Virtual Worlds To Escape Into

When virtual shows became a thing last year, I originally shunned them because nothing can replace going to the event myself and seeing it all with my own eyes, even if there was still room for interaction because artists have to make money somehow in times like this.

What made me change my mind was by the end of April, my life started to take a rough turn and I needed something to feel better. Writing and gaming wasn’t enough. So, I decided to get a ticket to Nightwish’s virtual show and went to their second one last night.

I wanted to hear their new material live, even if it was in my chair in front of Teletraan-1 in my PJ’S. Just to forget about worries and strife for 2 hours.

Totally worth it. They said they were going to play in an imaginary world and it was lovely. This counts as my third time seeing them right? I still treated it like any other concert I’ve been to, getting hyped up as the countdown inched closer to zero, fangirling once I see Tuomas, and vibing to the songs I liked.

Marco left the band recently, due to personal reasons which was a huge bummer since he has become an asset that made the band what they are now. But his replacement Jukka seems worthy. (No it’s not the same Jukka from earlier!)

I could have streamed it from the TV with the ChromeCast my dad bought, but I didn’t want to be disturbed so I just shut the door in my room. I went onto the platform site with my ticket already registered and kept refreshing the page until it would let me in. I joined the group chat but it was hard to keep up because people were typing stuff in every nanosecond asking when they could access it. Then it opened fifteen minutes prior to the start and I kept watching the countdown and watching the scenario of typical backgrounds Nightwish would have on their album art!

Then it finally reached zero revealing the virtual world they were playing in. I don’t give a shit if it’s all green screen, we need to be transported to other worlds from time to time and Nightwish is the best at it, and what a beautiful place it was.

I did get to hear some their new music from last year: Noise, Pan, How’s the Heart, and Harvest. How many instruments does Troy play anyway? Well the band is lucky to have him! They all had wooden mugs next to them, since the show was at 8pm here, they were playing at like 3am over in Finland! Nightwish on the night shift! I’m just glad they had two shows at different time zones to give viewers options. They’re a band that truly cares about all their fans in the world, not just the ones on the same continent as them.

I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to hear Music live, the opening track from the new album, just a segment of its instrumental intro. It’s a beautiful track that doesn’t get enough love.

Nevertheless, I also got to hear some of my favorites: Elan, Storytime, I Want My Tears Back (extremely different with Troy singing Marco’s parts though), Ever Dream, Nemo, Sleeping Sun, and Ghost Love Score.

The last two really shocked me, because in the book I read Sleeping Sun was the song that helped Nightwish catapult themselves to global success, it’s such a beautiful song and Ghost Love Score is my favorite long track by them and Floor gives it her all. She said in an interview with Metal Hammer that it’s her favorite to sing live, no wonder!

To close it off there they did a part from The Greatest Show On Earth, which is a twenty-four minute long track on the album it’s from, so they only did the first three chapters of it. Tuomas has got so creative with his writing that he has started making these longer tracks that have chapters to them and let’s just say he achieved one goal with the last album where there’s a second disc. There he wrote an entire score, and what a beautiful one it is, called All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World, and the show concluded with the final part of that: Ad Astra.

So was it worth it? Absolutely. Sure it’s not the same as going to a real concert, but after having none to go to the past year, I was in dire need if one, whatever it took, because of things in my life were dropping like the hill on a rollercoaster. Watching this, definitely made me feel better last night.

I would love to do some of these more often. Even after the pandemic settles/ends, virtual concerts are definitely going to stick around. They’re great for fans who can’t make it to the actual gig because of distance, time zone, commitments, etc. Too many concerts I have ended up missing because of those things. So I can enjoy the ones I can’t go to in person, at home in the comfort of my PJ’s without having to worry about the crowds!

👽Emily