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.

Concert Report: Stratovarius - Rockin' Transilvania 14.06.09

Stratovarius played on the 14th of June at Rockin' Transilvania as the headliners of the festival. The concert was part of the tour promoting their twelfth album "Polaris", that features two new members, bassist Lauri Porra and guitarist Matias Kupiainen, who is replacing Timo Tolkki, a long-time member of the band and the main songwriter for many years.



In spite of performing live for the first time in Romania, by the time the concert started it was obvious that the majority of the audience had come to see Stratovarius, so that one could barely hear Timo Kotipelto's voice during the first song of the concert, "Hunting High And Low", because it was covered by the huge number of fans singing along. Many classic songs like "The Kiss Of Judas", "Speed Of Light", "Forever", "Eagleheart", or "A Million Light Years Away" were the highlights of the concert, and Kotipelto was once again joined in singing by most of the fans.



Only three songs from the "Polaris" album were included in the setlist: "Higher We Go", "Winter Skies", and "Deep Unknown", three very powerful songs that managed to create a small sample of the album and attract the fans' attention. Once again, the number of the people attending the concert was not bigger than 800, but the band seemed to have a great time on stage and they managed to combine some of their biggest hits with songs from the new album and also songs that hadn't been performed in a long time, like "Will The Sun Rise?", in a way that they proved they can still write good songs and also that they are not that different from the old Stratovarius at the same time.



Closing the concert with what is most likely their most known song, "Black Diamond", Stratovarius' show was the perfect ending for a festival where other big names like Jon Oliva's Pain, Bonfire, In Extremo and Korpiklaani had also performed.



More pictures at this location.

Concert Report: Korpiklaani - Rockin' Transilvania 13.06.09

Although the stadium's doors had opened at around 12:00, by the time seven Romanian bands started the Wacken Open Metal Battle there were 39 people in total. At that time, you could still see Jonne Järvelä and Jarkko Aaltonen walking around, buying other bands' merchandise or watching the first concerts, completely ignored by most people, with the exception of some who went to ask for autographs or to take pictures with them.



At 20:00, after the Hungarian band Superbutt, Korpiklaani started their concert. The audience consisted of one or two rows of fans leaning on the fences in front of the stage and the rest sitting on the grass and drinking beer, about 200 or 300 people in total. But the band wasn't bothered by the limited number of fans; every single band member played their instruments with a lot of joy and they all seemed to have just as much fun as their fans did. Jonne was in the center of attention, jumping and bouncing all around the stage while keeping a big smile on his face for the whole concert and everybody in the crowd had a great time, dancing and headbanging at the same time. The band's costumes, traditional instruments and typical stage decorations created the unique atmosphere of a Korpiklaani concert, while songs like "Beer Beer", "Hunting Song", "Happy Little Boozer" and the new single "Vodka" were undoubtedly the concert's highlights. After the concert, the whole band got off the stage to the fence where fans were waiting for them, and didn't leave until everybody had a picture or an autograph from them.



In spite of the small audience, Korpiklaani managed to carry out one of the festival's best shows, definitely rising above the performance of the day's headliner, In Extremo.



More pictures here.