Artist: Nightwish
Venue: L’Amour (Brooklyn, NY)
Opener: unsigned acts
Label: Century Media Records
Date: 9/3/2003
A few short weeks ago Finland’s own Nightwish made their very first New York appearance at the famous L’Amour’s in Brooklyn. Metal heads know this place as a staple venue in the Metal World for more than two decades. To be honest with you I have only been a Nightwish fan for a little over a year and have yet to buy any of their material. Every release they have so far is an import and very expensive. Even my inner circle of music fans have hardly heard of this fine power-metal group. This fact makes me laugh since I always try to be ahead of others in this regard, but alas I owe this to someone else. So off to the show I went with a small crew of buddies expecting the standard fare.
It was an unusually quiet Sunday night that Nightwish paid New York a visit and we even had extra tickets as some friends had bailed on us. We walked towards the place with the thoughts that we would be eating the cost of our extras because no one even seemed to bite as far as interest went. Nearing the club we found quite the surprise as people milling about outside all of them looking for tickets. My Friends sold theirs less than 20 seconds. The expression on the person who took them was like we have saved his life. When we made our way inside you could see instantly that one could not move more than a couple of feet in any direction. Tonight was clearly going to be a show to remember. We had missed most of the unsigned openers walking in on the last one pre Nightwish. They seemed plagued by PA issues and I was not paying them much attention. The crowd did seem to enjoy them and also spoke of another band that was good. The groups were Twilight Odyssey and Operatika. My immediate focus was getting a good place to stand and observe Nightwish when they hit the stage. It was not easy to do based on the crowd. Who expected this? Not me at all.
The club darkened and Nightwish was up and running, the thunderous sound of their music was only a few decibels louder than the throng of their ardent supporters. When the first tune had ended a roar from the crowd clearly surprised the members of Nightwish because this was their first time here and who expects a full house when you come from a land so very far away. It was apparent by their faces they were as surprised by this most positive response from this new location to them. This showed both in their comments (mostly bassist Marco spoke which makes me wonder how much English the rest of the band even speaks besides in their songs). They frequently expressed their appreciation to the fans as they played some of their greatest numbers. It was great to hear just how powerful Tarja’s voice is in the live sense because its easy to be good on a record. Her register was super sonic and her passion for the material awesome. The rest of the band is Tuomas (keyboards) who is also the founder, Jukka (drums) and Emmpu (guitars) and all of them are excellent and quite skilled at this kind of Metal. The band was promoting their latest release on Century Media Records and a strong part of the set list would come from this album. They also did many tunes from “Wishmaster” and that was okay with me since it’s the only album that I have picked up so far and I LOVE it. My favorites from the night were “Wishmaster”, “End Of All Hope”, “She Is My Sin”, “Walking In The Air”, and “Over The Hills and Far Away” which is their cover of a Gary Moore song. I know I liked more of the “older” stuff but that is because I am still very new to the band at this time.
An interesting part of the show was when Marco said that Tarja would be needing to rest for a minute and they would play some Ozzy Osbourne for us since we “liked that kind of stuff here”. At that point Jens Johanssen (formerly of Yngwie and Stratovarius) joined the group on the stage and they did a rip-roaring rendition of “Crazy Train”. Everyone seemed to enjoy the treat. Tarja would return just after this and continue the aural assault that we were getting from her. I admit that I was more used to the songs that followed the cover so this part of the night was my favorite. Tarja is stunningly beautiful in person and was dressed in some sort of White and black outfit, I was sad that I was not able to get closer or take any pictures but there was no way to move about in the club that evening. Everyone seemed to be fussing for best position of view. At the end of the evening, she announced that they must go but would surely remember that this is a place they have to return to once again. At that point the band started “Over The Hills And Far AWay” and they were done. All in all a satisfying evening of great Metal music but if I had to complain about something it would be the complete lack of Nightwish merchandise. There was nothing and I would have liked to purchase a shirt or one of the CD’s but it was not to be. I have been unable to find out why that was the case. My simple guess is that the band did not bring anything with them.
I hope that Nightwish comes back again soon and perhaps brings along some of the other Finnish bands that I have started to listen to like Sonata Arctica.
Set List:
1. Bless the Child
2. End of All Hope
3. Come Cover Me
4. The Kinslayer
5. Dead to the World
6. Ever Dream
7. Sleeping Sun
8. Crazy Train
9. Beauty of the Beast
10. She Is My Sin
11. Slaying the Dreamer
12. Wishmaster
13. Walking in the Air
14. Over the Hills and Far Away
Official Website: http://www.Nightwish.com
Editor’s Note: This article was written for another medium prior to the 2005 launch of PiercingMetal.com and has been added to our content for your enjoyment.