Nightwish / Pain - 25th March @ London Astoria
For those of you who do not frequent http://forum.metalmonk.co.uk - here is my review of last night's gig.
Tuesday 25th March, London Astoria.
PAIN (Setlist)
Same Old Song
Eleanor Rigby
End Of The Line
Zombie Slam
Nailed to The Ground
Just Hate Me
On and On
Shut Your Mouth
NIGHTWISH (Setlist)
Intro
Bye Bye Beautiful
Dark Chest Of Wonders
Whoever Brings The Night
The Siren
Amaranth
Poet and The Pendulum
Dead To The World
The Islander *
Last Of The Wilds *
Sahara
Nemo
-------
Wishmaster
Wish I Had An Angel
* - Special one-off performance featuring blokey on the cool folky/fiddle/panpipe thing which is used on these tracks.
Pain
PAIN exceeded my expectations performance-wise and also played a bloody excellent set. I was quite sure the setlist would mainly consist of the new album, which is no bad thing, but instead it was much better - it was a fairly awesome "best of" set featuring many of my favourites I didn't expect to hear! (Particularly "On and On" and "Shut Your Mouth"). Their sound was also immaculate and clear, a rarity for the Astoria.
Peter Tagtgren is a great frontman, as I have experienced with his other band Hypocrisy, and Pain threw themselves into the performance with gusto. Despite being an odd choice for support, they completely nailed it last night and the reception from the crowd was suprisingly excellent, so all in all I think they did themselves proud and may finally gain themselves some new UK fans from this tour.
Nightwish
So you've looked at the setlist and thought "Bleurgh!" right? I know I would had I looked at it on paper. lol. It's really not all bad, honest.
By the time Nightwish arrived on stage I had already decided the trip to London had been worth it on the basis of PAIN successfully knocking my socks off. So now - as far as I was concerned - it didn't really matter to me if NW were any good or not. Generally as much as I loved Nightwish in the past, they have never really been what I would consider an excellent live band - simply a competent one. The only reason I wanted them to be at least fairly decent was because my Dad had come along with us to see them, and he had been waiting to see them live for ages. (I'd even tried to play it down to him so that he didn't have too high expectations lol)
So yeah - I wasn't really expecting much, and my entire attitude to the gig for sometime has probably best been described with a shrug of the shoulders or a simple "meh". (Probably not as bad as Clare's feelings towards NW but certainly a fair helping of dis-interest!).
So it pleases me immensley to be able to say "WOW!" about Nightwish for the first time in a long long while. Firstly, the sound was superb. NW have had dodgy sound most times I've seen them, so this was the first plus. Probably more luck than judgement but who am I to complain?
Secondly - their performance. Grumbles about a DPP-heavy setlist aside, last night was the first time I witnessed Nightwish as not just a competent live band - but a simply excellent and envigourated one. The band performed as a tight unit, it felt like a team, and they all seemed to be having a whale of a time - the first time I've seen NW be like that, ever.
Annete can also really belt out a tune live and certainly prooved herself well. Yes yes, Annete has a far more generic femme-metal voice, we all know that, but as a frontwoman she oozes personality, and after seeing them live I can finally see a little of why she was chosen by the band (up until now, like most, I've been wondering "why her?"). I really think it's more about her attitude and place as a fully fledged "band member" that makes sense, even if the voice hurdle has to be overcome later. Tarja may have been "the voice" - but she had all the stage personality of a walnut. Annete doesn't have that vocal distinction, but she knows how to work a crowd and is definitely more at home on stage with a metal band. There was something endearing about her that I didn't expect.
Yes - there were moments (as I expected) where I found myself thinking "Oh, that sounds a bit odd with her singing it, Tarja's version is much better" but surprisingly it happened nowhere near as often as I thought it might.
Anyways in a bid to stop myself waffling I'll try and break it down track by track (for those that care):
Bye Bye Beautiful - Good opener, made even more surprising by the fact that the soundman had got everything right first time. No "oops better turn the keyboards and drums on" halfway through the song like most occasions with a live NW show. I like this song anyway (which helps) altho some folk seem violently adverse to it.
Dark Chest Of Wonders - First "WOW" moment of the evening and probably the highlight of the entire show. Annete absolutely NAILS this song. :shock: Brilliant performance and a superb vocal adaptation leaves me somewhat gobsmacked. I would almost say thay Annete belting this one out in her style is actually better than the original with Tarja (**dodges arrows and daggers**). That and the realisation that Nightwish are playing like demons means things are off to a good start.
Whoever Brings The Night - DOH! Things were going so well and then WHACK! The first low point of the evening (thankfully one of only few). Dreadfully whiney song (which I don't like anyway) and doesn't really work live regardless of how well it's played. The bright side is at least it wasn't "Cadence of Her Last Breath" - which truly is a crock of shit. :lol:
The Siren - Loved this track, was worried that it would sound crap with Annete, but again she has worked the vocals to suit her, and does some interesting "almost yodelling" thing in the middle (that probably sounds far more crap than it is lol). It was definitely more a case of "oh this sounds a bit different" than anything being bad, but perhaps not as suited as Dark Chest of Wonders. Still fairly good however!
