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Events and Reports - Nightwish - Live At Vega, Copenhagen - February 9th, 2005
Once has been one of the most stable CD's to enter my stereo since its release and I had been looking forward to seeing this great Finnish band live for the first time in quite a while.
After the obligatory all-you-can-eat pizza and plenty of accompanying beer we were on our way towards tonight's venue, having a capacity of 1500 people and been sold out for a long time, stressing the band's growing popularity in and out of the Metal milieu.
My biggest concern for tonight was how the band would transfer the orchestral efforts into a live setting, I have never been a fan of taped backgrounds but I think I would had been disappointed hearing a song like Ghost Love Score without it, so this was an insoluble dilemma and I think they chose the best way of doing it.
Copenhagen was the first gig of this tour and there was no lack of motivation when the band hammered into the phenomenal Dark Chest Of Wonders, swiftly to be followed by the aggressive Planet Hell featuring detailed guitar moves and huge key arrangements, the hall was already beginning to steam at this point.
Tarja beautifully lightened up the stage and gracefully performed Come Cover Me and with The Siren her voice had that fittingly mesmerising effect, this great song did immensely well live.
The Phantom Of The Opera and Pink Floyd's High Hopes were two interesting and well working surprises in the set. We also got the spectacular Bless The Child, a clear highlight of the evening being powerful, majestic and memorable. From the same album Slaying The Dreamer also kicked ass with intense drumming and Marco's raw voice and Tarja's falsetto in great harmony.
I didn't think Kuolema Tekee Taiteitijan was such a good idea to put into the set, at least not when considering what they could have picked out from earlier works. Tarja was left alone on stage to perform an all-Finnish song supported by taped background arrangements; it just became a bit static even though the mystic atmosphere was kept intact. The melodic hit that is Wishmaster worked out much better with huge sing along parts.
Nightwish has always been more about the eccentric keyboard drama than comprehensive guitar wizardry so I guess that explains why I felt Emppu was left a bit in the background, still laying the solid rhythm fundament.
It looked like the band enjoyed life on stage and they really gave it a lot of effort, the interacting with the fans was kept quite low but the musical delivery was very firm indeed. The main focus was justly on the actual songs and not so much on improvisations; I still think they could have brought some more instrumental arrangements to life to spicy things up a bit more.
The occasional split vocal duties worked well; Marco's voice isn't heavenly but has a cool hard profile that adds another layer to some of the tracks.
Nemo really got the audience moving and singing along, a great catchy tune with a massive bass delivery giving it a hard edge. The ballad Sleeping Sun allowed the crowd to relax a bit in the company of fantastic sedative key tunes and atmospheric singing.
The execution of Ghost Love Score was really spectacular and my mind just went into overdrive through this one, a spellbinding epic of dimensions. As the finale, the hard pounding Wish I Had An Angel was served to the great delight of the fans, a wise choice that was to leave a last striking impression.
This was a very good concert, lacking a few more songs from the earlier period and a more vivid stage presence but the execution of the songs and feeling of grandness in their music was comfortably captured.
Setlist:
Dark Chest Of Wonders
Planet Hell
Come Cover Me
The Kinslayer
The Siren
The Phantom Of The Opera
High Hopes
Bless The Child
Kuolema Tekee Taiteitijan
Wishmaster
Slaying The Dreamer
Nemo
Sleeping Sun
Ghost Love Score
Wish I Had An Angel
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Click images for a bigger version
All pictures taken by Tajs | Written by Tommy
Thursday, February 24, 2005 |
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RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by Mads J. (Anonymous) - Friday, February 25, 2005 | Nice review, Tommy. It was indeed a night to remember.
Must say I missed some tunes, especially from Oceanborn; Sacrament of Wilderness, Stargazers etc. but first and foremost my all-time fave, Astral Romance. Besides that a nice setlist...
But I must say I disagree concerning Emppu, to me he was truly the most spellbinding of the lot, which surprised me. He had an intruiging contact with people on the side where I was standing and he kept mesmerizing me throughout the entire show.
