Article by Sophie Moore
After what seemed like an eternity's wait (well, an hour and a half actually) the lights finally dimmed over a packed Nottingham Rock City and the screams from the crowd, who filled the floor, spread up the stairs and across the balcony raised the roof as members of Finnish band Nightwish took the stage.
The room filled with smoke and the floor began to shake as without a word the band blasted into opener Dark Chest of Wonders taken from current album Once. Jaws hung low as singer Tarja Turunen wowed them with her awesome classical vocals; already the crowd could tell this was going to be a storming show.
After a quick welcome the band flew into another number from Once, Planet Hell, now teaming the male vocal skill of blonde haired bassist Marco Hietala, who's stage presence was already glowing. The Devil Horns were held strong and firm and security by the looks of things couldn't make sense of what they were hearing! No intro. as the band went Old Skool with Wishmaster classic She Is My Sin, already we can see this band need little crowd interaction between songs and the audience are lapping them up like a dog with water on a hot day! Introduced by Marco as a “spooky song” the band begins their version of classical Phantom of the Opera. The room filled with smoke as keyboardist and founding member Tuomas Holopainen started playing the intro. the crowd went wild and the room filled with music as both singers began their duet with Tarja pulling off the ending as perfect as on record. Afterwards Marco began entertaining the crowd with his talk of hotel rooms and English “Tele”. Then again without intro, blasted into another song off the Century Child record End of All Hope, which went down a treat with the crowd.
Tarja then stated they were now going to play their “first ever real single”, everybody went crazy as Tuomas started playing the introduction to Nemo, the bands first commercial effort in England. Guitarist Emppu Vuorinen stormed through the solo with a lot of show man-ship and the audience went crazy for him as he ran from one end of the stage to the other loosing many of his plectrums to people in the crowd throughout the whole gig. Time for calm, peace and a chance for Tarja once again to turn the audience into a bunch of speechless fools as they wowed us all with Sleeping Sun, this song involving a lot of light effects just to add atmosphere. Tarja then left the stage as Marco informed us that she was off on a break to “reapply her make – up”.
With only the men left they blasted into an amazing cover of Symphony of Destruction by Megadeath. The keyboard effect in this song was excellent adding a real edge and left a lot of the older people in the room feeling rather happy. Tarja came back on stage as drummer Jukka Nevalainen pounded into Bless the Child. With the crowd still going strong they took another break for calm as they began the epic Higher Than Hope taken again from the Once album. After giving half the room goose bumps the band flew into the song that everybody has been waiting for all night Wishmaster, the albums title track. As soon as the intro began more devil horns flew towards the ceiling and everybody began to sing along with all their might, people jumped, screamed and went completely crazy as the opening chorus was being sung.
The band looking almost as excited as the rest of us then went into another fan favourite, a cover of Gary Moore's Over The Hills and Far Away. Tarja bounced around the stage like a crazy woman, encouraging the crowd to sing along with her, and sing along they did. The lights then went up and the band left the stage. The crowd wasn't having any of it and before they had even fully disappeared a Nightwish chant began and people were begging for more. Much to the crowds delight they came back for an encore. The lights got darker and the effects died leaving the stage looking plain and simple. Tuomas then began the introduction to Dead Boys Poem, this getting little response from the crowd, maybe out of respect for Tuomas, as it's well known to be a very personal song that he has wrote. As the band got half way through this song they decided to surprise the crowd and out of nowhere they began playing a much more heavier track Slaying The Dreamer taken from the last release Century Child. This got the whole crowd going and there was a sea of hair as everybody began head banging from the front all the way to the back, again the devil horns were held high and it was time for good old fashioned rock.
They then introduced their final song for the night Wish I Had an Angel. Everybody in the room went insane and the people at the front struggled for breath as all at once the crowd began to jump. You could hear the feet hitting the ground over the music and it felt like an earth quake had hit as everything began to shake through all the movement. The band then all took centre stage and ended the show with a bow every one of them looking moved with emotion, especially Tuomas who stayed onstage longer than anybody else, scanning his eyes around the room seemingly unable to believe that this was the outcome of something he had created. He looked as if he could cry and cry he certainly should of done. The happiness he had brought to many people that night was unreal and the show he brought all the way from his home country was more amazing then anybody had expected. Every person left the room in awe, as they recalled the best songs from the night and then crowed into the streets of Nottingham which will never again be the same.
