Performers: Serpentyne, Temperance, Tarja Turunen
Location: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / Slovenia
Date: Friday, 3 March 2023
Tarja Turunen, one of the most impressive and genuinely standout heavy metal vocalists of our time — a soprano with a range of three and a half octaves — has, as Tarja, conquered the Slovenian capital for the third time (visits to Tolmin and Rock Otočec don’t count). Not just visited — conquered. We can say that right up front. This was, in fact, Tarja’s fourth visit to Ljubljana overall. She first performed here in 2005 with Nightwish (at Križanke), then a second time in 2009 (already as Tarja), also at Križanke. Her third time was in 2012, when she already played CUK Kino Šiška. Feels like yesterday. Not a trace of the feeling that a good eleven years had passed since her last visit. A long concert evening was in store. The audience trickled in late, the venue filling up slowly — which just showed that the main draw, first and foremost, was of course Tarja.
First up were London’s British symphonic folk and ‘medieval’ (power) metallers Serpentyne. In the half-hour slot they had, they ran through material from their last two albums, “The Serpent’s Kiss” and “Angels Of The Night”. Highly melodic choruses backed by a double barrage of guitar phrasework, centred on the vocals of the impeccably turned-out Maggie Beth Sand — a woman who could have seduced Henry VIII himself — delivered solid competence and real assurance. Pomp and theatre reaching for mystique. Musically nothing you haven’t heard before, but for fans of medieval tricks and Celtic melody woven into a metal foundation, exactly the kind of content they came for.
When Italian melodic power metallers Temperance took the stage, again the whole scene, the backdrop, the vibe and the execution didn’t quite deliver the feeling of a band bringing something to the metal community that you haven’t already heard. But they absolutely won the crowd over with heart and commitment. They did lift the atmosphere by at least a notch or two, helped largely by much higher stage energy — the band packs both male and female vocals, and wherever possible guitarist Marco Pastorino jumps in with lead vocals too. At times the band operates with three lead vocalists at once — something their a cappella exit from the set also confirmed nicely. The upbeat, brilliantly enthusiastic Italian sextet poured enormous energy into every moment and kept the crowd hooked with all kinds of crowd-work tricks. They were hugely likeable throughout, and when guitarist Marco Pastorino slipped up just before leaving the stage — thanking the crowd with “Thank you Slovekia… Slovenia.” — they even managed to leave an impression of adorable confusion. But they played brilliantly. With both vocalists clearly dominating and the well-matched contrast of their interplay, Temperance impressed with tight cohesion and real musical punch. Before hitting the road, the band had been thrown into an awkward spot when half the lineup (the half that recorded their current album “Diamanti” from 2021) walked out, but Temperance clearly managed to sort things out in time, save the tour, and show up in Ljubljana in a revamped lineup as a cohesive, confident unit. They called in American singer Kristina Starkey (who’d performed at Orto bar in early February as a backing vocalist for Twilight Force), and she slotted in brilliantly alongside her Italian bandmates — her excellent voice perfectly complemented by the explosive power of vocalist Gabriele Gozzi (Eternal Idol)! The pair, especially in the highest registers at full power, literally shook the walls of the venue. After wrapping up the tour with Tarja, Temperance head out on their own headline run at the end of March, with a stop in Maribor on 28 March 2023 as well (check the dates!)
Then came the final act of the evening — the one the whole crowd had been waiting for — and the Kino Šiška venue finally filled up properly with around 500–600 people. Tarja Turunen‘s set once again confirmed that Tarja is simply one of a kind. Tarja is Tarja. In (symphonic) power metal, no other vocalist comes close. At the same time, the evening brought a renewed reminder — not least that Nightwish without Tarja simply cannot reach the same signature impact they had with her in the lineup. Without Tarja, Nightwish are a fundamentally different musical proposition. Sure, that’s all ancient history — but watching Tarja Turunen perform forces those thoughts to the surface all on their own.
Tarja was joined on stage that evening by three long-standing members of her backing band: Alex Scholpp (guitar), Christian Kretschmar (keyboards), and cellist Max Lilja, well known to Apocalyptica fans. Bass duties weren’t handled by Doug Wimbish (Living Colour) or Kevin Chown (who played with Tarja in Ljubljana in 2012), but rather — compared to those two well-known names — the less-heralded Ralf Botzenhart (Farmer Boys, Dacia & The Weapons of Mass Destruction), while the drummer’s slot for this tour went to Alex Menichini (Stereo.Pilot, Dacia & The Weapons of Mass Destruction). Given that Scholpp has worked with both Farmer Boys and Dacia & The Weapons of Mass Destruction, it’s quite likely he was the one who recommended the bassist and drummer to Tarja for this current tour, which also brought her to Slovenia.
So. A Tarja concert is always worth your time. Always. Even on this tour, where she’s presenting her latest studio album “In The Raw” (2019). Her charisma is extraordinary. A classically trained opera singer, an outstanding mezzo-soprano! This show proved that the years simply don’t touch her. Her vocal bravura — the sheer range of characters and colours she inhabits — is virtually impossible to pin down. That evening the singer was in an incredibly bright, exuberant mood. She stoked the crowd throughout — not just with the magnetic pull of her stage presence that routine would demand, but with the sharpness of her gaze and a constant flow of smiles. And for anyone who wants to purely immerse themselves in vocal performances and tends to focus at concerts mostly on the range and craft of the vocalist, a show like this is simply unmissable.
The setlist leaned heavily on Tarja’s sixth and seventh studio albums, “The Shadow Self” and the most recent “In The Raw” (2019), which together accounted for a full two-thirds of all the songs played. The crowd naturally expected at least one Nightwish classic from the era when Tarja sang with them — she is, after all, a co-founder of the Finnish symphonic power metal sensation. The band went with the Nightwish classic Nemo, even though this writer quietly hoped for the pompous march of Wishmaster, which Tarja had been playing on the February dates of the current tour. And if not before, then certainly during Nemo you got the unambiguous confirmation that only Tarja’s voice can truly conjure the magic of the classic Nightwish era.
The hour-and-three-quarter set flew by in the blink of an eye. The band: professional, seasoned, tight, and in execution frankly optimal. Tarja’s return to Ljubljana confirmed that as a performer she continues to mature, and that her impenetrable vocal performance remains a source of compelling fascination — one that stuns the listener, fills them with awe, and stirs even the deepest emotions. With undiminished, if anything even greater intensity! Exactly what you come to her shows for.
Text: Aleš Podbrežnik & Edita Klemen
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik (1-39) & Edita Klemen (40-42)
Serpentyne setlist:
1. Away from the World
2. Spirits of the Desert
3. Helen of Troy
4. Seance
5. Angel of the Night
Temperance setlist:
1. Pure Life Unfolds
2. Breaking the Rules of Heavy Metal
3. Start Another Round
4. The Last Hope in a World of Hopes
5. Diamanti
6. Of Jupiter and Moons
7. Catch the Dream
Tarja setlist:
1. Serene
2. Demons in You
3. My Little Phoenix
4. Anteroom of Death
5. Diva
6. Goodbye Stranger
7. Silent Masquerade
8. Nemo
9. The Golden Chamber (Loputon Yö) / You and I
10. Undertaker
11. Tears in Rain
12. Victim of Ritual
—encore—
13. Innocence
14. I Walk Alone
15. Dead Promises
16. Until My Last Breath
