Tuesday 28 July 2009

Concert Report: Tarja Turunen, Bucharest 22.06.2009

"I have a little wish to come back here, in Sibiu, in 2007." Tarja Turunen said in the ending of an interview taken after the last one of her classical concerts, in December 2005. After almost four years of waiting, Tarja's Romanian fans were thrilled when the wait had finally ended. A concert was announced in Bucharest, on the 22nd of June 2009, which was part of the "Summer Storm Tour", promoting her album released in 2007, "My Winter Storm".



Shortly after 8:00, the lights went out in the hall, Tarja's band appeared on the stage: Mike Terrana (drums), Kiko Loureiro (guitars), Maria Ilmoniemi (keyboards), Doug Wimbish (bass) and Max Lilja (cello) and started to play the first notes of "Enough", followed by Tarja who walked in the center of the stage and started to sing. By that time, everyone who had seats near the stage left them and tried to get as close to the stage as they could, in the photographers' line.

"Buna seara, Bucharest! It's really wonderful to be back, it's wonderful to be able to come to sing for you once again. Thank you so much for coming and welcome to my storm!", Tarja greeted the audience and they started to play "My Little Phoenix". During the first Nightwish song she sang, "She Is My Sin", the security was already trying to make the fans go away from the stage, but not with much success. Tarja then described the following song, "Damned And Divine" as being one of her favorite songs from the album and about "vampires and eternal nights". "Minor Heaven" was one of the many songs in which Tarja got to show off her beautiful voice and to amaze the audience. The well-known "I Walk Alone" was followed by an awesome instrumental song of the band, a.k.a. "Ciaran's Band Set", the one that is always played before "Ciaran's Well", the heaviest song from the album and setlist.



"Now, for my dreams I hold my life", Tarja hinted on the next song, which definitely didn't need any other introduction: "Sleeping Sun". "Lost Northern Star" and a cover of Alice Cooper's "Poison" were followed by a combination of four ballads "Wisdom Of Wind", "Boy And The Ghost", "Our Great Divide" and "Calling Grace", during which almost everyone in the audience sat down and listened silently to Tarja's voice. Next was a big surprise, a new song that had never been played live before, "If You Believe", during which Tarja remained alone on the stage and played the keyboards. "Nemo", probably the most famous Nightwish song made the fans go crazy once again; everybody was jumping and singing along with Tarja, and "Sing For Me" was officially the last song of the concert.

A few minutes later, the band returned on the stage to perform "Oasis", the only song from "My Winter Storm" that was composed entirely by Tarja. Before "The Kinslayer", another one of the many surprises, she dared everybody in the hall to stand up: "You wanna have one more? If everyone of you stands up, we'll do you one more. So let's keep on rockin', Bucharest, or what? Yes, yes, yes, this is for you!"
The last song was "Die Alive", and Tarja thanked her fans once again for coming and said that she is hoping to come back after the release of the next album, "What Lies Beneath".



Tarja managed to combine her own solo songs as well as Nightwish songs from her past in a way that the audience seemed to enjoy all of them just as much. Together with the talented musicians who accompanied her, Tarja's concert was the best concert in Romania of this year for many of the people attending it, a concert that she and her band obviously enjoyed just as much as her fans.

2 comments:

  1. Yep, that's Tarja nowadays... she's notking without Tuomas/Nightwish. Almost half of her live performances is borrowed from Nightwish. And let's keep in mind that she did not tkae any part in making those song while still in Nightwish. So why is hshe still performing them???

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  2. @Anonymous: It's not "half", it was just 4 songs. And why shouldn't she sing them? Nightwish was a big part of her life (9 years out of 32), that's almost one third. She enjoys those songs, her band members do, and so does the audience. So why not?

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