Nightwish – O2 Academy, Birmingham – 6th November 2012

After a 3 hour journey to Birmingham I was greeted by a queue stretching back to the under pass, it looks like tonight is going to be a busy gig. 45 Minutes after the doors open and Pain hit the stage. The venue is pretty full and quite a few seem to be fans of the band. Now not many people can play a set in a straight jacket but Peter Tagtgren managed it. The band sounded good and had a decent length set, as they were the only support act. A good sign of how well a support band is going down well is how busy the bar is when they are on; during their set I was able to get a pint without any trouble. The crowd responded well to the band and they did a good job of warming up for Nightwish.

Setlist

1. Same Old Song
2. End Of The Line
3. Zombie Slam
4. Dirty Woman
5. Monkey Business
6. Great Pretender
7. Dark Fields Of Pain
8. It’s Only Them
9. No & No
10. Shut Your Mouth

Rating: 8/10

After a quick change over it is time for Nightwish with Floor Jansen up front. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had seen a couple of videos from the US tour and I wasn’t convinced. The music from Crimson Tide was used as the intro as they came on stage then they kick off with Storytime. It soon became apparent that my initial worries were unfounded. This wasn’t a band with a fill in singer, this was a complete band! If you didn’t know about the band’s prior history you would have said that they had been together for years. The band seemed relaxed and to really enjoy the gig. Floor has a hell of a voice and the mix of her and Marco’s vocals works really well. The acoustic section of the set sounded great and the acoustic version of Nemo worked really well, although I personally prefer the full heavy version, as it is still one of my favorite songs. There were a few issues with the levels of Floor’s vocals, at the start they were a little quiet and a couple of times later on they were lost by the music a little but nothing major. There was a lot of interaction with the crowd and more singing along than I have heard at a gig for a long time. I think the look on Tuomas’s face when the crowd responded to Floor thanking them for the support said it all, I don’t think I have seen anyone look more proud. This gig reminds me of Tuomas’s genius and just how talented the whole band is. Nightwish are an even better live band than a recording band and they are fantastic at that. Nightwish also need to seriously find a way of keeping Floor if at all possible.

Setlist

1. Storytime
2. Dark Chest Of Wonders
3. Wish I Had An Angel
4. Amaranth
5. The Siren
6. Slow, Love, Slow
7. I Want My Tears Back
8. The Islander
9. Nemo (Acoustic)
10. Last Of The Wilds
11. Planet Hell
12. Ghost River
13. Ever Dream
14. Over The Hills And Far Away
15. Ghost Love Score
16. Last Ride Of The Day

Rating: 9/10

Photos from the gig are here