Nightwish - Birmingham Review

Around ten years ago, the Finnish symphonic band Nightwish were one of my very favourite bands. While I certainly do not listen to their albums as often as I did back then, I am still a very big fan of their work and I think that they are one of the most create and enduring 'mainstream' metal acts of recent times. It seems strange to label Nightwish as a mainstream band, but over the past few years their stock has really started to rise here in the UK. In 2015 they sold out a one-off show at the Wembley Arena in London, which I was at, and earlier this year they headlined the Sunday at Bloodstock Open Air and put on a show that just about blew everyone else away! Because I was seeing the band at Bloodstock, I had originally opted to not purchase tickets for one of their three UK shows this year. However, as soon as I got home from festival I knew that I had to see them again as soon as possible, so opted to buy a ticket for the Birmingham show as it somewhat fitted nicely into some plans that I already had. I was initially surprised by the band's choice to schedule three arena shows in the UK, but it seems that their decision has paid off. Pictures from the Wembley show reveal that that venue was once again close to selling out, and there was a large crowd packed into the Arena Birmingham on Monday night. While the venue was not close to selling out, as there were still a fair amount of empty seats around, there were still a lot of people crammed into the venue! With the doors opening at 6pm, and the support band not on until 7:30pm, lots of people made their leisurely way to the venue. This meant that when I got to the venue at just after 6pm there were not too many people already through the doors. This meant that I could walk down to the front, and found myself a couple of rows from the barrier - a position I held for the entire show. Being near the front at an arena show is a rare occurrence for me, so I enjoyed the experience and was extremely grateful that the people around me were well behaved and not constantly pushing back and forward to the bar!

Support came from the Finnish power metal act Beast in Black, who I had seen earlier the year in London supporting Rhapsody. I had enjoyed the band then, but I enjoyed them even more this time around as I have had a chance to get into the band's only album Berserker in the meantime. The band only had around 45 minutes on stage, but they made it count with a powerful set that seemed to engage large portions of the crowd and I am sure that they would have made a few new fans. They opened with their self-titled song, and moved through eight more anthemic pieces of power metal that all struck a chord one way or another. Early highlights were the strident Blood of a Lion, which filled the room with keyboard melodies an anthemic chorus, and the heavier The Fifth Angel which allowed frontman Yannis Papadopoulos to showcase the tougher side of his voice. Papadopoulos has a serious vocal range, and unleashed lots of powerful high-pitched screams throughout the night. He was ably assisted vocally by bandleader Anton Kabanen (guitar/vocals) who also took the lion's share of the guitar solos. He was standing in front of me for most of the night so it was great seeing him tearing up the fret-board. The crowd seemed to get more and more into the show as time passed, with the groovy Crazy, Mad, Insane proving to be a bit of a hit, before the single Blind and Frozen whipped up some more energy. Beast in Black's powerful set came to an end with the heavier End of the World which certainly seemed to go down well, and the band seemed pleased with the crowd's overall response to their set. The setlist was:

Beast in Black
Eternal Fire
Blood of a Lion
The Fifth Angel
Born Again
Ghost in the Rain
Crazy, Mad, Insane
Blind and Frozen
End of the World

Nightwish have been perfecting putting on a stunning show for many years now, but this one opened in a much more gentle fashion than usual as Troy Donockley (vocals/guitar/bouzouki/uilleann pipes/whistles) took to the stage alone to play an instrumental version of the oldie Swanheart. This worked well to ease the crowd into what was over a two hour set, packed with classic numbers and rarely-played deep cuts from throughout the band's twenty year history, which exploded properly with Dark Chest of Wonders. There were fire and explosions aplenty from the start, and when frontwoman Floor Jansen took to the stage the place erupted with cheers. Nightwish singers have come and gone, but Jansen is clearly a real fan-favourite now. Her extremely versatile voice makes her the perfect choice to cover the band's many eras, and this was on display early on with the anthemic rock of Wish I Had an Angel and the gentle pseudo-classical ballad Come Cover Me. An early highlight for me was the bombastic power metal of Gethsemane which featured lots of lead guitar flurries from Emppu Vuorinen and melodic duels between him and Tuomas Holopainen (keyboards). This current tour has been showcasing some of the band's lesser-played songs, which meant the crowd were treated to excellent renditions of songs like Dead Boy's Poem and Elvenpath. The former was packed with emotionally-charged guitar playing and a glorious vocal display, whereas the latter showcased the band's somewhat primitive early sound and allowed drummer Kai Hahto to lay into his double bass drums and Holopainen to crack out some old-school synth patches!

There was still plenty of time for some more well-known songs too, with the newer classic I Want My Tears Back allowing bassist Marco Hietala a chance to shine vocally, and Donockley cracked out his uilleann pipes for the folky instrumental mid-section. Donockley has been a big asset to the band since becoming a full-time member a few years ago, and his skills were further used during The Carpenter where he sang the lead vocal lines originally performed by Holopainen. It is fair to say that The Carpenter is not one of the band's best songs, but it was fun hearing it live after all these years - and Donockley is a much better singer than Holopainen ever was! Hietala's voice has often been a big part of the Nightwish sound too, and he had a chance to tackle Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean late on and turned in a fantastic display. It is another one of the band's bombastic early numbers, but with a much darker edge than many of the others. The last portion of the set was made up of some more well-known pieces, but the true highlight was the last half an hour or so of the show which was made up of just two songs: The Greatest Show on Earth and Ghost Love Score. The former is one of the band's most complex pieces, and really brought the best out of the six people on stage. From Holopainen's classical piano intro to the huge vocal ending, the piece just reeked with class and it was rightly greeted with huge cheers. Ghost Love Score is more of a fan favourite, but it still impresses live and is a real showcase for Jansen and her vocal skills. The wordless operatic section is spine-tingling, and the climatic ending brought huge cheers. The last portion of The Greatest Show on Earth then played over the PA to fade the evening out, and the band took their bows as it did. It was clear by this point that the evening had been a big success and the large Birmingham crowd was going to leave happy! The setlist was:

Swanheart
Dark Chest of Wonders
Wish I Had an Angel
10th Man Down
Come Cover Me
Gethsemane
Élan

Sacrament of Wilderness

Dead Boy's Poem

Elvenjig [Traditional folk song]

Elvenpath

I Want My Tears Back

Last Ride of the Day

The Carpenter 

The Kinslayer

Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean

Nemo

Slaying the Dreamer

The Greatest Show on Earth - Parts I-III

Ghost Love Score

The Greatest Show on Earth - Parts IV-V

Nightwish always put on a stunning show, but this one was one of the best of theirs that I have seen. It certainly wipes memories of their O2 Academy gig in the city from 2012 from my mind, as I was feeling very ill through the set and did not really enjoy it in the way that I should have! This arena show gives me a good Nightwish memory to remember in Birmingham, and I am already looking forward to the band's next tour.