End of an Era

This is a legendary concert. The final date of the 'Once' tour, Nightwish's last featuring Tarja Turunen, occurs at an enormous arena in Helsinki, a homecoming triumph for Finland's biggest band. This would be their very last show with Tarja, who performs the concert oblivious to the fact that when it ended, she would be dismissed by Tuomas, with the assent of the rest of the band. Nightwish would never be the same.

Here there were, in all their glory. The big opening with their all-time best opener 'Dark Chest of Wonders'. Hit after hit after hit: 'Ever Dream', 'Wishmaster', 'Sleeping Sun', 'Nemo', 'Wish I Had An Angel', 'Bless the Child', 'Phantom of the Opera', 'Planet Hell'. The show never loses momentum, the set list brings out the band's heavy artillery crowd-pleasers -- though one gripe I have is the absence of a representative for 'Oceanborn', which is paid dust. Oh, well. The tension after the opening of 'Ever Dream' is gut-wrenching. 'Slaying the Dreamer' is just bombastic.The set list really hits almost all the highlights of the band's peak, which was with 'Century Child' and 'Once', their two masterpieces.

I suppose knowing the mystique of the story makes this album special. Very few live albums are worth dealing with; who wants to hear more-or-less exactly the same song, with exactly the same instrumentals, except played live? How many concerts are that special that the difference is going to mean anything to me? I don't even listen to live albums of most of my favorites in any genre. But this one is different. The story of this concert and the unique psychological atmosphere makes it a highlight of the Nightwish catalog.

Tarja's accent is unbelievably thick, but it hardly matters. She's an icon. She can do what she wants. She's in full diva-mode, so full of passion that the imperfections hardly matter; if you're willing to believe in the magic, it's all the same. And she and Marco are so full of charisma here.

If I sound like I'm fanboying a little, it's because after the disappointment of their latest album I had to remind myself why I fell in love with this band in the first place. Turns out that no, the problem isn't me; the band really has changed dramatically, and their old material still has the ability to bowl me over. The songwriting quality and performance quality of this era was just spectacular. I will reiterate what I said about 'Once' to describe this concert: lightning in a bottle. It will always be special to me.

For any purist I think it will be such an abomination naming this review like the milestone of Obituary but truly, this is the best ending (The End Complete) for Tarja, whether the legions of fans like it or not, whether they are furious with Tuomas or whatever the reason to throw stones at Annete for the sole purpose that she is not Tarja this is, without a question a live album worthy for many reasons, which I will detail next.

First and foremost and quite obvious: it was the last recording with Tarja and being that (we hope) she did not know at all that she was going to be fired it is without a question a superb concert the way symphonic metal it is supposed to sound. She gave, so far, her best performance. One can see and listen to the power of her vocal range and the many techniques she used, whether it is opera, whether it is more pop approach, whether more metallic approach and of course, it does not matter if the sings in the lower tones or higher tones because she can move to any way she desires effortlessly. That is what tells you how great as a singer she really is. There is no complaint about her; even the costumes perfectly fit the music and her theatrical performance.

Second: the set list. There are obvious songs that while I don’t dislike, are not my favorites. Nevertheless the songs played are, hands down, the best set list they could ever grant us with. Comparing to the atrocious ‘Made in Hong Kong’ which lacks certainly many songs (for whatever reasons there might be, I already reviewed it) and that is why this is the definitive live album. When you listen to the way the play Dark Chest of Wonders, Planet Hell, Wishmaster, The Kinslayer, High Hopes, etc you know they don’t need to many studio arrangements. They can play live their songs exactly how they sound on studio, and damn they do it so well.

I am taking some points just because of the fact that I think John Two Hawks performance takes too long and I find it boring and there are some boring songs. Ultimately they are hits but I find them lacking power, being those The Siren, Ever Dream and Bless the child (curiously those are the ones from ‘Century Child’ which I have never been able to dig).

Third: the show itself. The way the stage is set and the drums placed (that is for me since it is my favorite instrument). The lights, the production and basically everything are carefully set to show the band at its peak live. The charisma from the guys live is exhilarating and there is no reason to think whatsoever, even with the internal problems they might have had between the ‘men team’ and the ‘Tarja team’. This is the best way to get to know the band if you haven’t heard of them just yet (is that really possible?) although I again take away some points because of the lack of songs from ‘Oceanborn’. I know it was not that big of a hit internationally but songs from mainly ‘Once’ and ‘Century Child’ is just a slap in the face of the fans because they knew it was Tarja’s last performance already so they disappoint in that sense.

I must end this review by saying that this is a great live show. I don’t care about the documentaries although you can sense (as said before by the other guy) that somehow tension was in the air. But anyhow, as product itself, the documentaries are just interest for the love of the band but personally, I find documentaries somewhat tedious when there is nothing but pure cheap talk, but anyhow, that is just me.