19-09-2009 Nightwish

Supports: Apocalyptica; Venue: Hartwall Areena, Helsinki (Finland)
By: Lara Cappelli

When you get to the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki the evening before a concert and you see a bunch of people lying down on their sleeping bags in front of the gates, then you can guess that concert is from Nightwish, more specifically the last concert of their Dark Passion Play Tour which lasted over two years.

I think Nightwish choose pretty much the perfect opening act for this night, Apocalyptica, a Finnish band known to make Metal music with just three cellos and drums.
It was the first time I saw the band without Antero Manninen, the additional cellist who helped the band in live shows and who lately left, and actually it was kind of strange not to see his serious presence behind those three crazy cellist. Despite that his absence didn’t make the show worse at all, it seemed that because of his absence the guys went hard at the whole exhibition. As always, some Metallica covers were played like Wherever I May Roam, Seek And Destroy and One and for the songs I’m Not Jesus and I Don’t Care the band was joined for the first time ever by Stam1na singer Antti Hyyrynen. Apocalyptica perfectly handled the responsibility of entertaining such a crowd and people seemed to appreciate their efforts a lot.

Nightwish is maybe one of the most famous Finnish Metal bands. During these last two years there have been a lot of talking about their decision to fire their singer Tarja Turunen and to choose Anette Olzon as the new one: let’s say that Nightwish fans have been (or maybe are still) divided in two groups, those who prefered Tarja and those who prefer Anette.
The show started with an intro played by the band which is a cover of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia”. One by one the band picked up the best songs to create the setlist that anyone was waiting for, from last album’s “7 Days To The Wolves” to the older “Wishmaster”.
For this occasion Nightwish had some guests on stage: Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto joined the band for “The Siren” and “While Your Lips Re Still Red” and Troy Donockley played the uillean pipes for “The Islander”, “Last Of The Wilds” and “Waling In The Air”. Right this last song was absolutely unexpected even because that was the first time it was ever played with Anette on vocals. Another premiere was “Meadows Of Heaven” for which a waterfall was dropped down to the crowd.
At the end of the show the band took some time to talk to the audience, Anette thanked all those who attended not just that concert but even the other 194 of the Dark Passion Play Tour. She added that these two years have been full of ups and downs and it’s been quite difficult for her to handle all of this as a beginner. Then bassist/vocalist Marco had a long talk, he thanked all the crew, the management, the fans and last but not least, Anette who seemed really moved.

Setlist:
01. Intro – Finlandia
02. 7 Days To The Wolves
03. Ever Dream
04. Wishmaster
05. Romanticide
06. Amaranth
07. The Siren
08. While Your Lips Are Still Red
09. Poet And The Pendulum
10. Nemo
11. Sahara
12. Dark Chest Of Wonders
13. The Islander
14. Walking In The Air
15. Last Of The Wilds
16. Meadows Of Heaven
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17. Ghost Love Score
18. I Wish I Had An Angel
19. Outro – The Heart Asks Pleasure First