Imaginarium Tour
Featuring: Nightwish, Amorphis & Dommin
Venue: Gibson Amphitheater
Location: Universal City
Date: January 21, 2012
Capacity: 6,189
4,000 plus people from all across the globe were in attendance to
start off Nightwish’s ‘Imaginarium’ world tour.
Los Angeles natives Dommin started off the night at the Gibson.
Dommin
From: Los Angeles, CA
Kristofer Dommin - vocals/guitar
Billy James – bass
Konstantine – keyboards
Cameron Morris – drums
8:20 PM – 8:50 PM
The lights dim and the low mellow dramatic sounds of the brokenhearted began to play as lead singer Kristofer Dommin takes the stage. With no introductions, Dommin, breaks into their first song of the night ‘Without End’. The crowd was instantly drawn into ‘Without End’. I overheard people trying to guess what style of music Dommin was; were they goth, was it electronic, was it rock, but whatever it was it was good.
During ‘My Heart Your Hands’ the band took a moment to introduce themselves. Usually I frown upon interrupting a song to do this, but I appreciated the band for keeping the songs melody going versus just talking. To break the pause and continue the song Kristofer asked the crowd to sing along.
The fourth song of the night was a Type O Negative cover ‘My Girlfriends Girlfriend’. If you could put a fast upbeat pace to a Type O Negative song, this is what they did. My favorite song of the night had to have been ‘Closure’. Dommin asked the crowd once again to sing along. I could actually hear the voices throughout the crowd singing the words “goodbye”.
From: Los Angeles, CA
Kristofer Dommin - vocals/guitar
Billy James – bass
Konstantine – keyboards
Cameron Morris – drums
8:20 PM – 8:50 PM
The lights dim and the low mellow dramatic sounds of the brokenhearted began to play as lead singer Kristofer Dommin takes the stage. With no introductions, Dommin, breaks into their first song of the night ‘Without End’. The crowd was instantly drawn into ‘Without End’. I overheard people trying to guess what style of music Dommin was; were they goth, was it electronic, was it rock, but whatever it was it was good.
During ‘My Heart Your Hands’ the band took a moment to introduce themselves. Usually I frown upon interrupting a song to do this, but I appreciated the band for keeping the songs melody going versus just talking. To break the pause and continue the song Kristofer asked the crowd to sing along.
The fourth song of the night was a Type O Negative cover ‘My Girlfriends Girlfriend’. If you could put a fast upbeat pace to a Type O Negative song, this is what they did. My favorite song of the night had to have been ‘Closure’. Dommin asked the crowd once again to sing along. I could actually hear the voices throughout the crowd singing the words “goodbye”.
Setlist:
1. Without End
2. New
3. My Heart Your Hands
4. My Girlfriends Girlfriend (Type O Negative cover)
5. Closure
6. Dark Holiday
1. Without End
2. New
3. My Heart Your Hands
4. My Girlfriends Girlfriend (Type O Negative cover)
5. Closure
6. Dark Holiday
Amorphis
From: Finland
Tomi Jousten - vocals
Esa Holopainen - lead guitar
Tomi Koivusaari - rhythm guitar/vocals
Niclas Etelävuori – bass/vocals
Santeri Kallio – keyboards
Jan Rechberger – drums
9:05 PM – 9:50 PM
From: FinlandTomi Jousten - vocals
Esa Holopainen - lead guitar
Tomi Koivusaari - rhythm guitar/vocals
Niclas Etelävuori – bass/vocals
Santeri Kallio – keyboards
Jan Rechberger – drums
9:05 PM – 9:50 PM
Next on stage at the Gibson Amphitheatre was Amorphis.
As a first time listener of Amorphis, and I was pleasantly surprised by the vocals and depths of the melody. Amorphis has a dark, yet folk vibe to them. The vocals are clean when sung, yet there is a raspy growl that got under your skin. As Tomi Jousten sings you are instantly drawn in by his voice and you are immersed while watching him roam the stage as he whips his long dreads around. When I first looked at the stage set up for Amorphis, I wondered why there was so much open space towards the front of the stage. As the night progressed my question was answered; it was because Jousten presents a great stage presence and his dreadlocks need some room to move.
I took note with the way Tomi Jousten not only announced which song they were about to play, but the also the album title. With just the title of the album, the crowd would scream in anticipation. The crowd was definitely responding to the music.
The song of the night for me goes to ‘The Smoke’. Amorphis had the crowd clapping with them as the intro played. As Jousten announced the song, the crowd screamed. The melodic yet catchy rhythm of the song draws you in. It has a relaxing feel but yet throws in some growling that one would think would offset the flow.
