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Events and Reports - Skanderborg Festival 2008 - Festival Report - Nightwish and Pretty Maids live
After the metallic blast that was Wacken Open Air it was time to relax a bit more in the surroundings of the idyllic Skanderborg Festival. Without a doubt this festival has the most beautiful setting a festival can have. Placed in the middle of a forest there are trees (and hills) all around and they are used to enhance the stages and surroundings in a great way. Different themes are used for each of the four stages and the far "far away stage" even has a beach, including a cozy beach bar. Besides this it is also the best organized festival I have ever visited. A press tent with a well informed staff and work areas is set up and a wide selection of food and drinks on the festival grounds caters for almost anything you could wish for. Since I also had a place to stay in the city it was without doubt the most comfortable festival ever.
45.000 people attended the festival where Lenny Kravitz and Eric Clapton were headliners. Michael will get more into those in his review. I was mainly here for Nightwish and Pretty Maids. I saw a lot of other bands as well, but will not get into too much detail as these festival reports take too damn long to write and I'm longing to get back to reviewing albums again. I had seen Nightwish a week before at the Wacken Open Air Festival, which had been a surprisingly positive experience and was looking forward to seeing if they could possibly top that.
Nightwish
After a very funny afternoon where I experienced some Danish bands of varying quality it was time for Nightwish. I made it to the press tent just in time to enjoy a Mexican coffee before the photographers were led to one of the main stages. Here I discovered that photographers were allowed to take photos only for song three and four due to danger from the pyrotechnics, so I headed into the crowd for the first couple of songs.
As in Wacken the band opened the show with "Bye Bye Beautiful" from their latest record. It was a great opener which got the audience going at "once", though I still think it's a somewhat immature way to open the show due to the below average lyrics. Lots of flames warmed the audience right from the start and people around me were obviously ready to rock.
Being a huge Tarja fan I was looking forward to hearing how new lead singer Anette Olzon would handle the older songs. "Dark Chest of Wonders" showed that she had no problem at all as she sung with power and flair and managed to shift the focus from her colorful outfit to her voice. She was loud and clear, and while very different from Tarja she handled the older songs very well, putting any doubts I had to shame. The songs are different in this incarnation of the band, but still fantastic. Another positive note was that it was now possible to hear what words were actually sung.
As "Dark Chest of Wonders" ended I ran for the photo pit to get some pictures where I was surprised and blown away by "Dead to the World!" I must protest and shake my finger at the band for not preceding it by "Bless the Child" but it was just great to hear this one live. Powerful and exciting. Though I was busy taking photos it was apparent that the band really enjoyed themselves on the stage. Everyone was smiling, especially Tuomas who had adorned his keyboard with Johnny Depp in various disguises. Marco didn't look as wasted as in Wacken and sang very well. The band still haven't found a way to properly communicate with the audience though. As was the case in Wacken there were a few embarrassing moments. One particular one started out with Marco asking "Do you want to hear Anette sing a song?".
Anette decided to speak in Swedish between the songs and I didn't understand much of what she said. The vibe was positive and happy though as the band obviously doesn't take themselves too seriously.
Marco also got a big laugh as he picked up one of the roses that were thrown on the stage and tried to stick it beside his ear. He spent quite some time on this, fighting with his big hair and it kept falling out. Finally he got it to sit there for about two seconds. The band continued with "The Siren" and I shot a couple hundred more photos.
As I made my way out of the photo pit and went back into the audience the Tuomas began playing the immediately recognizable opening melody of "Amaranth". Everyone, except maybe the people at the top of the hill knew this one and sang along with much enthusiasm.
A major highlight was next. As the band began playing the intro to "Sacrament of Wilderness" I let out a wild happy scream and people in close vicinity turned around and looked at me in wide eyed wonder. Responding with a high jump I eased right into the opening segment of one of my favorite Nightwish songs. It was awesome to hear this live and the extended keyboard and guitar solo was suddenly changed into a short but very funny dance part. Anette again did a great performance and managed to get through the song without any serious faults.
After this the band undertook the enormous "Poet and the Pendulum". This showed one of the few shortcomings of their live performance. Leaving the stage while various parts of the song are played back from tape is not very convincing and doesn't work for me at all. Especially the spoken parts were close to being embarrassing. I would prefer them dropping those and just playing what they can live.
When the band was on stage the song was performed pretty much to perfection. Marco and Emppu left the stage as Tuomas and Anette performed the first mellow part with much feeling. After the dramatic second speech (I willed it to be over quickly) there was a huge explosion from the stage and the sky filled with red streamers. The crowd roared as the band came back on stage and Anette sat down to sing the beautiful ending part of the song. The atmosphere was really great at this moment.
"Ever Dream" continued the show and here Anette for the first time, struggled to sing the song properly but Marco made up for this.
After this Emppu and Anette left the stage and the male three piece went on to perform the wonderful "While your lips are still red". I had first experienced this at Wacken and still remembered it vividly. The song is written by Tuomas for the movie Lieksa, and not as someone suggested at Wacken, a Genesis cover. The song has a fantastic melody and a very special atmosphere at is evolves, much due to Marco's fantastic singing.
It started raining during "Nemo" but no one cared. Everyone around me were singing and jumping along. After some lame banter "I wish I had an angel" ended the show with huge flames.
