Nightwish @ Carling Academy Newcastle, March 30th 2008




30 March ’08 had finally arrived. After sending e-mails back and forth with Nighwish’ management I had obtained a photo pass. According to the Nightwish website and tickets doors would open at 6pm. I had left home pretty early and found a parking spot right behind the Carling Academy. When I arrived at the entrance and asked security how things were arranged it appeared that the doors wouldn’t open until 7pm. There I was, on my own at 5.30pm, in the freezing cold – luckily we didn’t have the typical English weather but the temperature was well down and a cold breeze made it feel even colder.

With nothing else to do I decided just to chat with the people around me. One of them was Clare, one of the people behind the Official UK Nightwish Fanclub. (www.nightwish-uk.com). She was there with 4 fanclub members for a ’Meet & Greet’.

At last the doors opened at 7pm for the disabled fans, Night wish fanclub members and photopass holders. Remarkable was that the queue started and ended in front of the doors. It snaked all around the building; I guess it would be about 400 yards long.

After I collected my pass from the ticket box I went straight through to the stage area. When I arrived there I was instructed by one of the security people that we were only allowed to take photographs form the ‘pit’ (area between the stage and the crowd) during the 3rd and 4th song. It was emphasised that no flash photography was to be used.

At 8pm the support act came on stage; it was the Swedish formation PAIN (www.pain.cd). Never heard of them before they were announced as support act on the Nightwish website. I had looked them up in the mean time so I kinda knew what was coming. Heavy metal combined with melodic tunes from a keyboard, but unfortunately the voice of the singer could hardly be heard over the guitars. After visiting their website and youtube.com I have seen and heard some songs. Therefore I recognized the first song as “Same old song”, followed by the Beatles cover “Eleanor Rigby” – personally I thought this sounded particularly good. Other songs they played were “Shut your mouth”, “On and on”, “Bye die”, “Hate me” and “End of the line”. I thought it was quite a good performance, but they won’t make it to my favorites.

During the break, whilst things were turned around on the stage, there was the usual run to the facilities. I have never seen a queue for the toilets which snaked through the hallway and down the stairs. *LOL*.

Just after 9pm it was time for Nightwish to enter the stage. The lights were turned down and the intro started, the crowd started cheering. During the intro, still in semi-darkness, the band members came on. First were Jukka (drums) and Tuomas (keyboards and musical genius), shortly followed by the guitar players Marco and Emppu. We heard the first accords of their 2nd single of their recent album ‘Dark Passion Play’; “Bye, Bye Beautiful” when Annette appeared on stage. I had placed myself in the crowd and managed to get my digicam ready to record it on video. Second song was the well known “Dark Chest Of Wonders” from their album ‘Once’. Everyone was curious how Annette would manage this song, which we all know so well with Tarja’s voice. Although Annette didn’t hit all top notes everyone was very pleased with the performance.

Annette Olzon interacts a lot more with the crowd than I have seen before from Tarja. The audience appreciated this and had a lot of fun with her. This was my cue to head for the ‘pit’, together with 7 others. During “Whoever Brings The Night” (magnificent song) and another song of their album ‘Once’; “The Siren” I managed to take about 30 photographs. Not a bad result, given the fact we only had 8 minutes; 7 other photographers and a floor which moved up and down from the head banging crowd.

After the ‘photo shoot’ I joined the crowd, but found a strategic spot near the bar.  During “Amaranth”, whilst enjoying a cold pint of Carling I chatted with Mark Holmes, owner of www.metal-discovery.com – a site which can be compared to www.stratovana.nl.

Then it all went quiet and dark, the band members all vanished from the stage. A ‘backing track’ was started and the recognisable sound of a choir boy sounded through the speakers. This could only mean one thing: “The Poet And The Pendulum”. I wondered if they would play the whole 14 minutes; which they did! – helped by the ‘backing track’. I managed to record the whole performance on my digicam. Marco and Annette gave a tremendous performance. The crowd thought the same, Nightwish received a long cheer when they finished. The next song was “Sahara” – again I managed to record this song on video.

I could not fault Annette’s singing; her performance was – apart from not hitting a couple high notes – almost perfect. I heard someone say: “Tarja who?” – well, nuff said!

Again the darkness returned and we could see a barstool and an extra microphone were put on the stage. Another band member entered the stage playing ullean pipes and low whistle during “The Islander” (their latest single) and the instrumental “Last of the Wilds”. Both songs were praised with loud cheers and applause.

Then we were treated to a song from their album ‘Century Child’; “Slaying The Dreamer” – again an effortless performance by the band. “Nemo” was next, which doesn’t need introduction as this is one of their most well known songs. After this Annette told the crowd that this was their last song, but she had her fingers crossed – which meant she wasn’t telling the truth. After a couple of minutes the whole band re-appeared for the ‘encore’.

The first was “7 Days To The Wolves”, a song which is very popular here in the UK. A lot of people were singing along – head banging and all. Annette gave an outstanding performance when she sang “Wishmaster” from the album with the same title.

Their last song was another one from their album ‘Once’; “Wish I Had An Angel”. To me this was the perfect ending to an excellent evening which I remember for a long time. A pity that Nightwish only performed for 2 hours – for me they could have gone on for another hour or so. 

During the last 4-5 songs I had been taking photographs from the crowd.

I would like to thank Ewo of King Foo Entertainment (Nightwish’ Management) for granting me a photo pass and ’Nicola’ who kindly provided me with the photograph of the ‘set list’.

Review: Thorsten Hendriks
Photos: Thorsten Hendriks