Nightwish Edmonton Show Review

Wow this took awhile to get around to doing. This past weekend I had the chance to check off the third of my five favourite european metal bands off my "I must see these bands" list. I was truly surprised to find out that Nightwish was coming to Edmonton to play a sold out show at the Starlite room. I was surprised that they were coming, and I was also surprised that they sold out faster than the other two bands I saw: Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius. Maybe it's the female singer that makes them more attractive to more people. Not sure. Anyways, Diane and I arrived a bit late to the Starlite room, and already an impressive looking line had formed all the way down the block. So there was nothing for us to do except go to the back of the line and wait for about 35-40 minutes to get in. Such is the state of going to the Starlite, since that has been the way of things in the past. On the plus side, the weather was beautiful so waiting in line wasn't a big deal.

While in line the opening band started up. It didn't really look like we were missing anything, and I didn't even bother to find out who was playing. Then again, it's really hard to tell since the volume was turned up so loud. *sigh*. The problem with live concerts.

So Diane and I found our spot on the right side of the venue on the stairs descending to the floor. It was packed in there though, so it took awhile to squirm into a good spot. It took a long time, as usual, for the main band to have all their gear setup and sound tested, but after the long wait Nightwish finally came on stage.

Nightwish has undergone a bit of turmoil in the recent months. They fired their distinctive lead singer after the band decided that they were not on the same page concerning the direction of the band (or something, I'm not really familiar with the situation). This made for some troubling times as the band tried to find someone to replace her. I'm not sure they ever would've found someone with quite as deep and powerful a voice as Tarja, but they did find someone who does a pretty darn good job. The new vocalist didn't sing too many classic Nightwish songs, but the ones that she did do she did pretty well I'd have to say.

Here's the setlist for the night:

1. Intro + Bye Bye Beautiful

2. Dark Chest of Wonders

3. Who ever brings the night

4. The Siren

5. Amaranth

6. Islander

7. The Poet and the Pendulum

8. Come Cover Me

9. While Your Lips are Still Red

10. Sahara

11. Nemo

12. 7 days

13. Dead to the World

14. Wish I had an Angel

All in all the show was amazing. The various members of the band are quite good at their respective intruments. The keyboardist isn't as flashy as the one in Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica, but that's okay. One of the guitarist's sported a rather epic beard/hair combination.

It's been a few days since the event, so I don't remember too many details. Also I wanted to get this post up before I forgot about it entirely. I took some video that I'd like to share, but I need to post process it so I can upload it somewhere useful (I was thinking flickr). That might take a little while.

Anyways, it was a pretty good show, and I was quite happy that I got the chance to go!

Heraldk

Sonata Arctica Show Review

This was a long time coming. I've been so busy this last week that I haven't had a chance to talk about the latest Sonata Arctica concert here in Edmonton.

SA made their second appearance in two years at Edmonton's Starlite room last week. I was able to get tickets and go, so I continued to support the band's efforts to increase their North American fanbase. If they keep coming back they should do just that ... this show was sold out!

My only real complaint about the show was that it was too short. They got on stage late due to the doors opening at 8:00pm, and two opening bands on the slate. The first opening band "The Order Chaos" was not too bad. They only played three songs, but I might have to look into their music a little more to see if I like it. The second band was called "Sanctity", and they were ... almost as different from Sonata Arctica as you could get and still stay in the same genre of music. Sure they had metal riffs on the guitars, but where Sonata Arctica is classy, melodic, and appealing, Sanctity was rude, crass, and unappealing. I couldn't wait for them to get off the stage.

It's too bad SA couldn't play a longer set. They totally have the repertoire to play a two hour or longer set, but because of the late start there was no way that was going to happen. Still, they did play a good set, and I enjoyed getting the chance to try and take some band-in-action photography and video with my P&S camera. I think I did a decent job!

Big news as well, Edmonton... Nightwish is coming to town to play the Starlite room! I've already bought my tickets (you can get them in a presale from a link off their webpage). So once I see them, then all I've got to see is Kamelot and Rhapsody and I'll have seen my top 5 favourite metal bands! How exciting!

Heraldk

Camping Weekend

This weekend a group of us went out to Elk Island National Park to get some camping in before the summer came to a close. It was a rather enjoyable weekend that included a short excursion back to the city to attend a BBQ at my Uncle's place. We got in a quick hike on Saturday morning, but mostly we kind of sat around for awhile and relaxed in front of the campfire. We played some cards and some boggle, but other than that we mostly just enjoyed the wonderful outdoors. There was a bit of an adventure though with my car. You see, on Sunday morning, Marc discovered that my tire was looking a little flat. A couple of hours later, it was starting to sag down to the rim. Oops! Turns out I had run over a bit of metal, likely at one of the many construction sites that I passed through. Doh. Well, instead of fiddling with putting on the spare tire and limping back to Edmonton, Diane had a handy AMA membership that we used to get a tow back into Edmonton.

It was a rather full weekend! After getting back, I was super tired so I went to bed super early: like 9:30, and didn't get up this morning until eight in the morning. Yay uber sleep! All in all, a good weekend and a good chance to get into the outdoors again and enjoy some camping.

Heraldk

Edmonton Sonata Arctica Show Review

Well last night was the Sonata Arctica concert that I've been looking forward to for quite awhile. For those who don't know, Sonata Arctica is a Finnish melodic metal band that took the scene by storm when they released their first full length album. When I first heard some of their music, they almost immediately became part of my musical library. This was the 2nd of two shows that I thought I'd never ever see in Edmonton. The first was Stratovarius in October of 2004. Both of these bands have huge followings over in Europe, but North America hasn't seemed to have discovered how good this genre can be. Oh well, I suppose the radio would probably ruin it anyways. Damn radio.

