Concert Review: Nightwish at The Palladium Ballroom

by Kenneth Smith of of 2K7 Photography

After what was nearly a decade-long wait for some folks, Finland's Nightwish graced the stage of Dallas's Palladium Ballroom Sunday night as part of their current Dark Passion Play Tour. It was obvious that the fans had been anticipating this night for quite some time. This was the band's first ever Texas performance. There was a scheduled tour a few years ago following the Once album that included a Texas date, however the tour was subsequently canceled. Adding to the anticipation was the fact that not only has this symphonic operatic power metal (or whatever else you might want to call it) group been steadily on the rise for the last 10 years, but this is also the band's first tour with new vocalist Anette Olzon.

Olzon was announced as the new Nightwish front woman in May of this year after an extensive search for a new singer following the firing of original vocalist (and professional opera singer) Tarja Turunen in late 2005. Though speculation as to how Olzon would sound with the band was quickly answered with the release of their first single, "Eva," off the latest album Dark Passion Play that same month, some fans were still a tad weary of whether she would be able to hold her own with the older songs that originally featured Turunen on vocals. After seeing Sunday night's performance, I can answer that question with another question; Tarja who? It was made overly clear that it's a new day. Olzon not only knows how to work a crowd, but also interacts with other band members, flawlessly performs the songs (both old and new) and does it all without the diva attitude, multiple costume changes, and dress-matching microphones (I must admit, I always thought that was the lamest thing ever) that Turunen was known for.

After what was nearly a one-hour set by supporting act Paradise Lost from England, and a 40-minute set change, Nightwish took the stage at 9:40 p.m. to a packed venue that was loudly chanting the band's name as it had been for some time. The massive backdrop was basically a cleaned up version of the Dark Passion Play album cover. In front of it was the centered drum set on a small riser with skirting that matched the waves/ocean theme of the backdrop and the two huge square banners on either side. First on stage was drummer Jukka Nevalainen and as he stood behind his drums, the crowd erupted in screams as fellow members Tuomas Holopainen (keyboardist, songwriter, genius-behind-Iit-all), Marko Hietala (bassist, male vocals), Emppu (guitarist) and Anette Olzon (vocals) joined him.

Following the eerie intro music, they opened with the newest single "Bye Bye Beautiful" and fans went absolutely nuts. Olzon walked from side to side even stopping to reach out and slap hands with the crowd as she sang. The sound was phenomenal. The lighting was amazing and the bar was set for a stellar show. After the opener and "Amaranth," also from Dark Passion Play, they played a few older songs, "Dark Chest of Wonders" and "Ever Dream" which, as I mentioned earlier, solidified the fact that Olzon sounded great with this band on both new and old songs. It was at this point that bassist Marko asked the crowd (in semi-broken English) if "everything was pleasing so far", to which an onslaught of screams sufficed as the answer.

As they continued to pound out song after song with precision musicianship, the fans reciprocated by loudly singing along with every single one. Emppu and Marko could be seen running back and fourth on stage while playing their guitars and fully engaging the crowd. It was also nice to see band interaction not only in the form of the guitarist and bassist playing back to back (literally) at some point, but also by Olzon singing while resting her head on the shoulder of both Emppu and Marko at different points in the set. They seemed to perform as a truly cohesive unit. After performing the hit single "Nemo" from 2004's Once, the band exited the stage.

After the crowd cheered for what seemed like an eternity Nightwish reclaimed the stage, this time with an extra member. Texas was the only state on this tour that saw the band perform live with John Two-Hawks; an Oglala Lakota Native American musician who is a featured vocalist and cedar flute player on the aforementioned Once album. They performed "Creek Mary's Blood" followed by Two-Hawks reciting a Poem in his native language. It was truly a touching performance and despite the fact that I had no idea what he was saying, I found myself captivated by the words. The last 2 songs of the night were "Wishmaster" (from the 2000 Wishmaster album) and "Wish I Had an Angel" (from Once).

During the course of the nearly two-hour set, they played approximately a decade's worth of music from five different albums. Not a single moment went by where my thoughts were allowed to wander. Having waited such a long time to see this band live, they truly made it worth every second of the wait. An incredible performance was delivered. I can't imagine a complaint could be had by anyone who was in attendance. I can only say that hopefully the wait for the next Texas Nightwish show will not be nearly as long.