Maybe it’s just that 2 support acts is too much and people didn’t want to wait long to see Nightwish perform. Be this as it may, Charon produced a solid sound with good quality music and they definitely deserved more than the small applause that they received at the end. Take the time and listen to their latest album Downhearted or their previous album Tearstained and judge for yourself.

After Forever
What can be said about this Dutch gothic metal group, that hasn’t been said before? Female vocalist Floor looked stunning, as always, and the band played a tight, though predictable set, with “Follow In The Cry” and “My Pledge Of Allegiance” as highlights.

However, there was one surprise for me in the form of the Iron Maiden cover “The Evil That Men Do”, which I still prefer to see performed by Maiden themselves. Nevertheless, they managed to play this number well and hearing the song with female vocals instead of the characteristic voice of Bruce Dickinson is something else.

They managed to get the crowd going and it was clear that they were playing for a Dutch audience again. However, Floor slightly overemphasized the fact that she was glad about that, therefore it started to feel a little bit like sucking up to the crowd. But I forgive her for that.

Nightwish
We had to wait, and wait even longer until Nightwish finally decided to come on stage. However, when this happened it was worth waiting for and the audience seemed forgiving as well.

Again a beautiful woman with a great voice stood on stage; a good evening for the boys. The girls couldn’t complain either, because many of them were completely taken by the new “long haired” look of keyboard player and songwriter Tuomas Holopainen.

As always, Tarja demanded a lot of support from the crowd, but at a certain point I was really beginning to get tired from clapping my hands over my head. I also couldn’t get rid of the feeling that there was a tape playing along with the performance. Be this as it may, Nightwish doesn’t perform that often, so any chance to see this still magnificent and highly popular band should be nourished.

They played a lot of new songs from their recently released album like “End Of All Hope”, “Beauty And The Beast” and “Dead To The World”. Bass player Marco Hietala proved that he also has an impressive live voice.

Halfway through the concert there was a surprise in the form of another cover performed by Nightwish but with the help of some After Forever bandmembers. Guitar player Bas (AF) is also capable of singing, for he was the frontman during this cover of “Crazy Train” (originally by nobody less than Ozzy).

Nightwish ended the show with the catchy Gary Moore cover “Over The Hills And Far Away” and the encore included “Wishmaster”. This concluded an excellent night of gothic metal, well worth the money.

(Review: Matthijn Vos
Pics: Josje Klouwens)