First
up and only support act ( I enjoy these 2 band
nights) are Pain, they are a 4 piece metal band
with a extra helping of electronic thrown in to
the mix for good measure.
They open their set with a few really superb catchy
songs, same old song and end of the line are the
opening two, I wasn't expecting much from this
band but I am happily wrong tonight. They close
the opening 3 with zombie slam, another superb.
This band have a really meaty sound to them, think
Rob Zombie dirty, just plenty of meaty riffs,
and plenty of choruses to sing along. The crowd
are liking this band; I'd say that there must
be a fair few fans of this band in the crowd,
and rightly so.
They carry on with the excellent Dirty Woman,
which sounds familiar, not sure if it’s
a cover but it’s pretty damn heavy and catchy
to boot! Monkey business aren’t all that
bad and the great pretender aren’t too bad
either these two aren't as good as the songs that
came previous to them. Dark fields of pain takes
things down a notch, sounding very much like 69
eyes, especially the vocals. Which I'd liken to
the 69 eyes front man also.
They close out the set with two very decent songs
On & one and the excellent shut your mouth.
Nightwish really have a tough act to follow.
Like
some in this room tonight I first heard this band
when they released Nemo, and many including myself
bought the album titled Once, and this is where
my liking of the band stopped, I just couldn't
get on with the rest of the material on the album.
Then the band fired the first singer Tarja Turunen,
which briefly got my attention, then the hiring
Anette Olzon, got me curious in the band which
quickly faded, then she very recently got the
boot. Will be interesting to hear what new Vocalist
Floor Jansen sounds like, I hear she can pull
off both new and old material. We shall see.
They open the set with Storytime, Dark chest of
wonders and one of the few sings I know and like,
Wish I had an angel. All these songs are pretty
good choices to open the set with, WIHAA, sounded
particularly awesome. The new vocalist Floor Jansen
not only looks absolutely stunning but sounds
just as good, she has a real powerful operatic
voice and she don't mind head banging either.
While the spotlight falls mainly on her, seeing
the rest of the band proves to be a challenge
at times, as they play mostly in the dark, which
is a real pain when you're trying to shoot them.
I can honestly say that this set is totally lost
on me at times, the performance and execution
of the songs is top notch.
Things
for me fall apart a little with the next few songs
as its classic sounding Nightwish, Amaranth and
Scaretale, I just don't click with it.
Slow love slow brings things almost to a halt
with its slow 20s speak easy blues sound, giving
Floor the chance to show a different range to
her voice and for the band to show off a little,
it's a great pace change and if the band did all
the songs like this I'd be massive fan.
Taking
the pace and catchiness way way up is, I want
my tears back, a real catchy way to kick start
the set and night again, after the change of pace,
with the crowd singing along an awful lot. The
before the start of the islander the crowd are
told to get their phones out and wave them in
the air, again the pace of the set brought down
again, with a bit of an acoustic song, I much
prefer the change of pace to this band Nemo, is
next up and the pace is still slow, it sounds
really great live, best version I've heard, and
still as catchy as hell despite the lack of pace.
I do feel cheated as I really wanted to hear the
full blooded version. They kick the set back into
gear with the folky instrumental last of the wilds
and the
likes of planet hell, ghost river and ever dream,
again the set falls away for me, but not as bad
this time as I'm getting the vibe a bit more.
They close out the set with a Gary Moore cover
over the hills and far away, it's a non to shabby
cover to say the least, they close out the night
with ghost love score and the rather apt Last
ride of the day, excellent choice of songs to
close out this evening’s fine entertainment.
Is this set enough to make me a fan? Not enough
for me to buy their CDs again, but they are a
superb live band and I would like to see them
live again.
Pain 4/5
Nightwish 4/5
Review By Robert Lawrence
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