Amaranth - Yes it may be the poppy single, but this song is a belter live, really enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. Annete also sounded excellent once again.
Poet and the Pendulum - I really didn't think they would play this, and if they did, I certainly didn't think it would work. One hat freshly eaten then - as I was wrong on both counts. Yes yes, I'm sure you would have preferred Ghost Love Score, and before hearing this I would have said the same, but live this song was absolutely bloody EPIC. Socks cleanly knocked off. ETC ETC.
Only two negatives I would make about it - firstly, they need to cut out the section with the small boy talking - the lights to go down in the venue and then you hear a boy's voice booming over the PA about being "raped over and over again" ... it's just.... weird :? :lol:
Secondly - the crap tacked on bit at the end of the song with the slow piano and the ballad singing which I was sure they would leave off.... they didn't. If they got rid of those things and abridged it a little - then the song would be perfect.
Dead To The World - Woot! I haven't heard them play this song live in what seems like forever, so this was an unexpected surprise. Probably the only song of the evening that did sound truly "odd" without Tarja's vocals however.
The Islander / Last Of The Wilds - Marco announces a special guest for these songs - a chappy from the London Philharmonic who comes on stage and sits on a stool to play on the cool folky/fiddle/panpipe thing which is used on these tracks. They also stated this was a one-off special performance - altho I'm not sure if he meant last night only, London only, or the UK shows only, so anyone else who sees them this week let me know?!
Both of these songs were simply fantastic and a real change. For "The Islander" the band sat on stools at the front of the stage before getting up to rock out to "Last". "Last Of The Wilds" is one of my highlights of DPP and probably my favourite Nightwish instrumental track so this was awesome to witness, especially as the guy on the flutey/pipe thing looked like he was having a whale of a time :lol: . The crowd were jumping and this was a really uplifting, awesome tune. (I think I like it because it reminds me of Suidakra). So yes, made of win.
Sahara - My favourite song from DPP and another excellent live performance.
Nemo - For me the other surprise of the evening along with Dark Chest of Wonders. I've always loathed Nemo to a certain extent. I associate it with all the 14 yr old plebs that discovered Nightwish during the Once tour and moshed to Nemo because it was the only song they knew. But tonight it sounded brilliant. It seemed a lot heavier than usual and again Annete's rock/power vocals suited the song perfectly. Surprised to say, but, brilliant!
Wishmaster - Now I'd already seen several videos of Annete performing this song, so the change in it wasn't anywhere near as jarring as expected - I knew it was going to sound kind of odd so I'd already prepared myself for it. The band have changed the key of the song slightly to suit Annete's voice so that's what makes it sound a little bizarre, but it's still a great great tune, and with 2000 people singing along to the song anyway (albeit Bastard, A Dentist, Hard Porn, Seven Seater etc) you can be overlook the fact Tarja is missed on this song - just.
Annete made quite a funny remark after the song actually, saying she has to stop herself from laughing when singing it because she has watched all the alternative lyrics on Youtube - she then shouted out "Fishmaster!" which was most amusing :lol:
Wish I Had An Angel - A nice and heavy if fairly predictable end song for the show. You either like this song or you don't really, thankfully I do.
So yes, all in all a great performance. Too much DPP? Yes, obviously. Not my favourite setlist either. But then lets be brutally honest - Nightwish have ALWAYS been terrible at playing a balanced setlist. On the Once tour all they bloody played was stuff from Once, and so on and so forth for previous tours, so let's not kid ourselves that anything has changed there. Wilska was even in the band area last night and I had vague hopes of them playing "Pharoah Sails To Orion" - but I imagine I've got more chance of being bitten on the bum by a dinosaur. Personally I thought a large majority of the DPP songs sounded much better live than on CD. (I imagine we got more DPP because of the panpipe/guest thing, some of you may get older songs in their place - again, please let me know).
What pleased me was basically - a happy and united band means they are now performing fantastically, certainly better than I've witnessed in the past. Nightwish aren't my favourite band anymore, they may be heading in a musical direction some fans don't really care all that much for (I include myself in that demographic) and we'll probably be hearing less and less of the old material live - but I was pleased to come away from the gig last night with a positive view of the band, a smile on my face, and even the notion that "I really wouldn't mind seeing them live again sometime" which is no bad thing. (Several mediocre shows from the previous Once tour had left me fairly disinterested I have to say!)
I'm sure there will be those that are determined to not enjoy it, but I really think you would be "cutting your nose off to spite your face" sort of thing. Nightwish aren't the band I fell in love with on CD anymore, but last night was a delight. Those touting their upcoming tour experience as the possible "nail in the coffin" for Nightwish - I think, or at least hope, you will be proven wrong - at least from the point of view of being reminded why you liked the band in the first place - which is what I got last night.
Anyway, an evening of pleasant surprises. I went in thinking "Meh" and came out thinking "Woot!" - so I hope that others come away with something positive during the rest of the UK tour.
And good god that was a fecking long review. Sorry. :(
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