Nightwish live @ Palalido, Milan, 2 march 2008

1. Intro
2. Bye Bye Beautiful
3. Dark Chest Of Wonders
4. Whoever Brings The Night
5. Ever Dream
6. The Siren
7. Amaranth
8. The Islander
9. The Poet And The Pendulum
10. Sacrament Of Wilderness
11. Sahara
12. Nemo
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13. 7 Days To The Wolves
14. Wishmaster
15. Wish I Had An Angel


 

Since the first hours of the morning a huge crowd started to gather in front of Palalido. Nightwish are a huge band with a great number of loyal fans, loyal enough not to abhandon them after the depart of Tarja Turunen, the previous frontwoman, considered one of the most charismatic and gifted singer around. I have to admit that I was not so sure of what I was going to see. On the new record of the band “Dark Passion Play”, the first one with the new singer Anette Olzon, I wasn’t that convinced about her voice. She was very good of course, but I thought her voice was quite common. I had to totally rethink my ideas. She gave and amazing performance, and a very lively one, interacting with the other band member like never before. Although the choice of some of the old songs wasn’t the best; she nonetheless took the challenge, making the songs totally hers.

The band was in a pretty good shape and in amazing mood, helped by the great Milan’s crowd, always one of the more generous in Italy and Europe. After the Intro, the first tune to kick in was Bye Bye Beautiful, a ragy song dedicated to the ex singer, and a perfect song as crowd warmer. Still, personally, I’m not too fond of the song for its meaning. Then the classic live tune Dark Chest Of Wonders started and the crowd went even more mad. It was strange to hear it sung from Anette, being used to Tarja, but overall the impression was good.

Whoever Brings The Night from the new album followed, and then Ever Dream, from the album Century Child came in. I think that from all the old songs, this one is probably the better one sung from the new girl, who managed to keep it very classic, but with a new and personal feeling in it. The Siren, on the other side, is a song that should be put in the archive and never performed live again. Even though they played it good, the sensuality in Tarja’s voice and the siren lament is noty really something that Anette can repeat. Amaranth, one of the most catchy songs from the new album, and the second single from it, got the crowd moving, and the Ilander took it away in a new dimension, and so did The Poet And The Pendulum.

Sacrament of Wilderness wea quite well performed from the new formation, and Sahara was amazingly sung. Then Nemo came along, and again, we got the proof that most of the time Anette can go easily in Tarja’s shoes, while in other she is totally inadequate, not for technique but for vocal style. This time, if was one of the good time though. 7 Days To The Wolf was the first song of the encore. Seems that Tuomas is stealing the “wolf thing” from his buddy Tony Kakko ;)
Wishamaster. One of the best Nightwish song, one of the most loved. And one song that should be put in an even more forgotten archive than The Siren. As I had seen on some videos on the internet, the new arrangement is totally inadequate, and as good as Anette can be, this one isn’t a song for her, not at all.
On the other side, the last song, Whish I Had An Angel, was really well performed, and is maybe even better sung from the Swedish singer than from Tarja, and gave conclusion to a good, yet with a strange feeling show.