LIVE: Nightwish with Kamelot, San Francisco, 3 October 2012

Shane | 3 October 2012 | Reply

The Warfield, San Francisco, California
Reviewed by Robert Kitay

[Show picture list]

This was an especially interesting show since both of these bands I’ve seen before, but both were fronted by new singers this time around. In fact, this was the third singer for Kamelot in the last three times seeing them.

Kamelot opened the show with a solid set, featuring their new singer Tommy Karevik of Seventh Wonder. Since Kamelot’s original singer Roy Khan is one of my favorite singers, I was curious to see how they would sound with a new voice. The answer is that they sounded just fine. Tommy’s voice and even mannerisms are somewhat similar to Khan’s, and the new material sounded great. The entire band was solid and put on a very enjoyable, albeit short set.

This is one of the very first shows that Nightwish played with new singer Floor Jansen, who joined the band less than a week earlier following the mid tour departure of Anette Olzon. Anette Olzon has always been a somewhat polarizing singer among Nightwish fans. Some love her and some hate her. I’ve always enjoyed the two Nightwish albums that she sang on and thought that she was a fine replacement for Tarja Turunan following her departure.

Although I’ve always thought that Floor Jansen was a fantastic singer in After Forever, I certainly was worried about how good as show she could do with only one week notice. How much can you expect when she’s only had a few days to learn the lyrics, fly to the United States from Europe and only have a day of two to practice? Certainly, I wasn’t sure what kind of performance to expect.

Well, what I got was one of the best concerts I saw all year. The entire band was solid and Floor Jansen’s performance was near perfect. Floor performed with no notes or Teleprompters looking completely comfortable and at ease. Her voice was near perfect, even though she admitted that she had a cold. Her voice really is perfect for the band and worked well with songs from both the Tarja and Anette eras. Her voice was especially sultry on Slow Love Slow. A funny thing happened during Slow Love Slow. Many of the metal heads that were previously moshing started slow dancing together. It not only got a big laugh out of much of the crowd that noticed but also from the band as well. Floor Jansen fit in so well that I hope that her status becomes permanent. She really does fit in with the perfect vocal ability and stage presence that is needed in a band like Nightwish.

Nightwish’s Setlist:

Storytime
Wish I Had an Angel
Dark Chest of Wonders
Amaranth
Scaretale
Dead to the World
Slow, Love, Slow
I Want My Tears Back
The Islander
Nemo
Last of the Wilds
Planet Hell
Ghost River
Song of Myself
Last Ride of the Day