Tarja – Metropolis Studios, London – 6th June 2016

Tarja – photo courtesy of Paul Harries

The night after Tarja headlined the Rock on Green festival at the Forum, she played a very different show at a recording studio in West London.  In front of a tiny audience of maybe 30-40 people she played material from both her new albums – the newly released “The Brightest Void”, and the upcoming “The Shadow Self”.  It was the most intimate rock show Tarja has ever played, with fans sitting almost at her feet.  The show was being filmed for a future release – check out Planetmosh’s interview with Tarja for more details on that.

This really was a special night, with the fans and press lucky enough to attend getting to hear material from the album that isn’t due to be released for another month or so as well as hearing songs from her newest release.  The fact it was such a small intimate setting though made it even more special.

The tiny amount of space meant that Tarja had no room to move around so she was more static than normal, but that didn’t matter in the slightest as people enjoyed seeing and hearing her perform in this tiny location.  The new songs sounded fantastic, despite this being the first time they’d been performed publicly, and Tarja’s keyboard player did an excellent job with the complicated classical piece he had to play as the intro to one song.  It really was a fantastic experience, and I look forward to watching it when the video is released

After the show Tarja was happy to pose for photos or sign things for fans – something that doesnt normally happen at her shows as the much larger number of people there makes it more difficult.  It was very clear talking to her that she does enjoy meeting fans, and the fans certainly enjoyed meeting her.

Setlist:

No Bitter End
Eagle Eye
Sing For Me
Love To Hate
The Living End
Medusa
Calling From The Wild short
Victim Of Ritual
Die Alive
Innocence
Until My Last Breath
Too Many

About Ant May

I spend half my life at gigs or festivals and the other half writing the reviews and editing photos, and somehow find time for a full time job too. Who needs sleep - I've got coffee.