Written by:	Susan
Published:	June 26, 2015
Event:	Nightwish: North American Tour 2015
Location:	Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA, USA
Galleries:	Nightwish & Sabaton - Ogden Theater, Denver, CO USA - 21 Apr 2015 by D.T. Metal (49)

Nightwish,who recently toured in North America with Sabaton and Delain in tow, delivered a flawless performance at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, CA.

Unfortunately Delain was missed in San Francisco, CA as well as Denver, CO (D.T. Metal was on site for the photos) due to misinformation of door times or, as it was the case in Colorado, the line to enter the venue was just ridiculously long.

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Sabaton

When the lead singer took the stage wearing a kind of glammed-out bullet-proof vest it did vaguely bring to mind disco, which was perfect since he later made a joke about the band looking like The Village People. Sabaton gets a lot of ridicule for being the cheesiest of cheesy power metal but I give them much credit for being able to make fun of themselves. These guys not only had tons of fun on stage but each made lots of jokes about their bandmates, their music, and of course, their looks.

I was near the front and stood right behind the mosh pit, which I greatly enjoyed watching. Such a great pit, full of true fans relishing every note of much-adored music. While they're not my cup of power metal tea personally, the show was so much fun, in part due to the fans.

Near the end of the set the singer must have heard someone shouting from the very front row. "What's that," he asked? "Today is your 16th birthday?" and proceeded to invite this young girl to climb up on stage. What a birthday present! We learned her name was Coral and not only was she welcomed up on stage and to stay for the last two songs, but the guys had her come out and help strum the guitars during the big shredding finale. It was pretty amazing and we all went wild for our young hero.

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Nightwish

After a very long set-up we were all hungry for the headliner.

The band was pure electricity, not least of which was Floor, who was radiant. She sounded immaculate and brought new life to each song. I have a feeling that with her, the show is different every night.

I was beginning to think that I was getting too old to push my way to the front, as it'd been quite some time since I did this. No, it was amazing. All of us rocking out way too hard to our favorite songs; it was glorious.

Tuomas was stationed on audience left, with Marco next to him. Floor came next, with Emppu mostly after, though he moved around quite a bit. I stood between where Tuomas and Marco played, and Emppu spent much time in that gap, sometimes playing with Marco but mostly joking around with Tuomas. Sometimes it was stage antics but often it seemed they were just chatting about this or that humorous thing. Perhaps the focus was elsewhere but I loved seeing them laughing and smiling to each other about whatever it was.

Floor is a stunningly beautiful creature who loves music and loves performing more than is imaginable until really witnessing it. She was an exhilarating complement to our beloved aging rock stars of Nightwish, and they seemed perfectly cohesive as a band. Yes, "aging rock stars." These guys are getting old and looking old, but it somehow made me love them even more. They've been in the game for so long and are still enjoying the shit out of a world tour and making incredibly relevant new music. That speaks volumes. As a band they were all just electric, truly enjoyed sharing their music with us, and fed off our positive respond to the new tunes.

After playing several songs from their latest album they started in on the surprises. We were treated with "Dark Chest Of Wonders," "She Is My Sin," and the biggest surprise of all, Oceanborn's "Stargazers." Floor introduced this song as one that had been missing from Nightwish's live sets for over 10 years and relayed that they were so excited to bring it back to life.



As a fan who cherishes that early album, it was a delicious moment. Of course, it was followed by an exquisite "Sleeping Sun," which were both performed in front of an Oceanborn backdrop. I was in heaven.

The new songs created very special moments, but hearing Floor perform the older tunes with the same sense of ownership really rounded out the evening. Every song was new, because she performs them in her own way, sometimes very different than we remember. Despite how incredible she is/was that night, I cannot stress enough how well the entire band played together. They seemed to all know each other's cues so innately and to bring a show to life that felt spontaneous, natural, and joyous.

They earned a new respect that night in my eyes, and I could easily place them in a category of great metal bands for all time.





SETLIST: Shudder Before The Beautiful, Yours Is An Empty Hope, Amaranth, She Is My Sin, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, My Walden, The Islander (First half performed solo by Marco), Elan, Weak Fantasy, Storytime, Dark Chest Of Wonders, Alpenglow, Stargazers, Sleeping Sun, The Greatest Show On Earth Chapter II: Life, The Greatest Show On Earth Chapter III: The Toolmaker

ENCORE: Ghost Love Score, Last Ride Of The Day