Gig Review

Nightwish
Pain
Birmingham, Academy

6th November 2012


Nightwish                       Pain             
                       

Photo Of Pain © Copyright Robert LawrenceFirst 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.

Photo Of Nightwish © Copyright Robert LawrenceLike 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.

Photo Of Nightwish © Copyright Robert LawrenceThings 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.

Photo Of Nightwish © Copyright Robert LawrenceTaking 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 tPhoto Of Nightwish © Copyright Robert Lawrencehe 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

 Nightwish


Anette Olzon
Tuomas Holopainen
Marco Hietala
Erno Vuorinen
Jukka Nevalainen

 Pain


Peter Tägtgren
David Wallin -
Michael Bohlin
Johan Husgafvel

 Band Related Links
Nightwish Facebook
Pain Facebook
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?