Nightwish 27.03.08 - third of three sold out nights at the London Astoria

Setlist: almost in corrct order but i know i have made mistakes!
1. Bye Bye Beautiful
2. Dark Chest of Wonders
3. Amaranth
4. The Siren
5. The Poet and the Pendulum
6. Whoever Brings the Night
7. Sacrament of Wilderness
8. The Islander
9. Last of the Wilds
10. Sahara
11. Nemo
12. 7 Gays to the Wolves
13. Wishmaster
14. Wish I Had an Angel

After a one hundred mile car journey and a forty minute ride on the London Underground we finaly hit the London Astoria at half seven by which time Pain were playing. As we arrived quite late we were right at the back but it is such a compact venue that everyone gets an amazing view wherever you stand which is cool. the tickets were only £17.50 as well so it was very good value for money i think.

Walked in half way through Pain's set and they were quite good and seemed to be giving it their all. they got a good response from the crowd but two of their songs they ripped of famous riffs from Metallica's Eye of the Beholder and Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell. Musically not my cup of tea and remind me of Rammstein who are better. way better.

After a half an hour wait the house lights went down and after an overly long atmospheric intro Nightwish took to the stage with Tuomas Holopainen looking like the bastard love child of the Artful Dodger from Oliver twist And Captain jack Sparrow (savvy) from Pirates of the Caribbean. Emmpu (guitar) is what Dave Murray would be like if he came from Finland in the stage demanour and way he held his guitar. Jukka (drums) had his trademark bandana on as usual and is a drummer i hold in high esteem his druming is superb. Anette Olzon is actually way hotter in real life than in photos i could not believe it, she has a very sexy english accent as well.

The band were a bit shaky to begin with but that is usually the case at the start of a concert and they soon found their groove to create an immensely epic sound. Quality wise the sound was exemplary in its excellence full marks to the sound man. You could hear all the instruements and they were not drowning eacj other out which was good.

I was interested to hear how Anette would handle the old stuff. Whether she would try to sing it like it originaly sounds or add hear own style. I can confrim it was the latter and it actually sounded very good, she did not butcher it at all and in my opion is a fine replacement for Tarja Turunen (not to mention more attractive). Wishmaster was handled excellently especially considering how high Tarja originally sang that song.

Highlights for me Wishmaster, Sahara, Last of the Wilds and The Poet and the pendulum in its entire thirteen minutes and fifty four second duration

One awesome bit of wit from Marco Hietala came when he announced they were going to play "7 Gays to the Wolves" in tribute to the Gay nightclub that was after the show and Anette actually sang it like that. Nightwish are homophobes people

Overall: Ten :metal: out of Ten :metal:

Hey Gooch, was that band PAIN the one formed by Peter Tagtren of Hypocrisy? Pretty heavy choice to open for Nightwish.....but pretty diverse. Here in the States, the record company would never allow that! When I saw them here, it was at a medium size club, The House of Blues, and they had Lullacry open for them (just like the record companies, have a band they think is exactly the same open for a band!) It was THE most mixed crowd I've ever seen....from 12-year old girls up to high-society women in their 60's! Black MeTal people, Death MeTal people, hippies, etc. It was such a nice vibe that we didn't even kill the hippies(though one of our group DID throw soap at one...) Cool! Great to hear they're still going strong...I was dubious after the split with Tarja.

actually there was a very mature audience with not many of the "kids" as they are called. a lot of middle aged people i will say. the audience was super cool though its rare to see a band get a reactiona s good as they got even after all the acrimony about the split and what not