Nightwish in Portland, OR

Sunday night, Portland’s Roseland Theater crumbled under the immense ferocity of Nightwish. Currently touring in support of their Decades CD release, Nightwish showed Portland that Finnish heavy metal is as powerful as they come.

Rolling into the Roseland Theater, Nightwish bucked the traditional opening band format and performed without supporting bands. Although stage time was supposed to be 8:00, the giant LED backdrop didn’t come to life until 8:30. As the anticipation, and the temperatures, in the Roseland began to rise, the nearly 10 minute long intro video kept the enraptured audience mesmerized. Finally, at 8:41, Troy Donockley, weilding one of his many folk instruments, the low whistle, broke the silence. The crowd roared to life as Troy tried to stifle a grin around the mouthpiece of the whistle.

The rest of the band joined in shortly thereafter and the power of symphonic metal rained down on us all. That glorious thundering metal continued crashing through the venue for nearly two-and-a-half hours. Keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, lead guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and drummer Marco Hietala demonstrated incredible musicianship while bassist Marco Hietala and lead singer Floor Jansen took turns demonstrating their vocal chops.

If you haven’t experienced Nightwish before, and you appreciate a face melting metal show, do yourself a solid and try to catch this gig before it jumps back across the pond. Nightwish is performing a handful of shows in California before heading east and closing our their North American run in Miami.

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All Writing & Photography:  Terry L. White

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