Nightwish / Brainstorm
16 July 2004
The Astoria, London


Brainstorm put on one of the best performances at Sweden Rock this year and in my review I pleaded that they should come over to England and my wish was very quickly fulfilled. It`s a shame they were only playing the London date as the warm response tonight would no doubt have been echoed around the country.

As is usual at The Astoria, the majority of people were still queuing when Brainstorm opened their set with Shiva`s Tears, but at least there was a good few people in and the crowd swelled throughout their 45 minute set.

Andy B. Franck was immediately stalking the stage and working the crowd. At the first break in songs he asked to see the audience`s hands and was visibly chuffed with the sea of devil horns in front of him.

The thunderous drumming of Dieter Bernert led us through Blind Suffering, before the scything guitars of Torsten Ihlenfeld and Milan Loncaric tore through the Doorway to Survive. Backing tapes provided the orchestration for both Hollow Hideaway from the Metus Mortis album and later Highs Without Lows from Soul Temptation.

The stand out tracks of the set were the back to back Fornever, with it`s chorus highly reminiscent of early Vicious Rumors, and The Leading, for which Franck`s spent most of the song in the photographers pit. The latter song also showcased Franck`s range, hitting the high screams in the chorus.

The anthemic Under Lights closed the set. Mid song the band took the music down for a sing a long and the volume of the first crowd response saw Ihlenfeld, Loncaric and bassist Andreas Mailänder all looking up from their instruments in complete shock. Franck`s parting comment from the stage was an honest "This is far beyond what we expected!".

Brainstorm set list:
Shivas Tears / Blind Suffering / Doorway to Survive / Hollow Hideaway / Fornever / The Leading / Highs without Lows / Under Lights


A great live performance can really seal your liking of a band, but the opposite can also be true. My first experience of Nightwish was on the last day of Wacken 2000. I was tired hungry and all I remember was being annoyed by Tarja Turunen`s operatic singing from which they seemed like no escape. As a result I found I just didn`t listen to their albums for some time.

Wind forward to late last year and Nightwish were confirmed for Sweden Rock. Having dug out the albums again I suddenly started to wonder why I hadn`t been listening to them. However, when the day finally arrived, Nightwish took the stage and the heaven`s opened in spectacular fashion causing us to seek shelter.

Then two days before tonight`s gig, I was on a flight to Frankfurt with my trusty i-pod and looking out across the clouds below whilst listening to Nightwish, the penny suddenly dropped, I really like Nightwish.

By the time Nightwish`s intro tape commenced the Astoria is both heaving and absolutely sweltering. As each member took their place on stage there was frenzied cheering from the crowd, until Dark Chest Of Wonders commenced and Tarja strode out onto the stage to an ecstatic response.

Wearing all black save for a long red coat, Tarja must officially have the longest legs in rock, though maybe that`s because she was stood next to the diminutive Erno Vuorinen. Erno manages to make himself look even smaller by standing practically doing the splits, legs akimbo in guitar god poses.

Tarja herself is all iconic poses and certainly knows how to use her sex appeal to full effect, whether interacting with the other band members or facing the drum riser in the instrumental sections teasingly rocking her rear. She is the obvious focal point of the band and aside from her obvious singing talent she is a very capable frontwomen.

Tarja of course isn`t the sole vocalist for Nightwish, with bassist Marco Hietala providing the contrasting male vocals. Second song Planet Hell sees him taking the lead and trading lines with Tarja. As is traditional to give Tarja a break mid set Marco gets his turn to sing a cover and tonight it`s Megadeth`s Symphony Of Destruction. The covers chosen, Crazy Train being the previous one, seem very different to Nightwish`s own symphonic metal and if the intention is that they are to feel like an intermission then their choice is successful.

Having only ever seen Nightwish in the daylight previously, inside with the major benefit of lights, the white circular Once backdrop is much more effective tonight. The lights throughout the show in fact were very impressive, with Ever Dream bathed in psychedelic projections and Higher Than Hope swathed in atmospheric lighting.

It must be a Finnish design, as similar to Children Of Bodom, Tuomas Holopainen has a keyboard that tilts forward allowing him to show of his skills to the crowd. He also had a rather nifty wine bottle holder attached to his stand. Not that he had much time for drinking, Tumoas must have been the busiest member of the band as all the symphonic embellishments were emanating from his bank of keyboards.

I couldn`t fault the choice of material tonight and unsurprisingly it`s the songs from Century Child and more specifically Once that get the best reaction from a crowd swelled by a lot of new fans. Some cheeky joker had brought in an inflatable Nemo from Finding Nemo which was tossed onto the stage during said song and spent the remainder of the set peering at us from the on stage monitors. The uplifting choral intro to Bless The Child also received a suitably enthusiastic response.

On concluding the main set with the Gary Moore cover Over The Hills & Far Away, the gap before the encore was mercifully short with fanatical calls for the bands return. Return they do with the epic Dead Boy`s Poem. Then it`s time to up the pace and to squeeze the last drops of energy out of the crowd with the back to back bounce along of Slaying The Dreamer and I Wish I Had An Angel.

Nightwish have clearly significantly moved up a major level in their UK profile and there have been a number of long term fans disappointed at perceiving that they are losing their band to a newer audience. On tonight`s performance Nightwish deserve their success, a lot of their new fans are no doubt here via Evanescence, but Nightwish have much more depth than that band and their more European metal edge will not doubt see some of the new fans experimenting with other bands and strengthen the scene.

Nightwish set list:
Dark Chest of Wonders / Planet Hell / She Is My Sin / Phantom Of The Opera / Everdream / Nemo / Sleeping Sun / Symphony of Destruction (Megadeth Cover) / Bless The Child / Higher Than Hope / Wishmaster / Over The Hills And Far Away / Dead Boys Poem / Slaying The Dreamer / Wish I Had An Angel