Live Reviews : Nightwish & Taberah @ The Forum Theatre, Melbourne 11/01/2016

Words: Jonathon Besanko

Images: Matt Allan

(Click here to view the full gallery)

It has been a little over a decade since I was first introduced to Nightwish by a friend of mine in my early high school days (about circa 2004 when I was in year 8). Having recently gotten into metal music with Disturbed and Iron Maiden, my friend showed me this song called “She Is My Sin” by this Finnish band I’d never heard of before. I loved it so much I almost burnt out my old MP3 player from playing it too much. It was my first real bit of exposure to a European band back then, and showed twelve year old me just how diverse this genre can actually be. Shortly after this did my love affair with all kinds of metal music really begin. I have always wanted to see Nightwish live, and at long last I was finally getting my chance tonight.

Taberah

Taking place at the gorgeous Forum Theatre, I last saw Opeth here in May last year, and now as then I am still just as dazzled by the exterior and interior design of this venue. It’s lavish and traditional, yet never overly flamboyant or gaudy. The crowds had already entered the venue by the time I arrived at about twenty to 8. Tonight was sold out. And upon entering, people of all walks were chatting, waiting on the upper levels, sitting amongst the booths, with the floor area already full. When the single opener for this evening, Taberah, emerged on stage at 8pm, they were greeted by a decent number of fans at the front rows, and by set’s end, seemed to have gained a fair few new ones.

I’ll admit, despite already being a fan of their music, the Tasmanian traditional heavy metallers had felt somewhat of an odd choice to me when they were first announced as one of only two support acts for this tour (the other being Voyager for the last two shows). With their style being very separate from Nightwish’s own, I was neither sure how it would feel with Taberah opening for them, or equally how the Nightwish crowd would respond to them. But as the night kicked off for Taberah with the title track of their second album, ‘Necromancer’, alongside some always welcomed banter from guitarist/frontman Jonathon Barwick – a personal favourite being “You guys must be nervous. First time seeing a Tasmanian in the wild” – it very quickly became obvious to me why Taberah was chosen. This band felt completely at home up on stage, even with The Forum’s stage being far larger than the much smaller bars and clubs they would usually play. At every point in their set, they sold it to me (and a lot of others too given the huge applause at a number of intervals) that they belonged up there. Moreover, that they deserved to be up there. They were tight from start to finish, and moments such as the midway point in their song “Requiem of the Damned” where they performed a prominent cover of Black Sabbath‘s “War Pigs”, served as the cherry on top to their performance. I also must give props to drummer Tom Brockman. Despite suffering food poisoning only about 36 hours earlier, he went in like a trooper and didn’t miss a single beat.

Nightwish

As the intro music flowed in over the audience, the fervour amongst the crowd grew; echoing one of the most powerful crowd claps I’ve heard at a show ever. The echo The Forum created made it feel that much more epic, and before long Nightwish brought their Finnish magic to the stage with “Shudder Before the Beautiful”. “It’s great to be back here in Melbourne,” announced lead vocalist Floor Jansen to the enraptured masses. “It’s been three years. Something tells me this is going to be a special one, what do you say!” To which was met with great applause. Floor Jansen has only been officially with Nightwish now since late 2013 (having been a session member in the band originally from 2012), yet had you not known better, you could be forgiven thinking she’d been with them far longer. What immediately grabbed me not only with Floor’s performance, but also with Nightwish as a whole, was the chemistry the band shared on stage. For the entire evening, the overall atmosphere and feeling on stage was one of genuine enjoyment and happiness, and that crossed over to the audience. The band and everyone in it looked actually genuinely thrilled to be here. A lot of bands usually say something to the effect of “it’s great to be back in your country”, and while they may enjoy themselves, rarely is it the case that you truly see this on the faces and body language of the band members in question. But the latter here was wholly true of Nightwish. Especially when concerning Floor Jansen and bassist/vocalist Marco Hietala. These two in particular complemented each other and bounced off one another so fluidly, with one of their best moments arriving during a crowd clap/chant that saw Floor and Marco high-five one another, laugh, and then continue to belt out their respective notes. I adored the energy and camaraderie on stage.

Nightwish

This was true of the rest of the band, also. Even keyboardist/pianist Tuomas Holopainen, who often felt on stage to be the silent, almost tortured looking soul (transfixed solely by his keyboard), would smile widely whenever Floor came and poked him. There was this great cohesion among the members that carried for their whole performance, and each was more than happy to share the limelight with the others. There were no egos. Floor rose Nightwish to their best, and honestly can I say that Nightwish as a collective – further taking into account the many individual talents of its members – feel at their strongest and best here as they ever have. They commanded the stage and were simply breathtaking live. Each member gave their all to the show, with long-time guitarist Emppu Vuorinen this quiet genius behind the fretboard; never seeking too much spotlight, but standing out every time. Hietala was mesmerising on their softer songs; Troy Donockley was a revelation on the Uilleann pipes and whistles; and Kai Hahto, the session drummer for Nightwish’s current tour cycle, brought a new expertise to the band – with his play-style incorporating his extreme/melodic roots in the likes of Wintersun and past Swallow The Sun meant he was constantly drumming out about three separate rhythms at any given moment, yet it always flowed so brilliantly.

Nightwish felt as one tonight and that seemed to resonate often with the audience. Truly one of the best shows I have ever had the pleasure to attend. The rest of 2016 has a lot to live up to.

Tomorrow night, Nightwish hit Adelaide before the band round out the final date of their Australian tour in Fremantle on Friday 15th. Tickets are on sale now. Get yours below.

Related Posts

• 

  El Colosso – Forgotten Ancestors
• 

  HJELVIK – Welcome to Hel
• 

  AC/DC – Power Up
• 

  Scour – Black