Venue: Palasport / Pordenone / Italy
Concert date: 31.03.2009
Attendance: 3
Ticket price: 35,00€ / 40,25€
Pordenone or Zagreb? Does it matter? Nope. As long as they’re close! Nightwish – Finnish symphonic metallers! This time the Nightwish show went down at the Palasport hall, which holds roughly 4,000 people. By the time we got there at 5 p.m., a pretty good bunch of people was already waiting outside the entrance doors to claim the front lines for partying with their metal gods. Still, the show was nowhere near sold out. Only a good 2,000 or so people showed up. The doors were supposed to open at 7 p.m., but because of technical problems with one of the support acts, they didn’t open until 8 p.m. Before Nightwish, three support bands warmed up the crowd: Indica, Pain and Volbeat.
| INDICA: |
The band from Finland, formed in 2002, is made up of 5 charming ladies: lead vocalist Jonsu, who besides singing plays guitar and violin, Heini on vocals and bass, Sirrku on vocals and keyboards, Jenny on guitar and Laura on drums. The girls play a light version of seductively melodic hard rock that likes to dip into pop vibes. For the opening warm-up they gave us five tracks from their fresh album “Valoissa”, which is already their fourth. The crowd took the band in with open arms, especially the stronger sex. Sadly, I have to say the looks aren’t matched by the vocal delivery, which lags slightly behind everything else about Indica, and the “cover” of Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush really knocked the bottom out of the barrel. Jonsu should never, ever have gone there!
| PAIN: |
The Swedish industrial metallers, formed in 1996 under the command of mastermind and driving force Peter Tägtgren, a musical visionary and mentor to many Scandinavian bands across different genres of heavy metal, took the stage second. Before Pain, Peter led the death metallers Hypocrisy, but he left them that same year and founded Pain, which he once described like this: “The biggest fucking band in the genre!” The main reason for leaving Hypocrisy was that he wanted to experiment with other genres on the metal scene too. The other members of Pain, besides the vocally “irritable” Peter, are David Wallin (drums), Michael Bohlin (guitar) and Johan Husgafvel (bass). At yesterday’s show they served up a set list of seven songs from their latest album “Cynic Paradise”, plus a few older tracks from earlier albums. The crowd got properly warmed up and gave them a great reception. Despite having terrorized Europe in February on a headlining tour, accompanied by Brother Firetribe (the band of Nightwish guitarist Emppu Vuorinen), after a performance like that you can’t help but drool, and you really do wish to see Pain again as soon as possible at their own headline show!!!
| VOLBEAT: |
Volbeat are a kind of mix of fusion, heavy metal and rockabilly, coming from Denmark. They formed in 2001. The band is made up of vocalist and guitarist Michael Poulsen, guitarist Thomas Bredahl, bassist Anders Kjolholm and Jon Larsen on drums. So far the band has released three studio albums and the DVD Sold Out. At yesterday’s show they unleashed a real dose of energy that brought the crowd almost to its peak, because the real peak was reserved for Nightwish that day. Volbeat, who showed up with a headlining tour of their own completely by coincidence at the same time as Nightwish in Italy, took on the role of support act for just two shows (Pordenone, Mantua), after a prior agreement between the two bands’ managements. On this tour the band promotes their studio album “Guitar Gangsters And Cadillac Blood”, released last year, and they gave us six songs in total, along with some lovely memories of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, so thanks to them for that.
| NIGHTWISH: |
What is there even left to write about one of the most popular, if not the most popular, bands in symphonic gothic power metal, other than that Tarja Turunen is Nightwish’s past and Anette Olzon is their bright future? And I mean that literally! Anyone who truly loves Nightwish, led by the fantastic Tuomas, with virtuosos Emppu on guitar and Marco on bass and the excellent Jukka on drums, could settle in without any reservations on the cushions of a proper musical and visual party! And that eternally grumpy, polarized bunch of “fans” with their doubts about what Nightwish are without Tarja? Who cares about them? They stayed home where it’s warm and once again missed out big time. With their extraordinary popularity and the “Dark Passion Play” tour, which has been going for more than two years and has no plans to stop anytime soon, since it keeps faithfully bringing in the money, Nightwish today are a kind of “gods” on the throne of the whole worldwide gothic power metal community.
The Nightwish show consisted of fifteen songs in total, plus of course an intro and an outro. The intro especially, a duet, is pulled off fantastically, with Tuomas on keyboards and the special guest on tour with Nightwish, Scottish musician Troy Donockley (whistles, pipes), conjuring a magical pulse in an instant. The latter joined the band on stage again when they got to The Islander and Last of the Wilds.
The show kicks off with the energetic pair 7 Days to the wolves and Dead to the world. The fans go delirious and melt into the band, the whole hall sings along, and Nightwish simply carry us away with songs like Nemo, Sahara and Dark Chest of Wonders, where the first part of the show ends. The coquettish princess Anette came across vocally as haughty, confident and firmly commanding. Interestingly, during the show she never tried to cast herself in a role that would pull all the attention onto her, but came across as in sync the whole time and as an equal member of the Nightwish quintet. Good thing she didn’t let herself try anything like that, because the wounds Tarja left in the band are obviously still way too fresh.
Tuomas, who was placed on stage in an improvised boat for the occasion, matching the theme of the “Dark Passion Play” record, was visibly sweating buckets as he headbanged with total commitment and stubbornly leaned on his keyboards, while Marco and Emppu pulled off a few energetic swings from left to right during the show and, with gestures and cheeky grins flashing their pearly whites, fired up the crowd devilishly all the way through. The band won us over with a high level of professionalism and incredible stage chemistry and coordination, which on the current marathon-long tour they can practically do with their eyes closed. With Dark Chest Of Wonders the regular part of the show ended, passing somehow too quickly, and darkness fell over the hall.
Loud cries from the crowd follow, and Nightwish come back with two more songs. Ghost Love Score and, for the big finale, the obligatory Wish I Had An Angel, which heated the Palasport hall irreversibly up to the heavens. And so, after an hour and 40 minutes, an unforgettable evening with Nightwish came to a close, the kind we’d like to see a lot more of! All that was left was one closing thought: “Zagreb, here we come!”
all photos: Jure Frelih except photos nos. 19 – 21: Robi Lipej
Setlist
INDICA: 1. Intro 2. Elä 3. Siren Song 4. Ikuinen virta 5. Wuthering Heights 6. Pahinta tänään PAIN: 1. I’m Going In 2. Zombie Slam 3. End Of The Line 4. Just Hate Me 5. Same Old Song 6. Follow Me 7. Shout Your Mouth NIGHTWISH: 1. Intro 2. 7 Days To The Wolves 3. Dead To The World 4. The Siren 5. Amaranth 6. Romanticide 7. Dead Boy’s Poem 8. The Poet And The Pendulum 9. Nemo 10. Sahara 11. The Islander 12. Last Of The Wilds 13. The Escapist 14. Dark Chest Of Wonders —encore— 15. Ghost Love Score 16. Wish I Had An Angel 17. Outro
Photo gallery
