TARJA: live in Leipzig (01-11-2013)
Tarja kicks off on her “Colours On The Road” tour.
After a lengthy break, TARJA enters the stage with ‘In For A Kill’. The fans go crazy from the first second, applaud and try to sing with their idol. But they are also here to listen to some new songs from Tarja’s current album “Colours In The Dark”, so ‘500 Letters’ is performed right on time. Only a few days ago, the video clip was released.
Tarja and her band seem to be quite happy to be here on stage – they look relaxed and enjoy the gig. From time to time, she says something in German. Having studied in Karlsruhe years ago, she speaks the language very well. Tarja is wearing black trousers and a lace top for the first part of the concert. Unusually, the drum kit is placed in front of the stage, but if you have Mike Terrana on drums, it is the best you could do, because he radiates so much energy and is a really impressive one man show.
For the beginning, Tarja performs older stuff like ‘Sing For Me’ and ‘Falling Awake’, before she dedicates ‘I Walk Alone’ to the fans who have been with her in her darkest hours after the split with NIGHTWISH. For ‘Anteroom Of Death’, the voices of VAN CANTO come from playback – all in all the playback is a little bit too loud, also Tarja’s own background voice sometimes drowns out her live singing.
Next in line is the new song ‘Never Enough’. At the end, Tarja leaves the stage and it is up to her band to set the house on fire. The fans like it and continue clapping and cheering. Tarja comes back with a black skirt and her sequin top to sing ‘Until Silence’. ‘Die Alive’ should not be missed at a Tarja concert and after that, she performs three songs in a row from the new album: ‘Mystique Voyage’, ‘Neverlight’ and ‘Medusa’.
The audience shouts for Tarja while waiting for the encore. The final begins with a monk-like costume and ‘Victim Of Ritual’. The song works good on stage and the fans enjoy the show. Tarja only plays one Nightwish song during the whole evening: ‘Wish I Had An Angel’ is much better with Marco as a singer, but Tarja’s guitar player Alex Scholpp does a good job, too.
‘Until My Last Breath’ seems to be the last song, but after the fans won’t stop shouting for more, the muscians put in their in-ears again and play ‘Over The Hills And Far Away’ – a Gary Moore cover Tarja did with Nightwish once and performed with Floor Jansen at Metal Female Voices Fest only two weeks ago. After that, Tarja says goodbye and the fans leave with smiles on their faces. Good performance of an enthusiastic band and a very likable appearance from Tarja.