Lots of people since 2 hours before the opening doors in the street, and we felt it would be a great and "sold out" concert.
Huge place! we don't have such places in Galicia!!!
So a little bit after 9 PM Pain started with those three beats announcing "Same old song".
And wow!!!!
Those beats made me shake and open my eyes as much as I could! What a f****g sound!!
The volume was really ok... intruments were perfectly mixed... sound was just perfect! I can say maybe the best sound in a concert I am glad to be present ever.
And here I must say I thought, what a s**t of sound technicians we have in Galicia!!... and small places!!
Maybe they are doing the best, maybe it's difficult to get a good sound, but people behind the machines could help something for avoiding the reduction in our hearing ability, and not finishing with a bothering whistle every one of the concerts we have in this zone.
Well so Pain started with Same old song, a good song and starting, with Peter Tägtgren in front of the band completely recovered.
Pain - Same Old Song
They seemed to be in some kind of rush, cause they didn't lose any time in words or stops, songs were one after one successively with no time for breathing.
Really experienced, Peter did a good job as frontman, and the band did a perfect show, which I enjoyed absolutely, being the big shots of the night Nailed to the Ground, where they changed a bit some part making it a bit extreme, (it rocked like hell), and Shut your mouth, one of their successful songs, really catchy.
I think public enjoyed quite a lot their show.
Pain - Shut Your Mouth
The bad thing of Pain was the really few time they were playing, just around 40 min. I think people there were enjoying a lot with their show and maybe 2 or 3 more songs would be perfect.
It was too fast, and I was with the feeling "already finished??? come on!!"
Setlist
Same Old Song
Eleanor Rigby
End Of The Line
Zombie Slam
Nailed to The Ground
Just Hate Me
On and On
Shut Your Mouth
Well, so the time for Nightwish came, it was quite exciting to see for first time the band that surprised me so many years ago with that Oceanborn, with or without Tarja Turunen (better with, but now it's pointless to think about it).
The opening was "Bye bye beautiful", (the "dedicated" song hehe) after a too long intro.
Anette is the center of attention, like I guess in all the tour Nightwish is doing, due to be the frontwoman and substitute of Tarja. She did a good job making songs from the new album "Dark Passion Play", like this first"Bye bye beautiful", they were very ok, helped by the amazing sound. And her way of moving, "dancing" and being over the scenary improved really a lot after seen her first shows, where she didn't know almost to shake and looked like an absolute beginner (though she was already singer for some time in that forgettable band Alyson Avenue, this makes me to think that band didn't make so many concerts...).
The setlists in those first shows after the release of Dark Passion Play didn't help either, playing half new and half old stuff which her voice cannot handle at all. The comparison between Tarja's voice and hers is just ridiculous. No point to discussion. So what she (the band) was doing lastly was to fit those old songs to her voice, making lower sometimes the tone Tarja sang, or changing the melody for not sounding bad without making the effort of emulating the high-tones of the previous singer.
Anyway, this try can fit sometimes, but others we could see a rather forced voice of Anette.
Just for a fast sight, here we can see her version of Dark Chest Of Wonders, after the song Bye Bye Beautiful, with lots of mistakes and seemed quite forced if we compare to Tarja:
Nightwish - Dark Chest Of Wonders
The setlist from those first times was quite different from these last ones
***Pre-Anette songs
Missed/changed in the last show
1. Bye Bye Beautiful
2. Cadence Of Her Last Breath
3. Dark Chest Of Wonders
***4. Ever Dream
***5. Come Cover Me
6. Amaranth
***7. Sacrament Of Wilderness
8. The Islander
9. The Poet And The Pendulum
***10. She Is My Sin
11. Sahara
***12. Sleeping Sun
***13. Slaying The Dreamer
***14. Nemo
------------------------------
15. Eva
***16. Wishmaster
***17. Wish I Had An Angel
Taken from the first show with Anette (Tallinn 26.09.2007)
So the conclusion is quite clear, they were changing mostly old songs like wishmaster, sleeping sun or sacrament of wilderness, which Anette had to force too much her voice, wasting them and making them sound really worst. They realized of that, and changed almost half songs of those first setlists for making a better show.
It has some good points like the show we saw in Porto was quite good, not too much sang out of tune those Tarja's period songs (cause they had chosen not very complicated songs for Anette's voice), but it has also a quite bad point, like we are losing the best Nightwish songs, those first ones (under my point of view).
