» Nightwish 2004 10 01  
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Reviewed by Thomas
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Special guest: Lordi
City: Gothenburg, Sweden
Venue: Lisebergshallen
Date: 01 Oct 2004
Nightwish setlength: 95 minutes
Lordi setlength: 35 minutes

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Lordi

The Finnish monster rockers in Lordi looks as if they were to sound more dangerous than what they actually do. Dressed up as monsters, mummies and God knows what, it started both funny to look at as well as listen to, at least with the first couple of tracks. Then I came to understand that there were no more than this that they had to offer, and it just turned rather silly. The songs were weak material-wise, no matter how cool and mean the band tried to look on stage. And when the songs are of the kind that after you heard one, you've heard em all, the thirty-five minutes felt very long. Especially when they attempted to perform a ballad, his voice is not suited for that kind of songs as he sounds like a darker version of Udo Dirkschneider with a bad cold. If their performance didn't feel flat before this, it definitely hit the ground there.

Musically Lordi can be described as party hard rock, throw in some Accept riffs and gather most of the musical inspiration from Alice Cooper's mid eighties period with the Constrictor album. And all along, I don't really know why, I kept thinking that Alice Cooper's Teenage Frankenstein ought to be coming next, a track that would have suited them and at least there would be something of good song material. And how serious are Lordi to be taken? Musically it is nothing that will last and the shock values with their costumes need more horror filled music to work. (I'm sorry Dimmu Borgir that I ran down on your corpse paint and stage out fits, I just didn't know better when I saw you earlier this year). On forehand I thought that the monster attributes were just fun gadgets that went along with their image, but now I begin to think that they know that they are bad and ashamed of the fac,t and therefor hide behind their masks. As if they wouldn't dare to make a stand for what they are doing.

2 chalices of 10

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Nightwish

The temperature was high and it felt like there was no air left in the hall by the time Nightwish entered the stage, I don't believe I have ever seen a sold out Lisebergshallen so crowded before. Dark Chest of Wonders opens up the set and when Tarja enters the stage it is like she owns the room, she has a marvellous charisma and when she opens her mouth it just gets magical. It gets obvious that Nightwish gets better on an indoor stage then on a big festival stage as they created an intimate feeling although the crowd was large in numbers.

They continued with Planet Hell and it is with these kind of songs where they create magic, the more tougher songs and where bassist Marco Hietala gets to do some vocal parts. As like in Slaying The Dreamer that was absolutely greatly delivered and the musical number with The Phantom Of The Opera. Nightwish got a massive response from the audience and the biggest cheers came with songs like Nemo, Wishmaster and The Phantom Of The Opera. And when Tarja took her vocal rest at the middle Marco and the guys took on the stage for themselves and did a cover of Megadeth's Symphony Of Destruction, and that break felt like a good breather from all of the sweet singing from Tarja. To get some more back to basic music and to hear Marco sing a little more, and they did a good job with the choice of cover.

Nightwish softly kicked some serious ass and when it gets at its best they are a band that is hard to beat, especially with the faster and little tougher songs and where the vocal parts are shared between the beauty and the beast of you will. The band is astonishingly professional and makes me wonder if there is actually any limit on how big Nightwish have the ability to become, and they surely deserved the partly standing ovations they got when it was at end. All of the band members did a great job this evening and it was amusing to see how they all looked inspired and really gave it all through the concert even if it was Tarja that became the natural eye-catcher as she is as beautiful as her voice sounds, absolutely wonderful.

It is hard to find any weak spots in their performance, since it was absolutely great all along. But if I try hard to obtain objectivity, there are some smaller things that can get improved, as to leave out some of the slower songs, it tends to lose momentum and it gets a little much of the same with the sweet singing from Tarja, nevertheless how fantastic it is, it gets too much of the same. Make more room for Marco that is really a great vocalist. And further, a more held back use of pre-recorded stuff would be nice and add a rawer sense to their music and throw in some more of the older songs. But it is hard to complain since it was fantastic most of the time even with the weaker spots, if there really were any at all, it was still great. Of the three times I have seen Nightwish this was definitely the best one.


8 Chalices of 10



 

SETLIST

1. Dark Chest Of Wonders
2. Planet Hell
3. Deep Silent Complete
4. The Phantom Of The Opera
5. Dead To The World
6. Nemo
7. Sleeping Sun
8. Symphony Of Destruction (Megadeth cover)
9. Bless The Child
10. Ever Dream
11. Higher Than Hope
12. Wishmaster
13. Ghost Love Score
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14. Dead Boys Poem
15. Slaying The Dreamer
16. I Wish I Had An Angel

Related links:
www.lordi.org
www.nightwish.com
www.tarjaturunen.com