Article by Dave
It's 4:30pm and the linear sea of band shirts is already beginning to snake
its way into Soho Square. Some fans have been here since as early as 8am
and it comes as no surprise to learn that the venue has sold out. Nightwish
are back in town and the stakes are high, with a sprinkling of long term
fans to keep impressed and many hundreds of new listeners to win over. Can they keep everyone happy?
It would be impossible not to compare tonight's show with last years sold
out gig at the Mean Fiddler. Most notably, the crowd this year is worlds apart from the plethora of long haired Frenchmen who seemed to make up most of the
audience at the 2003 date. Nightwish may have matured greatly over the past
two albums, however the average age of their UK fanbase appears to have
halved in the same time. This isn't a criticism, infact it is a great
compliment to the band that they have won over the affections of Britain 's
youth. However, it is something that some older fans may find hard to
swallow.
While tonight may be all about Nightwish, Brainstorm are the first band to
take to the stage in a rapidly filling Astoria . Initially met with
indifference, by the end of opener ‘Shivas Tears' the band are basking in the
rapturous response being poured on them by the crowd. Clearly enjoying
themselves, they give 100% throughout the set and seem genuinely overjoyed
to be here. Vocalist, Andy B. Franck is note perfect throughout, even hitting the
highest of notes. Brainstorm will have won a small army of fans this
evening, here's hoping it brings them back to these shores soon.
By the time the lights dim for a second time, the sweat is dripping from
the walls of tonight's packed Astoria , it is absolutely sweltering. As the
intro tape begins to waft from the PA however, all discomfort is forgotten.
The band walk onto the stage one by one, each to thunderous applause and
ear piercing screams from the female fans, the atmosphere is electric. It
came as rather a disappointment then when the intro to 'Dark Chest of
Wonders', one of the standout racks on 'Once' lead into nothing more than
a muddy mix of bass and drums. At this early stage in the set, the
keyboards, guitars and backing tape were inaudible with Tarja's voice only
just breaking free of iron grasp the low end seemed to have taken on the
sound. 'Planet Hell' suffered from similar problems, although by this stage
we were beginning to see gradual improvements. It wasn't until third track,
'She Is My Sin' that the guitars of Emppu Vuorien began to infiltrate the
ears of the crowd and the keyboards finally began to waft through the air
and until the controversially early airing of cover, 'Phantom of the Opera' that things appeared fully back on track.
Such gremlins are rarely the fault of those onstage however, and throughout
these opening tracks the band put every last bit of effort into putting on
a great show and the crowd were lapping it up. The response to the opening
two tracks from 'Once' was thunderous, although the crowd appeared somewhat
sedate for 'She is My Sin', a trend which would continue for all earlier
material aired this evening. The fact that the biggest response of the
night was reserved for 'Nemo', a mid tempo track, light years away from
being the bands finest moment, confirms the suspicions of many older fans
that tonight's audience is here for the 'Once' material and that alone.
Certainly this was disappointing, and probably an unusual sight for the
band to see only a few mouths shouting out the worlds 'Master! Apprentice!
Heartburn, seventh seeker!' towards the end of the set.
Regardless of the crowds muted response, the band continues to give its
all, with ten times the enthusiasm and passion of most other bands to have
graced the Astoria in recent years. One thing Nightwish have been getting
right for years now is genuinely making it feel as if they are playing to
the crowd, rather than at them. Their connection with the crowd is still unrivalled, even if banter in between tonight's songs is kept to a minimum tonight. Both Marco and Tarja do express gratitude in between the songs however, with Marco, as usual taking great pride when he takes up the helm of the band for their cover of ‘Symphony of Destruction'.
‘Bless the Child' and ‘Ever Dream' prove popular choices to fly the flag for ‘Century Child', both benefiting from the added punch injected when played live. The quieter numbers this evening are (predictably) ‘Sleeping Sun' and ‘Higher than Hope', a bizarre choice considering this is clearly one of the very weakest moments of ‘Once'. The band are soon back up to speed however with closing numbers ‘Wishmaster' and crowd favourite ‘Over the Hills and Far Away'.
After a very short interval, the band returns to the stage and begin to strum the first notes of ‘Dead Boy's Poem', a much missed number on their 2003 tour. Unfortunately, the crowd response is once again not quite what you would have expected for such a long-time ‘fans favourite' however no one can resist going wild for closing due ‘Slaying the Dreamer' and sing-along classic ‘Wish I Had An Angel'.
Tonight's show has proved a lot. Nightwish are a force to be reckoned with, even in a country where they once thought there was no market for their music. However, it seems that despite selling out, this show it is more of an interim measure. Perhaps the calm before the storm as the band go on to achieve greater things on this little island. The real test will be when the band returns to the UK in February, will they be greeted by the same lukewarm reaction or is their new found fanbase in it for the long term? Only time will tell.