The rest of the band were excellent, overall Marco Hietala, who wears presence, voice and attitude like no other bassist-singer. Everyone of the band has remarkable personality, the always-smiling and funny Emppu, the almost-spiritual Tuomas, and Jukka with his own and personal way of playing drums... but Marco is an institution. Just in one word: powerful.
Lots of sampling, necessary for their music, but it makes the show a bit artificial, not so fresh. But in the good side, I have to say that sampling sounded very ok mixed with the music in live. Anyway we cannot think that they would come with an orchestra of 50 people with them.
I recall it sounded strange when I was there, but the refrain of Ever Dream is sooo awfully sang when I watched the video we recorded!!
Just look it from 1:08 min. and going on...
Nightwish - Ever Dream
Nightwish - The Siren
About the show itself.. I was told they left the fireworks cause it was dangerous in a place like the Coliseu, but anyway they have a very nice light sight show, and I suppose it would be great to see those fires and so on.. but it was ok.
Another difference between Anette and Tarja (apart from voice) is that she shows much closer to public than the other "diva". Tarja seemed sometimes to be in other world, and the interaction seemed sometimes not very natural. Well, Anette talked with us and so on, I don't know, like some people said to me "it is for emphasize the difference between old one and new one", "she hasn't the same voice, but at least she can communicate and not changing clothes every few minutes and resting" (I guess, the reason in last shows with Tarja, Nightwish started to make cover songs where Marco was the only singer, like that Symphony of Destruction (Megadeth) or Wild Child (WASP)).
Anyway Marco is powerful :P
Well, right now, they don't do those cover songs, but Anette can also rest cause Nightwish are playing already 2 songs made by them like While Your Lips Are Still Red and The Islander, where she can rest.
By the way, though I like a lot that song, The Islander, it sounded quite empty in the concert. The lack of bagpipes and flute made it a bit tasteless.. even Anette, who was making some choir in the original left to the backstage :(
So here you have a prove of the interaction with people. But, I really expected something more, like Rob Halford used to do or .. I don't know... just saying when she ended, our face was like... "uh?? what? just that? pfff.. "
I think she could avoid making that short poor "demonstration of voice"...
Nightwish - Anette talking
Really lots of people in the concert, but I have to say that all around us were persons between 15 and 20 years old, maybe the public Nightwish was searching with that change of singer and change of bit more commercial style.
But anyway, public in Portugal is great! And it really made a better show, all were singing and jumping, the ambient was excellent, much better than what I used to see here in Galicia, where people are quite dull and seems almost boring in concerts... though afterwards "the show was great!!yeah!!" (...) and "everyone lives one concert on his own way" like someone replied me... well ok... so behaving like this, you will have lots of concerts near home, trust me ;)
Nightwish - Nemo
I think the most acclaimed songs for fans where the single Amaranth, Nemo, Wish I Had an Angel and the first one Bye bye Beautiful.
So summing up;
- A really worth concert, Anette fails with the old songs, which every concert are less and less (when they release a new album, I guess there will be just 3 or 4 of the Tarja's period), but she keeps very well singing the new ones. She also makes Nightwish closer to the fans, talking and so on. There is a good evolution after those first concerts.
- Marco is powerful hehe
- The sound of the place, amazing, one of the best I've ever seen, maybe the best. Finally I got to go to one concert with high volume and not having after that whistle in my ears for days..
Sound technicians in Galicia.. please leave your jobs.. my hearing ability would thank that ;)
- Public, amazing. Now I understand why there are so many concerts and festivals in Portugal.
- The setlist: bad. I'd like more old songs, and anyway, I didn't like the choosing of the new ones, those 2 ballads sang by Marco and some songs at half-tempo like Sahara or The Siren made the concert sometimes a bit slow (hopefully they forgot Eva).
- The concert of Pain and Nightwish was too short!! 40 min. for Pain (I enjoyed a lot their too short show) and 1:30 for Nightwish is not that much! and here I think Nightwish skipped playing some songs they were playing in Madrid and Barcelona, like Come Cover Me or The Last of the Wilds.
Setlist (not sure about the song order, but they are all)
Intro
Bye Bye Beautiful
Dark Chest Of Wonders
Whoever Brings The Night
Ever Dream
The Siren
While Your Lips Are Still Red
Amaranth
The Poet and The Pendulum
The Islander
Sahara
Nemo
-------
Dead To The World
Wish I Had An Angel