After 3 years when Nightwish again blew away their audiences at the SSE Arena, this time the show was more spectacular than before. At exactly 7:30 the lights went off and the audience gathered to experience one of the best names in the metal scene.

Before Nightwish joined the stage at 8:30, a newly formed band, Beast in Black, opened the show and took everyone’s breath away with Yanni Papadopoulo’s impressive high pitched voice. The entire arena was shaking from the sounds of the power metal band and the audience seemed to enjoy Yanni’s interaction with them as he didn’t hesitate to get into a conversation with the crowd. Who really caught my attention was the newest drummer of the band Atte Palokangas who was more energetic than before, performing until 8:30 songs that demanded excessive use of double pedals. No matter if throwing the sticks in the air didn’t work this time for Atte, the incident didn’t prevent him from showing his incredible instrumental abilities.

After Beast in Black had left the stage, Nightwish were ready to enter the show. Troy Donockley opened the show with his smooth melodies coming straight out of is bagpipes performing ‘Swanheart’ and the audience was waiting for the big moment. What could have been a more spectacular song to open the show apart from Dark Chest of Wonders? The crowd went crazy, the stage flame machines and spark fountains went off creating the show more spectacular than before. The energy of the band was transferred to the audience as well. Emppu Vuorinen the guitarist of the band made sure to cover all the parts of the stage by not staying still for a second. Floor’s energy also caught my attention especially in ‘I Want My Tears Back’. However, this time it seemed that Floor found difficulties being in tune with the song but she didn’t hesitate to dance to the song causing even people from their seats to stand up.

Just minutes before the grand finale no other song would have been more suitable than Ghost Love Score. A song that baffled critics and many interpretations have been given with the majority of them supporting that Tuomas wrote the piece for the former singer Tarja Turunen, a complex piece that follows a form that is unusual for the normal metal scene especially when it has been recorded by a live orchestra which in this case is the London Session Orchestra. Tuomas always seemed really emotional with the piece and by closely looking at him, he was humming the song in high emotions that even caused intense feelings to myself and I believe everyone in the arena. This is probably one more reason why many people confirm the ‘Turunen’ theory. Floor repeatedly said that the song is her favourite of Nightwish even though the sustained notes of the highly demanding soprano song seemed again to be affecting Floor’s intonation. However, that didn’t prevent her from performing the piece in the mood that was required.

It was at the point of the culmination of the piece when the stage flames accompanied the intensiveness of the piece while during the last chorus, confetti covered the entire arena with colours finishing with the stage flames once more. The band left the stage and performed the last song of the setlist ‘Chapter IV’ of the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’. The concert finished at 11:50 and the fans couldn’t have been more satisfied with the exceptional performance of the Finnish band.

Categories: Arts Music

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