Left to right: Marco Hietala (Bass guitar & Vocals), Tuomas Holopainen (Keyboards), Anette Olzon (Vocals), Emppu Vuorinen (Guitars), and Jukka Nevalainen (Drums).

I went to the long-awaited Nightwish concert last night. I had originally planned to go with Laura. Then she was going to buy a ticket for Richard. I told her I wasn't going to go if he did. I wasn't about to be the outsider in plans that I made, and I would definitely be if he was there. She said that Will and Judie were going as well, so I said I'd go if it was a group thing. Well, much later, I find out that Will and Judie aren't going. I asked about Richard. He didn't have a ticket yet. But then they also said that Laura might not be going. Whom would I take, then? I got a hold of Laura and she was still going, she just didn't have gas money. That's fine. Apparently Richard wasn't happy about her going with just me, but oh well. I've been unhappy about plenty of things regarding her a while back. He can suffer a little of it. She said he'll get over it anyway.

Anyway, I was tired and my stomach was feeling funny. The opening band was Paradise Lost. I hadn't heard any of their stuff before and I thought they were okay. Laura said they were really good, but I just couldn't get into them that much. They played for an hour. Then there was a long waiting period. I was ready to go home at that point. My desire for music had been quenched. My left eardrum was numb because we were about 20 feet at most from the left speaker. I figured that they didn't sound as good as from a CD because it was live and we couldn't hear the balance of instruments as well.

Then Nightwish came out. It was a totally different atmosphere. They played and most of their songs were from their new album, which I haven't heard yet. It didn't matter, though. I enjoyed those ones just as much as the ones I knew well. It was incredible. By far the best concert I've ever been to. My weariness and stomach didn't matter. The music was so powerful and rocked so hard. I definitely want to see them again. They really looked like they enjoyed it. Anette just seemed so fun and full of energy. Every one of them would get these huge grins on their face whenever we'd applause as if they weren't used to receiving it. It felt like they were there to perform for us personally and responded to the crowd closely.

After it was over, Laura wanted to leave right away. I didn't know if they would come out later and sign stuff or not, but Laura was tired and had to get up early, so that's more of a concern. I later read on their site that they usually do autograph sessions before or after the concerts. I wish I could have gotten an autograph. That would have been so cool. I forgot to bring any CDs to be signed, though. Maybe next time they put on a show around here I'll remember.