Nightwish + Pain London
Astoria 25.03.08 Review by James Walton
There’s a particular taste that I always associate with shows at
London’s Astoria: it’s that horrible Red Stripe lager that they
serve, which seems to coat the tongue and taint the breath for days
afterwards. On this particular visit, however, there were other new
sensations to grapple with too.
There was the laughably amateur body search, with a surly security
guard checking my waistband for weapons but failing to investigate
any of the bulgy packages in my pockets. There was the sight of
hundreds of mobile phones held aloft, with their screens winking and
flashing as they captured grainy video and warbly sound. (When did
this become the cool thing to do? When I first started attending
metal shows in the 80’s no one but City traders and business
magnates had one of these nasty little devices, and they certainly
never appeared at the Wulfrun Hall, the Red Rose or any of my other
regular haunts). Then, of course, there was the smell.
The new legal ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces seems to be
holding which, in many ways is a good thing but, without the stink
of cigarettes to conceal it, the smell of thousands of unwashed
music fans crammed into a crumbling, unventilated theatre can become
a little…organic.
Filling the single support slot were Swedish industrial quartet
Pain, Peter Tagtgren’s
neatly-dressed and affable crew who delivered a thoroughly competent
set including an excellent cover version of the Beatles’ Eleanor
Rigby. Shut Your Mouth and Just Hate Me also impressed with their
clean execution – the drummer’s hypnotic beat working well in the
live setting.
Pain went down very well with the crowd but there was no doubt that
Nightwish were the real draw.
The band had sold out the Astoria, one of central London’s biggest
music venues, for three consecutive nights, a really stunning
achievement. Expectations were high - now they had to deliver.
I had seen Nightwish play the Astoria a few years previously when
they toured with original singer Tarja Turunen and had been
thoroughly impressed but the reformed band, now headed by Swede
Anette Olzon, was an unknown quantity. I am sure that I entered the
Astoria with an open mind but, sadly, I have to say that I was not
impressed. The surprise firing of Turunen in 2005 has been a
disaster for Nightwish and Olzon is just not the right woman to
replace her as vocalist. In fairness, Turunen left some really huge
shoes and would never have been easy to replace. Tall, slim and
stunningly beautiful, with the skills of a classically trained opera
singer, Turunen can deliver an advertising jingle and make it sound
incredible. Olzon has neither the looks nor the skills to stand in
for Turunen and, whilst obviously working hard, struggled to make an
impression, even when performing newer material which had obviously
been written for her. She was out of her depth and did not even
appear to be enjoying the show. Neither did the rest of the band.
Nightwish are highly accomplished and professional musicians and
they ripped through their set with great precision and
professionalism; bassist Marko Hietala in particular did sterling
work, but it was obvious that they were carrying their lead singer.
Material was weighted towards the newer albums, with songs including
Wish I Had An Angel, Amaranth and Bye Bye Beautiful although in each
case Olzon lacked the vocal power and confidence to really deliver
in the live arena. On the positive side, I am confident that Ms
Olzon’s stage skills will continue to develop with experience and
perhaps a more sympathetic mix but, on this particular evening, I
was bored. |
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Turisas + Norther + Alestorm
Peterborough Park Friday 7th March 2008
Review by Chris Davison : Photos by Strawb
Well, I never thought I'd see the day when little old Peterborough
got a metal gig actually worth attending. Despite the city centre
looking like a crèche for mini-moshers on a Saturday morning, there
seems to have been precious little in the way of entertainment for
the more refined metal head stuck out here in the sticks. Oh, how
often I have envied you Londoners, with your beer-und-sideboard
rabbit/rabbit/rabbit constant stream of quality bands playing within
close distance of timely, clean and affordable public transport. A
pox upon your houses! For revenge is at hand for us carrot crunching
country types, and boy, what a treat this was. The Park is a
delightful venue, roughly the size of my living room and smelling
only half as unpleasant. This was my first visit to said club, and I
was pleasantly surprised by the politeness and friendliness of the
staff (especially as this isn't generally a metal venue), the
relative cheapness of the drinks and the quirky layout of the place. |
| First on were up and
coming wunder-kids, Alestorm.
Their Napalm records debut, “Captain Morgans Revenge” hasn't left my
CD player since I got it earlier this month, and I was hotly
awaiting their performance. Thanks to the high number of punters and
the lone doorman, I was able to hear their opening two numbers
through the tin walls, (with wonderful acoustics, given that I was
listening to them while stood in a car park). Indeed, their playing
was that note-perfect that I had to keen my ear to ensure that they
weren't playing the cd as warm-up tracks! Managing to clamber inside
in time for “Huntmaster”, it was apparent that a sizeable chunk of
the crowd were also well versed to their music, as both chorus and
verse alike were being hollered back to the band, with a rousing
chant of “ALESTORM” erupting between songs. Clearly chuffed, the
Scottish pirate metal clan were clearly having |
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| the time of
their lives up there on one of the smallest stages I have ever seen.
