The Apollo is already teeming with people as I get in, about 20 minutes before Paradise Lost are due to start their set. I managed to catch them support Nightwish back at Nightwish’s first UK date at Bloodstock 03 and remembering what I thought was a pretty dire performance I didn’t hold out much hope for tonight’s openers. Thankfully I was proved wrong as Paradise Lost came on and waltzed through some great numbers (I must admit I am not at all familiar with their material). My only complaint being that for the most, I could barely hear the vocalist. I will definitely be checking out some more of their stuff in the near future.

After playing a rather enjoyable set it was almost time for Nightwish and the excitement grew as I knew I was about to witness a great show from one of the best bands of the last decade. The lights dim and the Hans Zimmer intro music starts with the crowd clapping along in unison and the all too familiar ‘Once I had a dream and this is it…’ bursts out of the loudspeakers as the band break into ‘Dark Chest Of Wonders.’ Tarja walks onstage to frantic applause however her voice is pretty low in the mix for tonight’s first number. Luckily this is soon rectified and the band sound top notch. Clearly glad to be here tonight the entire band looks enthusiastic and seems to be thoroughly enjoying themselves up on stage as they effortlessly knock out numbers including ‘Planet Hell,’ ‘Kinslayer’ and ‘The Siren,’ the latter being in my opinion one of the best sounding Once era songs in a live environment. Soon it’s time for Tarja to leave the stage and let the ‘prime examples of Finnish manhood’ ,as Marco put it to the delight of the female fans in the audience , play Pink Floyd cover ‘High Hopes.’ This is simply stunning and surely one of the best parts of tonight’s show. Tarja returns to the fold for ‘Bless The Child,’ set staple‘ Wishmaster’ and then onto ‘Slaying The Dreamer’ which has just about every head in the venue nodding along in unison. Now it’s the boys turn to have a break as Tarja sings along to a backing tape for Finnish number ‘Kuolema Tekee Taitelijan’ which although sounding fairly nice, is nothing really special and somewhat slows down the pace of the show. It can be argued ‘Nemo’ is the song that broke this band in the UK and the response of tonight’s audience does nothing to contradict that fact as it draws the biggest crowd response of the night so far. The band then leave the stage only to return to chants of ‘we want more’ for an encore featuring the epic ‘Ghost Love Score’ (complete with confetti being showered upon the crowd) and other fan favourite ‘Wish I Had An Angel’ which Marco dedicates to Pip Williams, the guy behind Once’s orchestral score, who is apparently present here tonight.

Selling out the Hammersmith Apollo is a feat normally reserved for such popular acts as David Gray and The Manic Street Preachers and yet Nightwish, the once little known finnish metal quintet have done it tonight. One can only be pleased at seeing such a talented band get the recognition they undoubtedly deserve and hope their return to the UK, presumably after their year and a half long break, will be just as wonderful as this show which I consider to be their best performance I have seen yet.

This review was written some time ago, and since this show, it has turned out to be Tarja's last UK performance as part of Nightwish. She was sacked from the band at the end of October this year.

Setlist:
1) Dark Chest of Wonders
2) Planet Hell
3) Everdream
4) Kinslayer
5) Phantom of the Opera
6) The Siren
7) Sleeping Sun
8) High Hopes
9) Bless The Child
10) Wishmaster
11) Slaying The Dreamer
12) Kuolema Tekee Taitelijan
13) Nemo
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14) Ghost Love Score
15) Wish I had an Angel