Nightwish delivers the Greatest Show on Earth
10 March 2018 @ Fillmore Charlotte – Charlotte, NC
Floor Jansen, at this point, has arguably established herself as the ideal Nightwish vocalist. That’s not to disparage Tarja or Anette, but many found Tarja to be too polarizing for the band and the die-hards rejected Anette pretty quickly as she was so drastically different from Tarja. Floor brings that “metal cred” that Anette never had, and doesn’t suffer from the polarization that defined the Tarja-era. She’s long been part of the metal community throughout her tenure with After Forever and ReVamp as well as her appearances with Ayreon, Mayan, and Evergrey. Additionally, she’s made it a point to interact with the fans — and that goes a long way.
Cashing in on nostalgia, Nightwish has put together a ‘best of’ tour that will resonate with old and new fans alike. There’s something from most albums and some stuff that hasn’t even been played since the late 90’s or early 00’s. For me, that was fantastic news, as I was definitely a big fan of the first few albums especially in the years surrounding their release. Some people were upset at the lack of songs from Dark Passion Play, but they never said they were going to include something from every album — just that they were doing a career retrospective. Given the overwhelming number of songs from the first five albums and the fact that many songs from Dark Passion Play surface in Nightwish’s regular touring, it’s totally acceptable to miss some songs that have been played more recently.
Floor’s mastery of the Tarja-era seems complete now. While some songs from those early albums are still in rotation, I’ve always wondered how Floor would sound on songs like “The Kinslayer”, “End Of All Hope”, and my personal fave, “Elvenpath”. Plus getting to hear rarities like “The Carpenter” and “Devil & The Deep Dark Ocean” was a real treat since those haven’t been played on tour since 1998 and 1999 respectively. The continued ‘good feeling’ chemistry that all members of the band seem to share with one another is felt every night by the audience. I feel that while Floor’s style and delivery are different than that of Tarja’s, Nightwish has found their ideal vocalist in Floor, both in chemistry and sound.