As a first time listener of Amorphis, and I was pleasantly surprised by the vocals and depths of the melody. Amorphis has a dark, yet folk vibe to them. The vocals are clean when sung, yet there is a raspy growl that got under your skin. As Tomi Jousten sings you are instantly drawn in by his voice and you are immersed while watching him roam the stage as he whips his long dreads around. When I first looked at the stage set up for Amorphis, I wondered why there was so much open space towards the front of the stage. As the night progressed my question was answered; it was because Jousten presents a great stage presence and his dreadlocks need some room to move.
I took note with the way Tomi Jousten not only announced which song they were about to play, but the also the album title. With just the title of the album, the crowd would scream in anticipation. The crowd was definitely responding to the music.
The song of the night for me goes to ‘The Smoke’. Amorphis had the crowd clapping with them as the intro played. As Jousten announced the song, the crowd screamed. The melodic yet catchy rhythm of the song draws you in. It has a relaxing feel but yet throws in some growling that one would think would offset the flow.
Setlist:
1. Silver Bride
2. Towards & Against
3. Sky is Mine
4. My Kantele
5. The Castaway
6. The Smoke
7. Sampo
8. You I Need
9. House of Sleep
1. Silver Bride
2. Towards & Against
3. Sky is Mine
4. My Kantele
5. The Castaway
6. The Smoke
7. Sampo
8. You I Need
9. House of Sleep
NightwishFrom: Finland
Tuomas Holopainen – Keyboards
Emppu Vuorinen – guitars
Jukka Nevalainen – Drums
Marko Hietala – Bass/Vocals
Anette Olzon - Vocals
10:15 PM - 11:45 PM
It has been for years since Nightwish’s last album ‘Dark Passion Play’ and tonight this was Nightwish’s first show of their new album ‘Imaginarium’. There were 4,000 plus people in attendance from all over the world to catch this first show in Universal City, CA. A few people may have even attended the “secret” pre show on 1/19/12 at Hollywood’s Key Club.
As the lights dim, one by one the Nightwish members took the stage and started to play. As each member of the band emerged the crowd grew louder. The crowd was on their feet, anxiously awaiting the show to start. The intro music started to play Nightwish took their places and we waited for one final member to join the stage; Anette Olzon. Nightwish opened the show with Storytime, a current song from the Imaginarium album. It seems fitting to open with a song from this album because this is of course the Imaginarium tour.
Nightwish played songs mainly from their latest album ‘Imaginarium’, but also incorporated prior hits. Bassist Marko “Marco” Hietala and guitarist Emo “Emppu” Vuorinen worked the stage; between posing for pictures, throwing out guitar picks to eager fans or just a simple nod to the crowd. Olzon would sing and resting her hand on the shoulder of both Emppu and Marko at different points in the set. Their energy and excitement radiated off the stage. It is nice to see the entire band interact on stage with each other, it shows how tight night they are.
Nightwish's stage show also included pyrotechnics. Flames emerged along with the music throughout various sets. If you had a place up front, you surely felt the heat from the flames. The night ended with more flames, fireworks and confetti.
The sounds of the Gibson were superb. If you were in the front, or the back of the theater, the one thing that was dead on tonight was the sound quality. With such sound quality it was like we were listening to a Nightwish CD. Even if you were in the balcony, there were no worries as to seeing the stage; the theater conveniently had two screens placed alongside the stage for everyone to view the performance.
Favorite song of the night was Call of the wild, an instrumental ballot that shows the bands strength in composing music. To keep a crowd’s attention with no words, proves to me that Nightwish understands what power music has to a person. Though, my personal favorite Nightwish song was Nemo, to which I was pleasantly surprised hearing Anette Olzon sing. I was hesitant in the fact of a new singer singing this song. But Olzon proved herself by keeping true to the songs sentiment.
It didn’t take Nightwish long to come back on stage and perform a few more songs. During their last song of the night they said goodbye to the crowd. It was a great start to the beginning of the tour. Nightwish’s remaining ‘Imaginarium’ tour continues in Europe starting in March.
Setlist:
1. Finlandia (intro)
2. Storytime
3. Wish I Had an Angel
4. Amaranth
5. Scaretale
6. The Siren
7. Slow, Love, Slow
8. I Want My Tears Back
9. The Crow, The Owl and The Dove
10. The Islander
11. Nemo
12. Last of the Wilds
13. Planet Hell
14. Song of Myself
15. Last Ride of the Day
Encore
16. The Poet and the Pendulum
17. Over the Hills and Far Away
18. Imaginarium (outro)
@Ashley Jamez STC 2010-2012
2. Storytime
3. Wish I Had an Angel
4. Amaranth
5. Scaretale
6. The Siren
7. Slow, Love, Slow
8. I Want My Tears Back
9. The Crow, The Owl and The Dove
10. The Islander
11. Nemo
12. Last of the Wilds
13. Planet Hell
14. Song of Myself
15. Last Ride of the Day
Encore
16. The Poet and the Pendulum
17. Over the Hills and Far Away
18. Imaginarium (outro)
@Ashley Jamez STC 2010-2012
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