Nice surprise that the guys showed up at the afterparty and a very welcomed opportunity to shake hands with one of my personal heroes, Toumas...nice indeed :)
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| Comment by Steen (Staff) - Friday, February 25, 2005 | 
View Profile
Comments: 518 | | Great concert! Just wish it had been half an hour longer. I will always remember the moment at the afterparty when I bumped into Tuomas. I shook his hand and all I could think of saying was "Thank you for the music" which is the obvious Abba quote. He got this kind of amused look on his face and moved on quickly. You probably had to be there...
Posted by Steen (Staff)
Friday, February 25, 2005 |
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| Comment by Igor (Anonymous) - Friday, February 25, 2005 | Poor, poor setlist. I wish I knew why they tend to ignore Oceanborn material. Sleeping Sun? What about Stargazers (my personal favourite), Pharaoh, Sacrament... Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean perhaps? I saw them twice so far but I will surely re-consider seeing them with this kind of setlist.
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| Comment by Anders (Anonymous) - Friday, February 25, 2005 | I have to agree with most of the things said, I missed some songs from Oceanborn as well. Overall the concert did not live up to my expectations, but they were maybe also a bit too high. I think Tarja seemed a bit distant, and there was not much connection between her and the audience.
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| Comment by tdu (Anonymous) - Saturday, February 26, 2005 | ok
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| Comment by Steffen (Anonymous) - Sunday, March 6, 2005 | Sure it would have been nice with some more of the older tunes.. But after all, it was the "Once"-tour.
I don't have any complaints about the setlist. It was the greatest concert i have ever been to:D When they played High Hopes... That was just awesome!
I agree with Mads j. that Emppu was the coolest on stage:)
Too bad i missed them at the afterparty. I went home about a half an hour before they showed up:(
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| Comment by Thrainn Arni Baldvinsson (Anonymous) - Monday, March 7, 2005 | Good article. I liked this show a lot. This was my first Nightwish concert and I loved every minute of it. I think that Kuolema Tekee Taiteitijan worked really well and it just shows how great Tarja really is, she had full control of the crowd standing alone on the stage, perfect!
Great gig from a great band.
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| Comment by Carsten Olsen (Anonymous) - Monday, March 14, 2005 | Well the finnish tune and Comecover med they should have dropped for some song from oceanborn or some more from century child.
But a great concert but a little too short
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| Comment by Lilith (Anonymous) - Sunday, May 22, 2005 | Greeeeeeeat pics!!
*_*
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| Comment by Neostinker (Anonymous) - Saturday, July 30, 2005 | I was at the later concert in London February 12th, nightwish did the same setlist of tracks. I think the night was really great but i agree that some of the material from earlier albums was missed out, i would of loved to see passion and the opera or swanheart live!
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| Comment by grinder (Anonymous) - Sunday, October 23, 2005 | Hah! Nightwish kicked Tarja out!
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| Comment by yo guess n bloodlust_ftw@yahoo/hotmail.com (Anonymous) - Wednesday, November 2, 2005 | nightwish would be god without a fucking lady(gay)singer
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| Comment by heatsu (Anonymous) - Monday, November 21, 2005 | tuomas is world best boy
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| Comment by Nicke (Anonymous) - Monday, December 12, 2005 | It just suck that this small venue forbids the pyrotechnics and fire effects Nightwish has in their show!
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| Comment by pedro (Anonymous) - Tuesday, January 10, 2006 | hyi7 yy utgtgt goo
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| Comment by nw_fan (Anonymous) - Thursday, April 20, 2006 | Tarja I love you :'(
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| Comment by kamilla (Anonymous) - Sunday, October 1, 2006 | YOU ARE SO HOT.....
NIGHTWISH....
YOU ARE COOL...
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| Comment by kamilla (Anonymous) - Sunday, October 1, 2006 | Treja..
you are so hot and cool..
I LOVE YOU 4-ever....
Treja 4-ever<3
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| Comment by gabriel de argentina (Anonymous) - Sunday, November 26, 2006 | aguante nightwish carajo
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| Comment by DANA (Anonymous) - Monday, May 28, 2007 | hey you're the best and i want to tell u that i love u soo much and I am one of ur big funs..so I love ur songs like drugs......razorblade kisses
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