Nightwish / Pain
27 March 2008
London Astoria


Contrary to the timings posted outside the Astoria, due to the later club, Pain hit the stage 30 minutes early. Fortunately we were there in time to see them, though it seemed they had caught the Astoria crowd cold, such was the dead reaction to opener Same Old Song. Imploring, “Come on London, I think you know this one”, mainman Peter Tägtgren led Pain into their cover of the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby, with the line “Look at all the lonely people” particularly apt.

The introductory beeps of End Of The Line finally raised some response, as Tägtgren bounded around, kitted out in three-quarter length trousers, crimson shirt and black tie. Whilst Tägtgren was clearly the centre of attention, guitarist René Sebastian and bassist Johan Husgafvel filled out the stage, constantly swapping sides.

Whilst Pain sounded good, there seemed to be a spark missing from their performance and Tägtgren’s description of David Wallin as the “World’s most hungover drummer” could go some way to explaining the state of the band. However, this was obviously Nightwish’s crowd and aside from a few pockets of Pain fans, the bulk here seemed disinterested or unknowing of who Pain were. It’s a fact that Tägtgren has not paid a great deal of attention to the UK with Pain, or his other band Hypocrisy, and hence whilst the response is disappointing it’s not unexpected.

Pain set list:
Same Old Song / Eleanor Rigby / End of the Line / Zombie Slam / Nailed to the Ground / Just Hate Me / On and On / Shut Your Mouth


For those here who hadn’t attended the two previous nights, tonight was a first opportunity to experience Nightwish with new singer Anette Olzon. Opening fittingly with the song that says Bye, Bye Beautiful to former singer Tarja Turunen, Anette took more of a back seat role with bassist Marco Hietala’s voice more heavily featured. Dark Chest Of Wonders however put Anette firmly in the spotlight and my initial feeling was that it was “different”. Obviously Tarja’s vocal was from an operatic background, therefore hearing a more “normal” vocal on this song was always going to need some adjustment. What Anette immediately did bring was some life as she strode around the stage encouraging the crowd to clap and shout “hey, hey, hey”.

Personally my preference is for the less operatic style and Dark Passion Play is my favourite album Nightwish have put out. It’s therefore not a disappointment that over half the set is drawn from that album and it was on these songs that Anette showed her real strength. The very catchy Amaranth went down well with the crowd, but it was the epic The Poet & The Pendulum which formed the centrepiece of the set. Here the vocal trade-off between Anette and Hietala worked to its best and the overall feeling was that Nightwish are a much more solidified unit now.

Bathed in green light, Tuomas Holopainen’s keyboard introduced the oldest song of the night, Sacrament of Wilderness from the 1998 Oceanborn album, powered along by the speedy drumming of Jukka Nevalainen. Then, seated on stools, the band were joined by Troy Donockley, complete with whistle and uilleann pipes, for renditions of The Islander and instrumental Last Of The Wilds, which went down a storm.

Anette returned and got the now warmed up crowd throwing horns in the air as Sahara followed. Taking the spotlight, Anette’s voice on the older material was feeling more comfortable as an excellent rendition of Nemo followed.

Returning for the encore, with his shirt undone, Tuomas Holopainen resembled Jack Sparrow and indeed he had a doll of the pirate on his keyboards. Seven Days To The Wolves made its first appearance at the London shows with Anette stood atop Nevalainen’s drum riser. Wishmaster and Wish I Had An Angel brought the evening and London residency to a close.

Overall, this was probably my favourite Nightwish gig I have attended and a performance of this standard should work very well when the band close Bloodstock Open Air in the summer.

Nightwish set list:
Bye, Bye Beautiful / Dark Chest of Wonders / Whoever Brings The Night / The Siren / Amaranth / The Poet and the Pendulum / Sacrament of Wilderness / The Islander (with Troy Donockley) / Last of The Wilds (with Troy Donockley) / Sahara / Nemo / 7 Days To The Wolves / Wishmaster / Wish I Had An Angel

LINKS:
Nightwish
Pain