Nightwish

Anti-Tarja era feelings might not be working in favour of some of us here. But believe me, that's not what the majority of the fans feel like.
It can't be denied that this band has a history. This is surely seen as a treat.
No one here is anti-Tarja, we are anti-poor setlist choices. Just because a song was rarely played live doesn't mean it's automatically a must-see.

I posted an ideal setlist for me 2 pages ago and like 2/3 of it was Tarja songs, but better songs than the ones they decided to play.
 
For reference, this is what average Maiden fans would feel like if the band loaded songs like Prodigal Son, The Duellists or The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner or Mother Russia or Look to the Truth or The Fallen Angel into a modern Iron Maiden tour.
 
After watching bits of the first show a few times, I may have a bit under-appreciative of the setlist initially, based on the absence of a couple of songs that, realistically, were pretty slim chances

Thinking about it, there's a very nice quantity of Tarja-era deep cuts, some of which I was genuinely not expecting to see

Overall, a great set
 
For reference, this is what average Maiden fans would feel like if the band loaded songs like Prodigal Son, The Duellists or The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner or Mother Russia or Look to the Truth or The Fallen Angel into a modern Iron Maiden tour.

Long time lurker here. I nearly spat out my tea when reading this comment, apart from the Carpenter and TGSOE the setlist is amazing. Just head over to the official forum to see proof of that. Gethsemane, Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean, Come Cover me. End of All Hope, 10th man down, to name a few all sound amazing.

What would you have included in this?
 
Oh no, I'm perfectly fine with the setlist - got my tickets for tomorrow and I can't wait - but I'm saying that there's a different between engaged, hardcore, post-on-a-forum fans and the average fan who buys a ticket to a show. It is nice to see a band that plays super deep cuts.
 
I'm seeing them in Chicago next weekend, and...

...after listening to all the songs in the set (it's been a long while for some of them), I definitely have mixed feelings about this. Deep cuts are great, but quite a few of these tracks are the filler type of deep cuts. I like the idea of the tour, but I definitely would have picked other "rare" songs.

The Carpenter is one of the worst Nightwish songs I have ever heard - and there honestly aren't that many. While that's clearly the lowest part of the set, a few others - namely Deep Silent Complete, Come Cover Me, and Slaying the Dreamer - are filler to me. Also, I Want My Tears Back is one of my least favorite tracks on Imaginaerium and to my knowledge is severely overplayed.

Elvenpath is really lame, but Carpenter makes it sound like a gem. I wish they would have just skipped the incredibly weak debut album altogether and included something from Dark Passion Play (Sahara, maybe?), but oh well.

No real complaints on anything from Oceanborn (although I would've liked to hear Riddler), and the Wishmaster stuff outside of Deep Silent Complete is great. End of all Hope is awesome, but I like Dead to the World better. Also, 10th Man Down is a great B-side. Obviously I have no complaints with Ghost Love Score.

Can someone explain all the hate for TGSOE? It's definitely not the masterpiece Tuomas seems to think it is, but aside from all the atmospheric movie sound effects I think it's a pretty diverse and catchy tune. They also shave quite a few minutes off it live, right?
 
My review, and response to @Detective Beauregard in spoilers:

I agree that The Carpenter is one of the weakest songs there, and so is Slaying the Dreamer. They picked odd tracks for this album and subsequent tour, but I think there's a purpose behind it: the point of the Decades tour is to establish Floor as the definitive Nightwish singer for people who have loved everything since Angels Fall First. They picked songs that really compliment her in a lot of ways. The Carpenter is better live, btw, because Marco is a hell of a lot of a better singer than Tuomas and they jazz it up a bit live. I was legitimately dreading it, and it turned out to be okay. Highlights were Wish I Had an Angel, Elan, Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean, Nemo, TGSOE and of course Ghost Love Score. Floor was superb, loved seeing Troy pop in and out (he did avoid playing during some of the super deep cuts, he was on stage for a lot of it though).

I will admit that I am used to a much more active presence on stage. I am used to seeing Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris and Janick Gers run around like monkeys on cocaine, or Stu Block jumping around, you know, all of Sabaton. Nightwish is far more stationary, which probably suits both their music and their fans. It was a much quieter night than Sabaton had been, no crowd surfing or mosh pit, which made it seem like a step down of an experience.

Nightwish's screen is not bad, but it doesn't have quite the same oomph as the screens for Sabaton, which had superb screen use. There is one exception, and I'll get to it in a minute. After about 2 hours, I was into it, but I was also looking forward to the wind-down (though not the penultimate song, The Greatest Show on Earth). Then they played it. As noted, they only play the first three acts, the fourth is played after Ghost Love Score as an outro. The screen use for part III was amazing - the story of mankind on screen. Previously I found this song to be bloated and pretentious, with good parts broken up by boring bits. After, I am as convinced as Tuomas that it's a masterpiece (not as much as he thinks, but one of their best works). This is entirely personal as it stems from feelings of existential dread (the atavistic dread of the hunter) that had been resonating, that the shared experience of reminding me of the glory of my existence has has helped quell. So that's a huge plus.

Overall, I was thoroughly entertained and even the odd cuts were interesting live.
 
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@Brigantium

I'm surprised this has been announced before Bloodstock as it's likely to affect the festival's ticket sales.

I will wait until seeing them at Bloodstock before making a decision on this. I'll need to see how much I like the setlist live and I don't know which show will be most convenient for me come December.
 
London date is my birthday, it's a tradition to see a band. That said, I'm not likely to be able to travel any further than Newcastle or Leeds for the foreseeable future.

I reckon the show will sell out fast. The last London Nightwish show I went to sold out like lightning (probably the touts at work).
 
Floor Jansen on Dutch TV. That's pretty rare. Recently she had some media attention. She's the most successful Dutch singer internationally but hardly anyone in the Netherlands knows that. So finally more recognition. With English subtitles!
 
Nightwish were incredible at Bloodstock festival on Sunday. Since they were announced at the end of last year's festival I'd been looking forward to seeing them for a whole year and they did not disappoint. This was the setlist they played, which I'm guessing is the same as it has been all year (apart from 'Wishmaster' perhaps). I don't know the Tarja-era songs at all as I never found her opera vocals easy to listen to, but Floor makes them so much more accessible and she can sing in every style. I think I'm probably more of a Floor Jansen fan than a Nightwish fan as I doubt I'd be a fan now were it not for her. I enjoyed the show so much on Sunday that I've bought a ticket to see them at Wembley Arena in December.

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Having seen the Decades show, I wouldn't call it...missed. Those tracks were the easy low point.
 
I saw them on Sunday too, and I thought they rivalled Gojira for best headliner. I was blown away, the visuals, the production, the musicianship. Floor was just absolutely incredible.

The highlight for me definitely was The Greatest Show on Earth. I was a bit apprehensive about hearing it live, because I've never really given it a proper listen before seeing them. But oh my god was it incredible. The visuals and the final "we were here", mixed with the pyro moved me to tears.

Definitely need to get tickets for December when I have funds become available, as Bloodstock drained me.
 
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