Nightwish

The Palais – a venue of singular gorgeousness, in a town full of theatres with plaster mouldings, red carpet and chandeliers; set by a pebbly beach rife with too many tourists. Tonight it was to play host to Nightwish – pioneers of the genre of ‘Operatic Metal’, of sound based on dramatic vocals, gothic imagery and matched by soaring guitar riffs. Like meets like (nix the tourists, maybe).
The all-ages gig had lived up to its name – folks from six to sixty packed into the place, the air buzzing with anticipation. Due to this support act Eyefear were largely ignored, their sound treading a now well-worn path of prog metal. The dynamics within the band also seemed slightly off, stiffening their delivery somewhat. (I couldn’t help being mesmerised by the lead singer’s amazing weave, though.)

Nightwish hit the stage with a palpable confidence, diving straight into a set comprised mostly of CD singles and tracks from newest album Dark Passion Play (new singer Annette makes her debut on the record). Unusually for a metal band, many of their songs are written in the major key – making the music sound less a doom-ridden soundtrack to Armageddon and more an upbeat celebration of the power chord. The keyboard part was especially jaunty, like a piano accordion played by a swashbuckling pirate (apt as Tuomas Holopainen has a doll of Captain Jack attached to the front of his keyboard like some kind of figurehead). They also showed a wicked sense of humour – often bantering with the crowd and adopting ridiculous postures. At one point during a particularly wanky solo, bassist Marco Hietala even played the set between guitarist Emppu Vuorinen’s legs! I’ve never seen such an easy and direct rapport between a band and their crowd. It felt like we were watching a friend’s band up there. In this case, definitely a good thing!
After a strong run of relatively poppy tunes, we were in for a surprise with The Islander, a Celtic folk-style song acting as a counterpoint to all the devil-horns-waving bombast; creating something of a musical eye in the storm. Bassist Marco Hietala stepped up for vocals on the track - the results were magical. It was followed by plenty more metal though, including a mighty triumvirate – ‘Nemo’, ‘Wishmaster’ and ‘Wish I Had an Angel.’
I admit - Nightwish had a kind of question mark hanging over their heads with new vocalist Annette. And fair enough: while she doesn’t exactly possess the level of vocal gymnastics Tarja did, she made up for this with her ability to charm the audience, and her sheer onstage enthusiasm. In fact, the whole band looked like they were having the time of their lives, even coming down and shaking hands and talking to the crowd after a lengthy encore (As Annette said: ‘Musicians like to do this thing where they say it’s the last song… they lie.’).
In summation - I really shouldn’t have been worried - devil horns were everywhere, epic drama was brought, and the team rocked the poncy theatre nicely.

Take that, Shakespeare.

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