Chris, vocalist and erm... lead guitarist had an excellent vocal
performance, managing to tread the fine line between entertaining
and parody, his voice being a hybrid of Buccaneer clichés merged
with the vicious attack of latter day Walkyier, in places. Lead
guitarist Craig, looking every bit the corsair, and bass powerhouse
Dani were on top of their game, with an exemplary outing of the
frankly wonderful “Captain Morgans Revenge”. Perhaps the key
performer, however, was the jaw dropping performance of the youthful
Ian Wilson, who tied the whole yo-ho-ho fuelled madness together
with a tight as a gnats chuff outing that left necks snapped and
brains bruised. The crowd, albeit with an average age of 9, (Well,
they fucking looked like it to me, alright ?) wanted more than a
disturbing short set allowed. I fully suspect that I won't be seeing
any band for the first time this year that are likely to impress so
much as this crew: the most jaw dropping thing was that Alestorm had
only two rehearsals prior to the gig, and that this was their first
ever tour. (See rehearsal footage
here) |
Their jig-happy, yet
crunchy and upbeat seamless blend of folk-metal and more muscular
thrash base seems perfect for drinking and dancing. When Alestorm
tell you that all they need is “Wenches and Mead”, all you can do is
smile and nod in agreement. Set to hit the festival circuit this
summer, these British bruisers showed just why they're such a hot
ticket at the moment. I managed to get an interview in with the
guys, so stay tuned to Live 4 Metal for the full lowdown on all
things Scottish and...erm...pirate in the near future! Band of the
night ? Well, put it this way – Turisas really had their work cut
out for them...
Next up, Norther. I haven't seen
them before, nor had I heard any of their previous outfit before,
which can often make it difficult to enjoy a band live. That being
said, they had an excellent sound on the night, and, it would seem,
a drummer that was sired by dark science between Hitler and Frodo,
at least if his haircut and diminutive stature was anything to go
by. A blend of accessible, almost poppy melodic near-death metal and
downbeat melancholy, I got the impression that while they were
clearly a slick outfit, their music just wasn't right for the rest
of the bill, nor indeed for my tastes, but that aside there was a
hardcore of the audience who seemed to like them. Not crap enough to
hate, nor good enough to enjoy, Norther nether the less supplied an
inoffensive enough soundtrack to me going to the bar... |
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Turisas walked onto the stage to
nothing less than a rapturous reception. Warlord Nygal, ever the
showman, looked across the sweating masses and fixed them with his
steely gaze, before the chaos really ensued. Now, I am not a small
man. Years of an ironclad regime of pies and beer have ensured that
I am some way the wrong side of fifteen stone, and at 6'3'' tall,
I'm fairly tall. So when the crowd of pygmies and emo-fringes rushed
the stage and started a circle pit (to a fucking instrumental
introduction piece, for Gods sake – Jesus, kids in pubs), I was
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| surprised to find myself
pushed against the barriers like driftwood on the tide.
Approximately a fifth of the audience were resplendent in red and
black make up, and the reasons for their adoration soon became
apparent. Bang-on renditions of the lions share of songs from
“Varangian Way”, interspersed with the best of “Battle Metal” would
have been pretty difficult not to make that kind of impression on
the crowd; yet for the first three songs the band do seem curiously
stilted and lifeless. Slowly, surely, the mental crowd (almost
tiresomely so, but then I am a miserable old bastard) thaw out the
hearts of the fierce some Finns, and Nyrgal takes the first (of
many) opportunities to regale us with his tales. Of course, it could
have all been part of the act, but the wrecking crew did seem to
respond to the energy of the crowd, so that by the time “One More”
erupted from the PA, punter and performer were working together in
some kind of symbiotic deadlock, urging each other onto further and
further lunacy. What could be more mental |
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than a room
packed full of sweating men singing along to accordion and violin
led Hollywood battle metal ? Rasputin of course, and right on cue
the place went totally apeshit. Personally, I think it takes up
valuable time that could be better taken playing their own songs,
but who am I to argue with such an enthusiastic crowd ?
As the final applause rang through my ears, one question lingered
still. We all know that Pirates beat Ninjas, and we now know
categorically that Vikings beat Ninjas too. What I was unable to
answer though, is who wins when Pirates meet Vikings ? On tonight's
performance, it seems the result may just be too close to call... |
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