Tarja Turunen & Marko Hietala – Matrix, Bochum, September 18th, 2024

Sometime earlier this year, I had spontaneously bought a ticket for this concert and then not thought about it until a few days before the show. I had expected Tarja and Marko tp play together, but it turned out they each played one set, plus they had a support act. That was a lot more music than I had expected and made the whole thing even more interesting. I had a great time.

Arrived something like an hour before the doors opened and stood in line with many others. Entering the venue went smoothly and to my surprise I still ended up only a few rows back from the stage. Nice! Half an hour later, support band Chaoseum was on sage and I remember few time sin my life wen I was more grateful for my earplugs – they were loud! They were also quite fun to listen to, even though their music was not really my style. Solid entertainment for half and hour.

The stage crew worked quickly and roughly half an hour later, Marko Hietala was on stage – he had brought Tuomas Wäinölä on guitar and it made me happy to see a familiar face. Not that his keyboarder and drummer weren’t great as well, but I didn’t know them. 😉 Being unfamiliar was Marko’s material, I was curious about the songs we were about to hear.

The show kicked off with ‘Star, Sand and Shadow’ – it rocked the house and I loved Marko’s clear voice. This was a great start. ‘Dead God’s Son’ was fantastic and then he told us he’d sing sing “in an almost disappeared, tribal language, called Finnish”. I loved the song and the best part was that I even understood a few words. ‘Isäni ääni’ means “My father’s voice”. 🙂 He asked us if we liked that stuff and when we confirmed, he said the next one was gonna be even more prog and “more full of love that you find in the dark” called ‘For you’. I really enjoyed it.

Marko told us they were having a special guest tonight, who was going to join them with their hurdy-gurdy and sing some backing vocals. He welcomed Patty Gurdy on stage. They talked about a single they had recorded together, but they were not going to play that one. However, they had a song from Marko’s upcoming album about “a white, nordic walker like me”, called ‘Rebel of the North’. It was a powerful song and their voices sounded great together. She stayed for ‘Frankenstein’s Wife’, which was described as “steam-punkish” – I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. but the song was very cool.

Marko thanked Patty and mentioned they never had the chance of playing live together. Did we want one more from the new album? We were not loud enough the first time around, so he asked again, then quipped “thank you for the answer, bt we would have done it anyway”. Then he explained that it was a bit controversial from the title, but about him and any other musician, because they all had done some things “for the money”. It was ‘Proud Whore’ – heavy and awesome.

Next up was another Finnish song, ‘Juoksen rautateitä’, this one much faster, so I understood nothing. So much for remembering some of my Finnish lessons. 😀 It was really fun though and I was moving with the music. “Alright the, one more semi-new song,” Marko started and as soon as he said “it has been out since last month” people started cheering. Since it was a duet song, he needed his “partner in crime and sister in spirit” to help him out and invited Tarja to join him. ‘Left on Mars’ was amazing and they sounded so good together.

‘Stones’ was pretty cool too – I really liked the guitar melody and we even sang, or rather screamed, along to the chorus. They were gonna give us one more song, a cover, but first, Marko spoke about all the wars going on in the world and authoritarian politicians, who are lying to us and dedicated the song to them. It was Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ – angry, loud and a perfect message to such people.

Setlist

Star, Sand and Shadow
Dead God’s Son
Isäni ääni
For you
Rebel of the North (with Patty Gurdy)
Frankenstein’s Wife (with Patty Gurdy)
Proud Whore
Juoksen rautateitä
Left on Mars (with Tarja)
Stones
War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)

Another half hour break and Tarja Turunen hit the stage, starting with the brilliant ‘Eye of the Storm’ that sounded like a mix of metal and opera to me – there was clearly a tango in there too. 🙂 I loved it already. She thanked us for coming and asked if there was happiness in the house, promising we had good things coming. ‘Demons in you’ was next and so powerful, if not totally my thing. ‘falling Awake’ was wonderful though – great singing, amazing guitars.

She told us that the next song deals with the matter of time and that our time on earth is very short, that she herself struggles with living in the moment, but we should aim for that so when time is up we know we have lived. It was ‘Die Alive’ and really awesome. The softer, more piano based ‘I Feel Immortal’ followed – what a gorgeous, emotional song.

I enjoyed Tarja’s set just as much as Marko’s and loved how different they were, yet a great combination. She played piano and said that she felt really happy to be back and how Germany is very important to her. She told us that many years ago she was afraid and didn’t know where life would take her, but decided to listen to her inner voice that told her to start writing songs and this was the first song she ever wrote. It was the beautiful ‘Oasis’ – I really loved the piano line. It was in Finnish, so I did not understand the words, but liked the sound of them. “Alright, this one is kind of he last one I wrote,” she continued and launched into ‘Shadow Play’- what a fantastic, rocking song. <3 We all helped out, shouting “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” before and after the gorgeous piano bridge. This was my favorite so far, ending in a great drum and guitar solo.

Meanwhile, Tarja had walked off and now came back, hand in hand with Marko, who joined her for a few songs. We greeted them both with huge cheers. They started right away with Nightwish’s ‘Dead to the World’, a cappella fo a few lines, then joined by the band – hell yeah, this was awesome. They sounded so good together and everyone was clapping along. 🙂

Next up was ‘Dark Star’, one of Tarja’s own songs. It started off with a great riff, that had everyone clap along and sounded fantastic with Marko singing harmonies. Tarja remarked that she was scared to step on Marko’s toes toes and only then I noticed that he was barefoot. He joked that she had done it only once so far, but he might need to wash his feet after this. He lifted one up and the sole was black with dirt. Music was more important though and they played the heavy and brilliant ‘Dead Promises’. What a perfect delivery.

During ‘Planet Hell’, another Nightwish banger, I made my way to the back, knowing I would not be able to stay until he very end. They sounded good from back there too, but I could not see much any more. It was still great and many were singing along (actually, it might have been everyone but me ;)) Marko left and Tarja played the fantastic ‘I walk alone’. I loved it, but still left during ‘Victim of Rutual’, because I had a train to catch. According to setlist.fm, there was a two song encore that I missed.

Sadly, when I got to the train station, the train was already delayed and it got considerably more until it was 25 minutes in the end. I could have stayed! Oh well, the evening had been fully worth the trip either way. 🙂

Setlist

Eye of the Storm
Demons in You
Falling Awake
Die Alive
I Feel Immortal
Oasis
Shadow Play
Dead to the World (Nightwish song) (with Marco Hietala)
Dark Star (with Marco Hietala)
Dead Promises (with Marco Hietala)
Planet Hell (Nightwish song) (with Marco Hietala)
I Walk Alone
Victim of Ritual

Encore:
Wish I Had an Angel (Nightwish song) (with Marco Hietala)
Until My Last Breath