Well, once again my brother and I got to witness the fantabulousness that is Nightwish. It’s always a treat when they tour North America, and especially when they’re in my home state of Oregon. It was well worth the car ride to Portland, and they put on just as good a show as last time, though there was a far larger crowd this time around than the last time we attended two years ago.
The concert was longer this time, too, thanks to having two cover bands instead of just one. I had heard of the first cover band, Delain, but I hadn’t listened to a whole lot of them. I was pleasantly surprised by their performance. Their lead singer was fun. She actually reminded me a lot of Floor Jansen, the new(ish) lead singer of Nightwish, not only in looks but in her style. She really got the crowd going.
However, I think the main reason for the huge crowd this time was because of the second cover band, Sabaton. I had never heard of them, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Low and behold, they’re apparently Viking rock. No really. Imagine Viking war songs set to rock music. I’m officially going to have to check out more of their stuff now, because they were pretty awesome. The lead singer pulled a little kid onstage at one point, because he’d noticed him in the audience earlier on. Gave the boy his sunglasses and let him rock onstage with the band for the last song. It was pretty cute.
I confess I probably would have enjoyed Sabaton a lot more if I hadn’t gotten stuck right behind a rather pungent, gangly young man who kept elbowing me in the chest. The frequency of this occurrence made me start doubting its accidental nature, so I spent most of Sabaton’s concert portion clutching my phone protectively in front of me to ward off the offending appendages. Not to mention every time he started headbanging I got an eyeful of his hair. (Just be aware, tall people, that when we shorties finally reach our breaking point, we tend to punch things. And given where we reach on you, it’s probably not going to be very pleasant. You have been warned.)
When Nightwish finally hit the stage, it was getting pretty late. That ended up working to my favor because the more people left from up front, the closer I could get to the stage. I ended up with a pretty good viewpoint and no Elbows McFartypants in front of me, which made for a much more enjoyable experience.
We got home around 2:30 in the morning, which made me supremely grateful that I had taken a half day off today. I didn’t have to be at work until noon, and so far this I’m feeling mostly okay. (Ask me in another day or so – it may change.) Once again, it was worth every penny and minute, though I’m thinking that the next time they come around I’m just going to shell out the extra bucks for the VIP passes and enjoy the concert from the safety of the upper level.
KC Rivers 