I was hoping for "Over the hills and far away" as it would have suited the festival perfectly, but alas, it was not to happen. Nightwish had come and gone and while the concert had a few faults my overall impression was that of a superb concert. The festival had officially been blown off to a great start.
Set list
Bye Bye Beautiful
Dark Chect of Wonders
Dead to the World
The Siren
Amaranth
Sacrament of Wilderness
The Poet and the pendulum
Ever Dream
While your lips are still red
Nemo
I wish I had an angel
After this I found myself back in the press tent. It started raining heavily so I spent 4 hours there enjoying Mexican coffee, speaking to the other journalists, writing my Nightwish concert review (which I later had to completely rewrite as it was complete bollocks) and sending far out text messages to Tommy.
Around midnight I ventured outside in the still pouring rain to see Volbeat. I watched two and a half songs including a touching speech from lead singer Michael Poulsen to his recently deceased father but I still couldn't get into the band. Instead I headed off through the knee deep mud and rain (sandals and shorts were perfect clothes for this weather) to see Find Lizzy (a Thin Lizzy cover band) and as an added bonus I caught the ending part of the Abbatizers, which was a party in the rain.
Around 2:30am it was still raining and when I made it back home I was extremely happy to have a warm bed to lie down in.
Fast forward a few crazy days and we (Trine, Helle and I) started the day with symphony and champagne as we enjoyed the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra playing a movie themed concert from the main stage. A different but excellent way to start the day. Especially the theme from Schindler's list left an impression.
In the afternoon it was time for....
Pretty Maids
Pretty Maids will never grow out of fashion. The band is always reliable and every time I have seen them they have delivered a show that varies between solid and fantastic. Today's show roamed around in the area of greatness but with too few surprises. This was a festival show with a party atmosphere and the band came off as happy and filled with energy. Lead singer Ronnie Atkins quickly became a sweating beast who, when he headbanged, sprayed the front row of the audience with sweat. Intense.
"Sin Decade" and "Rock the house" opened the show with much fury before the band moved to their latest album "Wake up to the real world" where they played the title track and "Another Shot of your love". Especially the latter worked splendidly live and showcased the important ultra-melodic side of the band. After taking pictures for the first three songs I got into the audience where my lovely soul-mate held a spot in the first row. We were placed right in front of the right set of speakers and the volume was insanely loud. We are talking Manowar loud here. Fortunately there was no distortion and it only made the live experience more exciting.
I had a great view of the stage and it was obvious the band was having a lot of fun through the concert. They didn't take things too seriously and I had the feeling that there were some inside jokes going on between the two Ken(n)'s and Ronnie Atkins. Often Ronnie Atkins cracked up and struggled hard to keep it together to sing properly. This resulted in Ronnie singing some wrong lyrics in several places and other times not being able to sing as he was laughing. It was pretty fun to see how he tried to keep it together.
Ken Hammer on guitar delivered a standout performance as he played impressive solos and riffs in a seemingly effortless way as he walked around the stage with a big smile on his face.
Ronnie Atkins likes sing-a-longs. I don't like sing-a-longs. There were at least four in the show and while none of them fell though, I would much rather have heard one more song instead. The first sing a long came during "Live until it hurts", one of the ultimate party songs.
The first verse of "Destination Paradise" was messed up since Ronnie apparently forgot the lyrics as Ken Hammer made some kind of joke right when he was about to sing but it didn't matter, the song was awesome to hear live and incredibly powerful. I noticed two guys in the first row at the center of the stage who were madly headbanging through the entire show. Impressive!
The party really got going as the band decided to play their potent cover version of the Gasolin classic "Det bedste til mig og mine venner". In the words of Ronnie it was the perfect festival song. Everyone seemed to agree.
The opening riff of "Back to Back" is always a welcome headbanging invitation and so nearly everyone continued to do that. Ronnie was moving around the stage very well and held up a great connection with the audience.
"Rodeo" was another highlight that everyone could sing along to.
The second cover of the night, "Please don't leave me" was a crowd favorite and I guess they can't play a show without featuring this one. I hope one day they will move on. "Love games" ended a good set and an even greater performance.
Presenter Jakob Haugaard came back on stage and got the crowd to shout for more and sure enough the band came back and started on "Future world". The keyboard was too low in the mix but this was quickly rectified. Ronnie managed to mess up the first verse of "Future world" as he sang the wrong lyrics but they managed to get through the song without anymore faults.
"Red hot and heavy" ended the show with another sing-a-long While this was not the best Pretty Maids show I have ever experienced it was still great and very enjoyable. I have many wishes for a different setlist since the one they played today lacked surprises but the bands performance demanded respect. This is surely one band I will never tire of seeing live.
Set list
Sin Decade
Rock the House
Wake up to the real world
Another shot of your love
Live until it hurts
Destination Paradise
De bedste til mig og mine venner
Back to back
Rodeo
Please don't leave me
Love games
Future World
Red hot and heavy
The Skanderborg Festival officially ended a busy but awesome festival summer (4 festivals in three months) with great fireworks around midnight. It was time to return to normal life again... until next year...
| Click pictures for a bigger version.
Nightwish
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The audience at Nightwish
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Symphony and Champagne
Pretty Maids rocked the tent
Pretty Maids
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Pretty Maids
All pictures taken by Steen | Written by Steen
Monday, August 18, 2008 |
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