Nightwish (the band) finally touring the US
 

Finally, Nightwish is touring the US. They've played a few isolated dates here in the past, but this is the first time they've embarked on a full US tour.

They'll be playing in Lawrence, KS on May 27th, and in Sauget, IL (St. Louis metro east) on the 28th. This is a must-see for fans of symphonic power metal.

they are going to be in lawrence. i got my eye black and spike collar ready

Bought 4 tix a couple months ago. My niece is coming in from Iowa for the show. Her first real show. Should be fun.

Who else is going tonight?

I don't know, Within Temptation is still the best of those styles of bands with the chick singers; best singer, best music, everything.

They're great, Sharon is a great performer and vocalist. Sadly, they don't appear in the area very often. Best of that genre we've seen around here in the last couple of years is Lacuna Coil.

WOW!
Best club show I've seen in the last year. Nightwish brought a huge amount of energy. Some of the best double-kick drumming I have ever seen. Annet Olzen had an incredible amount of energy, and did a great job helping those long-time Nightwish fans forget about Tarja.

I now know where Johnny Depp got his inspiration for Captain Jack Sparrow... Tuomas (Nightwish keyboardist and primary composer) was a dead ringer. Here's an old pic...

BTW, from the opening act, gotta share.

Sonic Syndicate from Sweden opened the show, and I'm kickin' it in the balcony, and I look up and there's this smallish person playing bass with an incredible enthusiasm... so I pay closer attention, and it's a chick.

I find out that the bass player's name is Karin Axelsson, and she appeared in Revolver's issue featuring the hottest chicks in metal... DAMN! I wish I had gotten closer to the stage!

Bought Oceanborn at Cargo Largo this weekend, on the strength of their cred here.
How does this disc measure in their discography?

Oceanborn was pretty good. I think Once was their best album with Tarja, but Dark Passion Play with Anette Olzen doing the vocals is pretty solid, but definitely a departure due to the vocal style change.

She is SMOKING hot.
How were Sonic Syndicate?

They were OK, but I could've done without their scrowling vocalist, but seeing how the band is 3 brothers (2 guitar, 1 vocalist) + 3 others, I doubt they'll ditch the scrowler.

And yes, Karin was rocking very hard. If he stage performance is any indicator, she's leaving a wake of broken men behind her in every town they perform in.

oceanborn is a great disc and so is wishmaster...... Century Child is the one I like best... The new one is good to but theres a few weak tracks....

Oceanborn is not their best, not their worst. Of course, their worst is better than most bands' best. It was probably the most progressive and most technical of all their albums, though. I'd put it about even with Angels Fall First and Once, slightly behind Wishmaster and Century Child (which are tied for my favorites of the Tarja era). As much as I like Tarja, though, Dark Passion Play is rapidly becoming my favorite Nightwish album. Yes, there are some weak tracks, but all of the albums have a weak track or two. The only song that I'd really consider weak off Dark Passion Play is "For the Heart I Once Had"), they just didn't flesh it out as well as they could have.

Okay, onto the concert review. It was standing room only, and the club personnel told me it was within a dozen or two tickets of completely selling out, which is almost unheard of for a non-weekend club date with a band that isn't top of the charts in America. They said it was the biggest crowd they can remember for a weekday show, and it rivaled some of the crowds for big-name bands on weekend shows.

Sonic Syndicate was pretty good, they rocked the house pretty well. They've got a good overall sound, but like others here, I can do without the screechy and howling vocals. They've got some clean vocals, too, just not enough of them. I guess that's what's en vogue with metalcore bands, though. And yes, I totally agree, Karin is hot, hot, hottttt! I was about ten feet away and couldn't take my eyes off of her!

But Nightwish just blew me away, as they knew they would. It was by far the best club show I've seen, and it rivaled some of the best arena shows I've seen. Like Braincase said, there's no longer any worry that Annette can't fill Tarja's shoes. I knew she sounded good on her own material, but I wasn't sure how she would do singing Tarja's songs. But she did quite well with them! She doesn't have Tarja's full soprano range, but she did a great job of finding alternate melodies that fit her vocal range and still fit the song.

I was a little surprised that they opened with "Bye, Bye, Beautiful." I was expecting them to save that until later in the show, and to open with "The Poet & the Pendulum." Instead, the opened the second half of their show with "Poet," after a short intermission. Marco and Annette bantered and joked back and forth quite a bit, really keeping the crowd in it. They were obviously having a lot of fun on stage. Annette was dressed in an adorable Heidi-style traditional Swedish outfit, befitting her homeland (she's from Sweden, the rest are from Finland) and was quite the entertainer prancing and dancing around the stage like a little pixie!

The high point of the show was the first song of the encore, for which they brought out John Two Hawks and performed "Creek Mary's Blood," complete with the Native American flutes that John plays. Interestingly, he also did some of the singing, in the English-language parts of the song, complementing Annette, a role usually filled by Marco. Did they do that in KC? She said they were only doing it for some of the shows this tour, but not for all of them.

i just looked at their site and seen they are coming to st Pete,Fla on 9/21 ,I'm gonna try and go if i can get someone to go with me which i very much doubt lol.

Did they play Master Passion Greed at the show? thats my favorite song off of DPP.

They didn't play it at the St. Louis show, unfortunately. I was hoping they would. I don't know about the KC show.

Within Temptation is a great band. But I'd hardly put them above Nightwish. Nightwish is far, far more versatile, delving into a lot more styles than WT. WT is very good at what they do, but they're pretty much a one-trick pony. However, I haven't heard their latest album, so they may have broadened their horizons a bit. But their previous stuff was hardly distinguishable from groups like Epica and Arwen, except that Sharon's vocals are better ... and she deserves a place on that "hottest chicks in metal" list.

Sharon... Floor... Liv-Kristen... Cristina...Anette...Tarja...

I love this genre. Add Karin to that list, too.

Ooh, Floor Jansen! Not quite as pretty as the others, but still no slouch. But I love her voice! I'd put After Forever right up there with Nightwish, almost neck and neck. Incredibly good stuff, and very versatile, like Nightwish. Her stuff with Ayreon and Star One t'ain't bad, neither!

Best rack of the litter.