Nightwish @ O2 Apollo, Manchester

Hot on the heels of the 3rd of November folk power metal extravaganza, the 4th showed no sign of letting up with the Manchester night of Nightwish's UK tour. After the controversy of former vocalist Anette Olzon's sudden departure and the drafting in of symphonic metal stalwart Floor Jansen to take over vocal duties, it was destined to be an interesting night.

Given Floor's previous experience in After Forever and ReVamp, there was no doubt she could carry the tunes, and sure enough the performance was everything I hoped it to be. After the previous night's frantic leaping about with Sabaton it was a major step down in the liveliness ranks, and Emma commented that she would have preferred some of the more up-tempo numbers. But that's not to take anything away from the night, and is mostly a reflection of how exhausted we were by that point! They played most of my favourite tracks, and even had a rather lovely acoustic version of Nemo in the middle.

See the full set.

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