Review by Jason Williams, photos by Carsten Steinhausen
May 1st 2015, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA: An album selling over one million copies, another selling over two million, with various gold and platinum awards, and even their own soundtrack. Most wouldn’t believe that a metal band would be capable of such accomplishments. If I told you that band was Nightwish, however, your surprise would wane. Founded by Tuomas Holopainen nearly 20 years ago, Finland’s greatest band have pulled no punches in capturing the hearts of fans with their signature style of symphonic metal, even more so with Floor Jensen as their new vocalist. Nightwish set off on their first US tour in nearly 3 years, and alongside Delain and Sabaton, would present Los Angeles with an unforgettable show.
Not too far from downtown Los Angeles, tonight’s festivities would take place at The Greek Theatre, a venue I’ve always wanted to attend. So far, so good, as the organization and professionalism of the staff was outstanding, with multiple parking lots and traffic running very smoothly. Every single house in the area had a white picket fence, so I believe the “American Dream” was located here. All press even had their own VIP parking lot, which was something I’ve never seen before. When the venue cares about the fans, staff, and even the press, you’re doing something right.
In the already crowded venue and with people constantly coming in, Delain opened at their set time of 7:15 PM. Seeing their impressive performance with Sonata Arctica late last year, I was truly happy for them to be on such a large tour. With vocalist Charlotte Wessels and pianist Martijn Westerholt forming Delain from their previous band Within Temptation, the styles in music were not too different, although Delain has less of a “mainstream” aspect. Even in front of an obvious Sabaton/Nightwish crowd, Delain received a huge response throughout their set, with “We Are the Others” and “Not Enough” being sung out loud. The sound at the venue was top notch as well. Clear, powerful and with plenty of volume, the crunch of the guitar provided heaviness and at the same time also let Westerholt’s keyboard shine through. The highlight of their set easily, “The Gathering”, already one of my favorites from them, had a special guest onstage, Marco Hietala himself, and in no surprise, had the crowd in a huge roar of joy and shock. With this being my first time seeing Nightwish, I was blown away by Marco’s vocals alongside Wessels, which provided me a delightful sense of what was to come later in the evening. Delain’s 30-minute set flew by and was loved by the crowd. I hope for larger opportunities for the band, as they certainly gave us a great start to this show.
More Delain photos:
Set List:
01. Mother Machine
02. Get the Devil Out of Me
03. Army of Dolls
04. Stardust
05. The Gathering
06. Not Enough
07. We Are the Others
8 PM seemed to arrive quickly, and Sabaton blasted through the stage with “Ghost Division”. Being my fourth time seeing Sabaton, the songs were already very familiar in my head, which made their signature catchiness even further in place. As with Delain, the sound was absolutely on point, easily the loudest I’ve heard Joakim Broden sing. With this being a very large and mostly seated venue, aside from the very wide but small pit area, it was hard at first to see people enjoy the show, but as I gazed throughout, seeing fans dance and headbang, it was a different experience. The booming impact of the intro to “Carolus Rex” felt bombastic and driven thanks to this venue’s impeccable sound, and the energy of Sabaton would never cease. Their ender “Metal Crue” never gets old, as they brought up another child fan onstage, something that also will never get tiring. I will say, the only noticeably big flaw to me, and I believe it’s one of the best problems that you can have, would be Sabaton’s headlining show at the Whisky in November. As good as they play supporting, it doesn’t even compare to their headlining show. The song flow is much different, also playing many more tracks, it’s simply a different feel, and I almost feel spoiled from it. Sabaton should really be headlining shows from this point on, with tonight’s 9-song set seemingly familiar to me from the other support shows I’ve witnessed from them. Nevertheless, the energy in Sabaton’s signature sound of war-themed power metal cannot be denied and here’s hoping their next stop here in the States would be another headliner.
More Sabaton photos:
Set List:
01. Ghost Division
02. To Hell and Back
03. Carolus Rex
04. Swedish Pagans
05. Resist and Bite
06. The Art of War
07. Night Witches
08. Primo Victoria
09. Metal Crue
The Greek Theatre was incredibly packed at this point, and in a big bang, Nightwish exploded on the stage. Most in the venue were standing from their seats at this point, capturing every moment onstage. “Shudder Before the Beautiful” from their very latest record, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, opened their 17-song set. Not hearing their newest release yet, each of the 8 songs from that album played tonight, were completely new to me. And to my surprise, the direction felt less “Rock” like, in comparsion to some of their most recent material. Despite the album being still fresh, the audience gave a loud response to each one, particularly their single “Elan”. Right off the bat, new vocalist Floor Jensen, who I had the pleasure to see sing in her other band Revamp with Iced Earth almost a year ago to the day, completely commanded and glorfied the stage. Elegant and beautiful, and more importantly, her vocal work was as good as I was expecting for Nightwish’s style. Operatic, memorable, and inspired, Floor simply dropped everyone’s jaw straight to the ground. And as mentioned previously, bassist/vocalist Marco Hietala was shining alongside Jensen’s singing. His voice is certainly unique and especially in “The Islander”, for which Marco performed the intro acoustically. Certainly my favorite track from the band, goosebumps were all I felt. Kai Hahto of Wintersun and Rotten Sound is currently the session drummer as Jukka Nevalainen is currently on hiatus due to health reasons. His sensational drumming made the entire set quite heavy, to say the least. “Storytime” and especially “Stargazer”, from their second album Oceanborn, received the loudest reaction from the crowd. When bands bring in songs from the early years, the crowd reacts greatly. You’re bringing back to life a part of your history that many weren’t around for. Simply a win-win for everyone involved.
But in all honesty, founder, creator of nearly all the songs and lyrics, and multi-talented keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen was by far and large the highlight of Nightwish’s remarkable set. Being a multi-instrumentalist allows yourself to truly create character and true purpose in every sound you make. Some of the songs required a devastating melody attack of keys, while others had Tuomas almost playing rhythm guitar to lead guitarist Emppu Vuorinen. Those subtle and intricate details captured my attention and joy. Not only able to be the leader of the band in presence and sound, but to orchestrate the band by taking a step back and letting their key moments shine through, takes humility and is exactly what a quality leader, of any discipline simply does. Not withstanding, I’ve been told for many years how much of a quality pianist/keyboardist Tuomas was, and with little to no effort, he played through his 3 different style of keyboards, almost all at once at one point. Aside from a few intros, all of the symphonic sounds were 100% from him. Watch Schaffer from Iced Earth, Schultz of Boston, and Mustaine of Megadeth, and you’ll notice how creating all of the bands music and lyrics will make the instrument you’re playing, noticeably different than others out there.
Nightwish’s unbelievable two-hour set was capped off with “Last Ride of the Day”, in which the crowd was still on its feet, lyric singing and dancing the night away. I absolutely was not expecting such a performance from Nightwish, who easily exceeded my expectations. I’ll go as far as to say that their show is the best one of the year so far. And the rest of the metal acts that will be gracing our presence for the upcoming year, have quite a challenge on their hands. “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” indeed.
More Nightwish photos:
Set List:
01. Shudder Before the Beautiful
02. Yours is An Empty Hope
03. Amaranth
04. She is My Sin
05. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
06. My Walden
07. The Islander
08. Elan
09. Weak Fantasy
10. Storytime
11. Dark Chest of Wonders
12. Alpenglow
13. Stargazers
14. Sleeping Sun
15. The Greatest Show on Earth (Chapter II: Life, Chapter III: The Toolmaker)
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16. Ghost Love Score
17. Last Ride of the Day
Remaining Tour Dates:
05/13 – Filmore – Charlotte NC
05/14 – Filmore – Silver Springs MD