The first thing Annette said was “I think Tuomas deserves a big applause for this,” and we all heartily agreed. That was the first time he drew himself up to be the center of attention-no drama queen anything for the most part of the concert so far, which was pleasantly surprising. I was really expecting him to be something like Yoshiki from X-Japan, who’s just a drama queen through and through and makes just everything the band does about him. ^^;;; But yeah, the fact that he had to have Annette ask us to applaud his incredible efforts before making himself known to us was pretty cool. He’s a very interesting guy, this Tuomas!
Anyway, Annette voiced all our opinions when she said, “Well, that’s a hard one to follow.” No kidding! But I don’t think anyone was ready to pack up and go home yet, despite how content and lassitudey we were all feeling at the moment. ^^ So Annette tried a little joking, saying, “Now, I want to go some place very hot and sweaty and dry… The men are all thinking something dirty, I think. But no, the girls know I am not thinking anything dirty. I am not thinking it, only the men. The girls know I mean-‘Sahara!’” LoL, it was incredibly cute of her. ^___^
So yes, “Sahara,” to get us back into the riotous feel of things. It’s one of the tracks I typically skip on DPP, but I have to admit, I love the “One thousand one” refrain that Marco sings in the background, especially as that is the final chord that lingers at the end of the song, after all the instruments and Annette have dropped out. Beautiful, beautiful chord! Again, much more exciting hearing it live than on the CD (though that final chord is a lot prettier and multi-layered on the CD, there being only one Marco to harmonize with himself on the stage ^^; ).
The next song was one I didn’t recognize. It had a refrain that went something like “Rise up! Rise up!” It was a fantastic song, though-upbeat and epic in just the way I like it. ^__~
[EDIT: Phantasm on the Nightwish forum has kindly supplied the missing song! It's "Higher Than Hope" from Once! ]
After that, we got our big treat: “Nemo!” As expected, Annette sounds AWESOME on this song, and she really let it rip up there with “NeMO my name forever moooooore~~~” at the end. ^__^ <3 So beautiful, so powerful~~ so… NEMO!!! <3 <3 <3
I guess that at this point, our energy level was running a bit low (still recovering from giving our hearts over to “The Poet and the Pendulum,” no doubt), so Marco threatened us with “hey, it’s at this point in the show where it could just be ‘one more song’ or not, depending on you ::wink::.” LoL, well, that got us cheering, for sure. And it got me to start screaming “ESCAPIST!!!!!!” at the top of my lungs, of course. I knew there was little chance of getting the old and non-single “Ghost Love Score” at this concert, but “The Escapist” is a song from the current album and I just HAD to hear it live because it’s my favorite song ever. <3
I kept the energy up, jumping, bouncing and screaming throughout the next song, “7 Days to the Wolves,” but it just wasn’t satisfying doing it from the third tier, surrounded by seated people. So I got my butt up, bid farewell to my companions, and tore down to the moshpit. My bouncing and screaming seemed to work, infecting the not-so-demonstrative back section of the moshpit with the need to wave their hands and head-bang, so I considered my work done. ^__~ The front of the moshpit was already doing their part, so with the back catching on, the entire moshpit was on fire and the band caught our enthusiasm.
Without another comment, they launched straight into another song-the popular “Wishmaster!” (or, as this hilarious video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=gg5_mlQOsUQ) about misheard lyrics calls it, “Fishmaster”) Very nice, and a great song to be moshpitting because everyone knows the “Master! Apprentice! Heartborn, seventh seeker!” bit, and the notes are staccato enough to be good for fist pumping.
After that wild and crazy good time, Annette said it was really time for the last song now, so they’d leave us with something sleepy and dull. “Just kidding! We’re going to give you something ‘angelic’ instead!” she said.
But of course, what Nightwish concert could be complete without “Wish I Had an Angel?” It was awesome, and again, Annette belted it out in a great way. We in the moshpit lost ourselves in mindless, sensory-overload pleasure, waving and jumping and singing along-it was a fantastic moment. ^___^
But then, sadly, it was all over (they actually meant it?! What about encores??). The band gathered at center stage for their bows, throwing out drum sticks and picks and sweat-smeared towels to the eager crowd. ^__~ The band stayed out for quite awhile, taking bows, waving and touching people’s hands. ^___^ Their group hug/bow was awesome because they really seemed to pull us in and include us in their moment. It was much more personal/inclusive than typical end-of-concert bows, in my opinion.
It was especially nice watching Tuomas’s expression during the final bows and cheering, when everyone in the theater was just screaming and bouncing and waving their hands and clapping-he was so moved, he looked like he would cry. For us? For this tiny gathering of mostly grungy, shaggy, black-clad guys (in the moshpit area, anyway) when they have played before thousands in huge outdoor arenas? Sure, we were all sending our hearts out to them, but being such big stars with 10 years of experience under their belt, how can our petty hearts still move them? I was very touched, and am totally sold as a fan for good. ^______^
Well, I was ready to stand there and scream myself hoarse(er, that is) until I got my “Escapist” encore (LoL! That’s what they call a one-track mind, but once you hear the song, you’ll understand ^^), but the audience was all obediently turning to exit. ;__; So I quickly snapped a few pics on my cellphone of the stage and the silhouette of the Jack Sparrow-cum-Jesus on Tuomas’s keyboards and left. There was a volunteer handing out Nightwish stickers as we were exiting (the pendulum from the DPP cover) who kindly gave me an extra one for my sis, too. ^__^ I had been worried, initially, that going to a rowdy concert alone-or at least, walking through the parking lot at 11:30 pm alone-might be a bit dangerous, but not at all. Everyone was still glowing with post-concert happiness and revelry and I had plenty of company to walk me all the way to the far corner of the parking lot where I had ended up parking. A guy even drove by cheering happily and brandishing out the window one of Jukka’s drumsticks, which he’d apparently caught (lucky!). And yeah, where “rowdy” is concerned, I think I was one of the worse ones. ^^;;
And so ends my incredibly long and drawn-out account of my first Nightwish concert. They’re coming back to the area (San Diego!) next May on this same tour (dang, that’s a long tour!), and I’m tempted to go see them again… ^____^ Well, we’ll see. For now, my heart will be happy with the lovely memories of that wonderful concert~