Live Bands 2009 - Nightwish Brixton Academy 11/3

PJA & Lovely Anette

The end of a fantastic gig. Tuomas, Anette & Jukka.

Anette in full glory!

Anette Olzon

Tuomas - Pure Genius

Marco - Awesome

Anette Olzon

PJA & Emppu

Jukka - Pulsating!

PJA & Tuomas

PJA & Marco

The NW-UK Fans and band before the Brixton gig.

This has to go down as the greatest gig i've ever had the privilige to attend.
This was my 3rd Nighwish gig -the others being in 2008 at the Astoria London and The Birmingham Academy.
For a start Nightwish are just the best as far as i'm concerned. Never has a band had such an inspirational effect on me. Right from the amazing lyrics from the genuis that is Tuomas Holopainen, to the amazing musicianship and epic stage performances - Truly awesome.
Secondly, I had a pass to meet the band before the gig....

This is the account of my day that I wrote for the Nighwish U-K Fanzine. Apologies I know it is a little long.

Its 09:10 at a draughty Northampton Railway Station and i've just missed the 9:05 to Euston;not the greatest of starts. Still only twenty minutes to wait for the next one , today nothing can spoil my day. I search the platforms (both of them) i'm expecting to see hordes of Nightwish fans just like me making the pilgrimage down to the capital to see their heroes. Alas I am on my own except for a daytrippers and city bankers- bet they've never even heard of Nightwish the poor things. Once in London I headed straight to Piccadilly Circus on the Tube, no apparent reason just felt like the right thing to do? Followed by a wander around Covent Garden and then to Soho. Before anyone gets the wrong idea I was off to Berwick St Market to check out the CD shops! Sadly there are very few still open now a sign of the times no doubt. The same could be said for that wonderful old watering hole 'The Intrepid Fox' in Wardour St which is all boarded up. I can remember going in there in the early nineties and seeing both Lemmy (Motorhead) and Lars Ulrich (Metallica) just sitting at the bar or playing the fruit machine- Happy days. Anyway enough of the nostalgia time to move on. I'm back on the tube and off way out west to Hammersmith. I'm meeting an old mate of mine for lunch. As soon as I get off the Tube I see a sign for Hammersmth Apollo and i'm immediately reminded of the time when it was the Hammersmith Odeon and seeing great gigs such as Iron Maiden Nov 5th somewhere in Time Tour 86, Def Leppard, Magnum and Black Sabbath. As well as a few cheeky ones beforehand in the White Swan. Apologies i'm going off down memory lane again. Why do venues have to change their name?? Lunch was washed down with 2 pints of Abbott Ale, very nice indeed. I still had those words of warning from Clare echoing round in my head 'anyone showing signs of drunkenness will not be allowed in'. Back on the Tube into the city, but not before I stopped off at my favourite 'corner shop' 'Harrods'. Apart from bursting to use their toilets I also like to check out the Hi-Fi and music departments. Finishing off with a wander through the aftershave section for a few free squirts of whatever is on offer from the 'not unattractive sales assistants'. Mid afternoon by now and time for a wander up Charing Cross Road and browse through the many book shops and record stores. Managed to pick up a few cheap CD's from an excellent record shop called Fopp. Just time for a swift pint of London Pride (well it would have been rude not too) before making my way by number 98 bus to Brixton at the second time of asking! Arrived at the Brixton Academy at six and was astonished to see the number of fans already queuing around the block. Decided that I should phone Clare and let her know i'd arrived safely and find out where to meet up. It was then when I had one of those horrible 'cold sweat' moments when I discovered that I hadn't stored Clares number in my mobile. I suddenly had awful visions of not seeing the band, I had no idea what Clare looked like. Suddenly help was at hand in the form of the Street Teamers and in particular a lovely lady from Ireland whose name escapes me. Clinging onto her for dear life we went off in search of Clare and Moomin of course. Soon found Clare and Moomin along with most of the other meet 'n' greeters. We had around 50 minutes to wait before we were to be allowed in to meet the band. The wait was horrendous, at least everyone else admitted to being as nervous as I was. Had my picture taken with Moomin , he's a right little poser for sure. We were all given guest passes and the time had come at last to go inside. By this time my legs had turned to jelly and I decided to hang back a bit and go last. So much for that plan, we then had to turn around and go up a flight of stairs and I suddenly found myself at the front of the queue!!. All I could think of was 'Keep calm down't make a fool of yourself now. The door opened and it was like walking into a dream, to actually meet all the band in those circumstances was totally unbelievable. I hadn't really prepared any questions I was just going to play it by ear and then get a few photos.The following is to the best of my memory how the conversations went and in the correct order. First was Emppu - I welcomed him back to London and said how much I was looking forward to the show. He just said it was great to be back and really exciting that London was the first gig after the break. Really friendly and posed for a picture. Jukka - He had been playing on-line Poker on his laptop so we had a chat about that. I asked him if he played roulette and he say no it's a a game of chance, speaking from bitter experience I had to agree. I then told him about the Northampton Drumfest and gave him an unofficial invite. Not surprisingly he hadn't heard of this prestigous event? Although I did explain that Dave Mackintosh from Dragonforce gave a demonstration last year. So busy chatting I forgot to get my photo taken! Marco - My confidence was growing by now and I asked him how long it had taken to grow that wonderful beard? He said that it had been since the year 2000. I explained that I started mine on New Years Day 2009 and still some way to go. Smashing chap and posed for a picture. Anette - Looked great back as a blonde and I told her so 'us blondes should stick together' and slightly regret it now with hindsight. I just wanted her to know how much love and support there was out there for her and everbody was behind her. I then asked her if she would be performing 'Sleeping Sun' a favourite of mine? She said she wasn't but had another very special song for me tonight. The way she said it made me feel as though it was just for me though. Looked stunning, really lovely and posed for a picture. Tuomas - By now I was very warm and had abandoned my jacket long ago. I would like to apologise in advance for my opening gambit to Tuomas. It went along the lines 'I bet your hot in that hat' I wish the floor had opened up and swallowed me! I think it's those piercing eyes that were mesmerising me to the point of gibberish. I did manage a reasonably quick follow up by asking if there were any surprises in store later? He assured me there were but would not be drawn understandably any further. I just felt as though I was in the presence of someone really special who had an aura about him. Happy to pose for a picture. All to soon it was time to leave them in peace and to get ready. My overriding thoughts? lovely people, no egos just friendly and down to Earth and a pleasure to meet! Thank You Nightwish for a day i'll never ever forget...

Set List

• Intro & 7 Days to the Wolves
• Dead to the World
• The Siren
• Amaranth
• Romanticide
• Dead Boy's Poem
• The Poet and the Pendulum
• Nemo
• Sahara
• The Islander
  
• Escapist
• Dark Chest of Wonder

Encore

• Ghost Love Score
• Wish I had an Angel