Nightwish + Pain @ The Academy – 29th March
The Academy is already reasonably full before Swedish band Pain open the show with their mix of industrial metal and techno, a sound that is clearly appreciated by the crowd. Their set comes across as professional and well rehearsed, possibly because the band has only one permanent member, Peter Tagtgren, the rest being made up of session and tour musicians. They show passion and enthusiasm for their music, blasting through opener ‘Same Old Song’ and an impressive cover of The Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’. They leave the stage like headliners, the crowd showing that if they didn’t love them before, they were definitely won over by tonight’s show.
For most of the 3000 Nightwish fans here tonight, this is the first opportunity they have to experience the band’s new line up live. With a new album and a set spanning almost two hours, they shouldn’t be disappointed, the combination of older songs and material from ‘Dark Passion Play’ catering for the wide variety of the band’s fans. The set is theatrical and interesting as ever, their orchestra backed metal sounding nothing short of awesome live.
With the appearance of session musician Troy Donockley, using traditional Irish instruments, the band add some variety with the haunting instrumental ‘Last Of The Wilds’. Crowd favourite ‘Nemo’ follows, still receiving a great reaction from the fans with the change of vocalist. Newly appointed singer Anette Olzon easily proves she deserves her place in the band, doing an impressive job of taking on the songs originally written for Tarja Turunen, although she lacks the operatic range of the previous singer. She appears less confident with the older material, although no doubt there is a feeling that these songs are not her own; maybe it’s only a matter of time before she’s had time to really make them her own.
The set draws to a close with the storming ‘Wishmaster’, probably one of the band’s heaviest songs to date, followed by ‘I Wish I Had An Angel’, ending the show on a high. Tonight’s show seems to prove to the fans that Nightwish, although now definitely a different band, can still deliver a live gig that gives the die hard fans something different and win over new ones. As the band come back on stage to receive their applause, it seems the new era for Nightwish is going to be a great one.
Review – Helen Catchpowle
Photos – Karl Bright