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Band:Nightwish Album:Dark Passion Play Record Company:Roadrunner Records Writer: Eric "CFH" Johnson Media: Slaying the Dreamer (Live, 2007, w/Anette Olzon) Click Album Cover To Buy Now

Prior to last night, Nightwish was one of a few of my favorite bands I had yet to see live, and despite a couple of setbacks, the experience as a whole was quite great. With that, the first setback came in the form of a band called Paradise Lost.

Paradise Lost is a band that I knew absolutely nothing about before they played their set, and they are now a band that I hope I’ll forget about very soon. Why? First of all, their set marked two firsts for me in the concert setting. Specifically, I had never sent a text message to a friend who was with me during a band’s set before this one, but during this set I spent at least ten minutes doing that. Second, I don’t ever recall seeing two guitarists who play in a band that opens for a band like Nightwish that I can outplay with ease, and I’m not a great guitarist by any means. Regarding these “guitarists,” Greg Mackintosh played quite a few cool riffs and leads, but gave the impression that he was half-assing his performance for most of the set. Who knows, maybe he’s wanted to shoot himself for quite some time because he joined Paradise Lost? Then there’s Aaron Aedy, who seemed to play three or four power chords throughout the set, and during some moments it looked as if he wasn’t playing at all, but instead headbanging in the most retarded manner imaginable. With that, I don’t have the slightest idea as to why Paradise Lost, or any other band for that matter, would need this fucking hack. Moving on, bassist Steve Edmondson seemed as if he wasn’t on stage for 99% of the set, and vocalist Nick Holmes displayed the vocabulary of a two year-old when he talked between songs. In fact, here’s a gem for you: “This one’s from our new album called The Requiem. It’s the title track. It’s called ‘The Requiem.’” Perhaps he planned the statement, and meant it as a joke, but it sure as hell wasn’t funny if that was the case, and if that wasn’t the case, he proved that he has a great skill known as restating the obvious. As for his singing, it was a cross between completely generic rock/metal vocals and Brad Roberts from The Crash Test Dummies of all fucking vocalists. Regarding the bright spots for this train wreck of a set, drummer Jeff Singer threw in some cool fills, and the band as a whole exhibited some nice grooves and even a lot of kick-ass intros. However, once each one of those intros concluded, the songs became extremely boring, and boring just may be the best word to describe Paradise Lost. With that, the last thing I’ll say about this boring band is “you can learn a lot from a dummy, don’t listen to or watch Paradise Lost.”

Before I go into detail about Nightwish’s set, I’ll get the other setback out of the way. About a week ago I went to a forum at the band’s official website, and found the set list for the current tour. It displayed sixteen songs, but for whatever reason they only played twelve last night. I hope that this won’t happen at any other shows on this tour. With that, I’m going to do something a little different and describe the show member by member.

Prior to this set, I knew that Tuomas Holopainen was the “main member” of Nightwish if there was one since he’s the primary song writer and probably runs the band behind the scenes. As a result, I knew that his contributions to the band were great, but I had no idea how much he contributed to the band with his keyboard playing until last night. Specifically, every time I heard his keyboard parts on an album, I thought they sounded cool, but that there wasn’t a whole lot to them. However, seeing him go all over the place on three different keyboards and never miss a note for an hour and a half made me realize that Tuomas Holopainen is more of a musical mastermind than I ever could have imagined.

If there was an aspect of Nightwish that I was concerned about before the set, it was Marco Hietala’s vocals since I had listened to many Youtube recordings in which his voice sounded blown out. Instead, his vocals served not only as a pleasant surprise, but as one of the set’s highlights because they sounded flawless whether he was singing or screaming. On top of that, his harmonies with Anette Olzon were nothing less than magnificent. Last but not least, he also did a great job of holding down the rhythm with his heavy bass playing.

Then there’s drummer Jukka Nevalainen, who had the misfortune of being stuck behind four the most talented and charismatic musicians in all of metal. However, his intense pounding and killer fills most likely drew more than a few glances from everyone last night, and whether anyone realized it or not, he added an element that was desperately needed in every song.

During an evening in which every member of Nightwish looked as if he or she was having the greatest time imaginable, guitarist Erno “Emppu” Vuorinen managed to upstage everyone. In fact, I can’t think of any musician who’s more entertaining to watch on stage than Emppu. As for his guitar playing, it was nothing short of phenomenal, and I feel especially privileged that I got to watch him play from a few feet away for a lot of the set. Specifically, his playing is of the ultra precise, constantly shifting between notes and chords school that Dave Mustaine teaches. In addition to that, his sounded is as heavy, clear and biting as anyone could want it to be, and his lead playing is a perfect mix of shred and melody. With that, if Erno “Emppu” Vuorinen isn’t considered one of metal’s current guitar Gods, he sure as hell should be.

Rounding out the roster is Anette Olzon. As I have stated before, she may not be as technically gifted as Tarja Turunen, but the sound of her voice fits Nightwish so much better. Regarding her performance last night, it was great 95% of the time since she demonstrated a great sense of melody, and knew when she needed to sing and scream at all times. The only drawbacks occurred during the few ocassions when she tried to impersonate Ronnie James Dio, Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, i.e. try to hit “the note of all notes.” However, she’ll most likely realize this and stop it as the current tour winds down, and I have no doubt in my mind that she will sound flawless on future tours. Last but not least, it was great to see everyone in the sold out Roseland Theater cheer for her, and show her nothing but the utmost respect since she truly deserves it.

With that, I must say that Nightwish is without a doubt one of the best live bands in all of metal, and I hope that anyone who wants to see them will get to soon.

Last but not least, here’s the set list in order:

“Bye Bye, Beautiful” (Dark Passion Play)
“Amaranth” (Dark Passion Play)
“Dark Chest of Wonders” (Once)
“Ever Dream” (Century Child)
“Whoever Brings the Night” (Dark Passion Play)
“The Islander” (Dark Passion Play)
“The Poet & the Pendulum” (Dark Passion Play)
“Sahara” (Dark Passion Play)
“Sleeping Sun” (Oceanborn)
“Nemo” (Once)
“Seven Days to the Wolves” (Dark Passion Play)
“I Wish I Had an Angel” (Once)

Band:Nightwish Album:Dark Passion Play Record Company:Roadrunner Records Writer: Eric "CFH" Johnson Media: Slaying the Dreamer (Live, 2007, w/Anette Olzon) Click Album Cover To Buy Now

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