END OF AN ERA

One of the most adoring audiences I've ever seen for a rock show, they are just in rapture at the feet of this group. What they didn't realize at the time was that they were witnessing the final performance of their beloved Nightwish with Tarja Turunen as vocalist. The band had already written her dismissal letter of which she also was unaware. After the show ended, the boys and Tarja had a group hug backstage and they handed her this letter sacking her. The little element of drama makes the performance all the more poignant I suppose. Although taking all of this in one wonders if the way it transpired wasn't a bit unseemly and perhaps unfair for several reasons. They got to experience this incredibly emotional show knowing full well what was happening, she (and the fans) were denied the chance to share such a moment after putting 9 years of hard work into the project. And then to allow all of this backstage filming knowing what was happening-just an observation but it could be seen as exploitative or at the least in poor taste. In their open letter to the public (another odd move) they documented their opinion of her as being unprofessional and greedy, lacking commitment to the band and to the fans. She countered soon after with her own open letter of which I'll include an excerpt because it discusses this particular concert and what transpired immediately after, making it relevant to a review documenting the day in question:

"Last Friday 21st of October was a day the whole band had been waiting for a long time. Practice started early in the morning. I was very sick and nervous because of the fact that I was not even able to sing during the rehearsals. Also nervous because the concert programme was going to be longer than usual for a Nightwish concert. Furthermore we were going to have a special guest to perform with us, more wardrobe changes for myself than usual and for the first time big screens and bigger production on stage. Not to forget that the concert was going to be recorded and filmed. The five of us had finally made it to play Hartwall Arena. Even though every one of us knew in advance that the concert was sold out, finally on stage, we saw that screaming, applauding and standing people took every seat. The feeling was unbelievable. I will never forget how amazing it was to experience the Finnish audience's gorgeous reception. When the concert was over, I cried of happiness on stage. Happy tears because I was able to do my best as always even though I was sick. Happy tears because our long tour got the greatest possible ending and happy tears because of the best recognition an artist can get: applause and smiling faces. At that moment I didn't know that I was going to cry again soon. After the concert, the guys of the band invited me backstage to join them and asked me to hug altogether. This felt strange as it was the same kind of hug we traditionally came together for before every concert. That tradition remained between us, even though the tension and increasing pressure already existed since a long period of time. The immediate feeling in me was to thank them, which I did loudly but without any reply. After this, they gave me a letter and asked me to read it the following day. The same letter that is now public. I read it and was shocked. I didn't know what to say and still at the moment that I am writing these lines, I don't. I sense great anger in that letter and I continue to have very confused feelings about it, but I don't want to reply to this anger with an even greater anger. Private matters should never be taken to the public." [Tarja, Oct. 2005]

The band rocked convincingly and the vocals were quite stunning on some tracks. The stage show was very impressive with a high-tech light production and great conceptual video played on large screens during some of the numbers. Presentation was reasonable although the edits were often much faster than I prefer zipping from person to person at a lightning pace. If you suffer from seizures or migraines watch out for the strobe overkill early on. Sound quality was average with the bass almost completely buried in the mix, a huge downer for me making the sound disappointingly mid-range. The material performed was pretty good, reasonably entertaining stuff although again hardly deep progressive fair. It's somewhat lighter metal compared to what a band like Therion is. But for fans of the band and anyone looking for a good entertaining rock show with operatic styled female vocals, this won't disappoint. Most impressive to me were the continuous shots of young women in the audience crying, they were obviously emotionally overwhelmed by the personal stake they had in the people on stage. A band that can do that to an audience in this cynical day and age is doing something right. I have to say I respect the professionalism of this band, the energy they gave to the crowd, and overall I found the DVD quite enjoyable. Add another star if you're already a fan of the group.

The documentary bonus feature is not so much an informative documentary about the group, but rather an informal tour diary video of the band through the last few dates of the tour leading to the Helsinki show. You see them navigating hotel press conferences, airports, pressing flesh with fans, goofing off, and being interviewed by tv people. You can plainly see that there are two camps within the band, whenever Tarja and her people are around the boys become quieter. Despite the attempts by everyone to look like they're having fun it is quite obvious as the days roll on that all is not well. This part of the DVD is only of interest to fans, there is really no meat here for others looking for some insight into the band's music. There is also a photo gallery with lots of live shots. Of course Nightwish continues on without Tarja so this is really only the demise of that particular line-up.

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