Anyways. I was pretty pumped for the show. The opening band, going by the name of "Helden" got going around 9:30 or so. This was a band I had not heard of, and probably with reason. They were a pretty new band and while their guitarists showed a lot of promise, I was totally turned away from them because the vocalist did nothing more than scream into the mic. I'm sorry, that's just not appealing to me.

Finally, SA took over the stage, and the wait was totally worth it. Tony, the band's lead vocalist has an absolutely amazing voice ... more so than I thought from the records. I was very impressed with how he was able to sing in a very clear high melodic voice and then switch over to a growly kind of tone that still kept the essence of the melody. Such talent!

The keyboardist was sensational. He had a keytar, which was a very cool way for him to show off how damn fast he could move his fingers! Its just not fair ... some people can play way too darn well. The keyboardist was featured many times on the albums playing dueling solos with the guitarist, and the show was an incredible example of why this should be done way more often. If the keyboardist hands went blazingly fast, the guitarist's fingers had to have gone at least as fast!

Incredible on many levels. The band played one encore of three songs. The first "song" being a medley of a whole lot of big songs that they didn't play during the show. They then went on to play two more crazy fast songs including Don't Say a Word, and then delayed the final chord of the last song as long as was possible.

The best part was how much the band looked like they were enjoying themselves. Particularly Tony who added little fun quirks into some portions of the music. I forgot to mention that Tony was dressed in some crazy plaid pants. Yeah, that's right, plaid pants. Taken aback at first, I couldn't help but think ... cool!

All in all, I was very happy with the show. Tony promised the crowd that they'd be back to Edmonton sometime after their next album. I think I will have to be there!

Heraldk

Edmonton Stratovarius Show Review

Boy was I excited. And nervous. Since I found out that Stratovarius was coming to town, I was really wondering what sort of crowd would turn up to a band that is, as far as I know, virtually unknown in town. I was also nervous that the people I had dragged to come see the show (like Diane) wouldn't like it and be forced to endure a few hours of misery.

Thankfully, I really had no reason to worry. Metal fans came out of the woodwork and we had a decent sized crowd - more people than I expected for sure!

Now for my show review.

I arrived at the door around 8:00. The starlite room is a members only club - so some of the people in my group needed memberships. We hung around there and got memberships for them and then entered the place. This was the first time I'd been at the starlite room - it was a pretty neat venue. Pretty small, but my first thoughts were that it was an awesome little venue to see a top notch band like Stratovarius.

The opening band, Into Eternity, started up at 8:45pm sharp. I had not heard anything by them before, and I think its obvious that I would have benefited from doing a little research before hand. I wish people would realize that its not all about making music as loud as possible. Sure, more volume can make things sound really good. But the clarity and balance of all the instruments together that makes for a good listening experience. That is my biggest complaint for the opening band - they seemed extremely talented, but because of the balance issues, I could barely hear the middle range of the vocals. The only notes we heard were when they were growling into their mics or when the lead singer hit some super high notes. I may have to take a listen to some of their music to see if I like them. Unfortunately, the show was not enough to make me buy a cd right then and there.

Finally, Stratovarius made it on stage, and they started in with a great deal of energy. The volume/balance issue did affect them too, but to a lesser extent as more of the Strato songs included quieter ballad songs that took us away from the sheer volume for a few songs. Still, the balance was a major complaint of mine and if I hadn't heard the songs before I think I would've enjoyed the show a little less than I did.

Don't get me wrong - the show was amazing. I find myself wishing that I had more time to spend with my keyboard to try and learn how to play as well as Jens Johannson. For those who don't know, he used to play backup keyboards for Yngwie Malmsteen - often heralded as one of the best speed guitar players. So Jens is a pretty amazing keyboardist since he was able to keep up with Yngwie, and is now playing with Timo Tolkki - who is pretty amazing as well.

They could've kept playing for another hour and half at least and not run out of songs. Stratovarius has a long list of cds they've put out over the years. I think the count is up at 12 cds or something, and almost all the songs on the discs are good enough to be played in a live show like this one. Unfortunately, they couldn't play all night, since they needed to be in Calgary the next day ... They gave us a good selection of music from their repertoire, including some old and some new.

They played two encores - the first ending with Hunting High and Low and the second ending with ... of course ... Black Diamond. There was a startling number of fans who knew the words to many of the songs and that was pretty sweet.

All in all, it was a pretty incredible evening. I'm very happy that they came to town, and at the end of their show they had a slide at the back that said they were coming back in 2007! Woohoo!

Maybe I can drag a few more people to the show this time ;-)

Heraldk

Stratovarius coming to EDMONTON????

Wow. So anyone else who'll be in Edmonton on October 2nd needs to pay attention. Stratovarius is coming to town! For those who don't know, Stratovarius is one of Europe's biggest names in the melodic metal genre - they have something like 11 CDs currently out with a 12th one being released in the near future. The band is apparently deciding to finally try a North American tour - and they are hitting *several* Canadian towns. This is a band that is used to playing huge rock concerts with thousands of people cheering for them on the big stage. So to catch these guys in a city where a lot of people have never even heard of them is pretty crazy. Especially in the small Starlite Room venue!

If you haven't heard of Stratovarius, but like some heavy metal music without the screaming, check them out. If you're interested, you should check out the show - its only $25 a ticket, and there's no telling whether they will be back or not!

Heraldk