Concert Review: Nightwish 05/23 San Diego

Don't you love coincidence? The second time I ever visit San Diego for a weekend Nightwish just happens to be playing on a tour where they skipped Seattle. Awesome.

Unfortunately I came late to the Nightwish scene, only getting into them after Once came out and not even checking out their back catalog until recently. As much as I am ashamed to say that, I still consider them one of my favorite bands. Their 2005 North America tour was canceled so I was never able to see them with Tarja. When they came to Seattle last Halloween in support of Dark Passion Play it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen. It's a fantastic feeling to see a band live that you have been listening to for years.

Anyway, back to San Diego. I got to the show 10 minutes before they hit the stage, so I don't know-or really care-who opened. It's weird seeing a show in a city that you don't call home. It just doesn't feel as...intimate I guess. I'm used to seeing shows with the majority of the crowd being 15-30 year-olds. House of Blues has a policy that if you are under 18 you must be with a parent. WTF? So almost a quarter of the audience were middle-agers who weren't into the music. Weird.

Nightwish, however was damn near perfect. They sounded awesome and I didn't even need to use my earplugs. (Yes, I know it's metal to be loud but I just can't stand a noise-induced ear hangover) Like I mentioned earlier I have been listening to their earlier works a lot recently so I was pretty disappointed that their setlist was EXACTLY the same as it was 6 months ago; playing almost exclusively recent material. None of it was bad, I was just hoping for a little more variety. They were energetic, happy and had a moderate interaction with the crowd. Annette is still absolutely gorgeous and I'm pretty sure most of the guys were just staring at her cleavage the whole show.

Even though it wasn't as thrilling as the first time I saw them, it was still as epic as you would expect a Nightwish show to be. Good times.

Energy 4/5

Sound 5/5

Crowd Interaction 3/5

Song Selection 3/5

Concert Review: Paganfest 05/05 Seattle

I have been looking forward to this show for a long time. I got into Ensiferum about a year ago and Victory Songs quickly became one of my favorite albums. Turisas I had always known but I never took the time to listen to them much. Tyr and Eluveitie I only recently started listening to.

 

Eluveitie

Slania is so far my favorite album of 2008. Its new take on both melodic death and folk metal is extremely refreshing and its not often that you hear a band that is in a genre of its own. After hearing Slania, I picked up Spirit, musically similar but with a lower production quality. Before the show I was able to meet with Chrigel the lead singer and give him an interview. It was a very fun time and it's cool to see a lead singer who is so friendly and down to earth. The interview is posted in MP3 and text.

Their live show was fantastic! At first I was skeptical about how interactive they would be considering they have 8 members in the band. These doubts were swept away seconds into their opening song. They were navigate the stage surprisingly well and had some very cool choreographed headbanging and water-spitting. They played a selection from the two aforementioned albums and the sound was crisp and clean, although at times I had trouble hearing the hurdy-gurdy and fiddle. I have never seen a crowd react so well to an opening band before.

Energy 4/5

Sound 4/5

Crowd Interaction 4/5

Song Selection 5/5

Tyr

Hardly even worth mentioning. I've always thought their recordings were good but unoriginal and slow at times. Their live show was awul. Tyr stood in place and did absolutely nothing special. They only played about 5 songs, one of which is from their most recent album and two of which are unreleased so the crowd couldn't really get into. And for some reason it sounded like they weren't hooked up to the PA. Didn't even bother taking pictures.

Energy 2/5

Sound 2/5

Crowd Interaction 3/5

Song Selection 1/5

Turisas

I've heard that Turisas is an amazing live band and it's true. They were extremely energetic, very crowd-oriented and the costumes/war paint they wore only helped their performance. Hearing their version of 'Rasputin' live was incredible; the audience went crazy. They sounded BETTER than they do on their albums, I have no idea how that is possible. Oh yeah, and their accordion player was insanely hot. One of the best live bands I have ever seen.

Energy 5/5

Sound 6/5

Crowd Interaction 5/5

Song Selection 5/5

Ensiferum

Ensiferum was initially the only reason I wanted to go to this show. I was extremely excited to hear 'One More Magic Potion' and 'Blood is the Price of Glory' live and they did not disappoint. They had a very good mix between the songs, playing mostly Victory Songs and Iron stuff. Unfortunately they hardly spoke to the crowd definitely could have used the stage space a lot better. Their sound seemed somewhat quiet and I'm still questioning their decision to put their keyboard in the corner hidden between a banner and the rhythm guitarist. Nevertheless it was still wonderful to see them play; a great end to a great night.

Energy 3/5

Sound 4/5

Crowd Interaction 2/5

Song Selection 5/5

Overall the show was fantastic. I have always loved tours with multiple semi-well know bands instead ones that have one big headliner with a bunch of unknown. Paganfest was an extremely unique tour and its popularity proves that the folk metal scene is finally started to get the praise it deserves in this part of the world. It's going to be a long time before I forget this show.