Anette has come down with an illness. We weren't told what it was, but according to their webpage the concerts in Knoxville and Baltimore were also cancelled. She also didn't appear with the rest of the band when they went onstage to make their official apology, which I would assume she would be able to manage if it was a simple sore throat.

Fuck. My favorite band, and one of the few who would come within 1000 miles of the shithole I live in, and we had planned this trip for months. I'd be more pissed if I wasn't so worried.

Anyway, the trip wasn't a total loss. Our tickets will be fully refunded, and the opening act, Sonata Arctica, took over the main event for those of us who chose to stick around, which was nice because it turns out they put on a kickass show. This was really my first concert experience, and they made it rock. Rather than get up close to the stage and dance around in my uncomfortable boots, we took a seat high in the bleachers where we could overlook the action. This meant we lost the chance to fight over the drumsticks that got tossed out at the end, but so it goes. Marco Hietala, the male vocalist who can be heard in "Wish I Had An Angel" and the like, introduced them as "these fine young berserkers," a description that fit quite well. All these Scandanavian metal dudes look like Vikings. They ruled. Seriously. They put in a ton of effort and passion, especially considering they were doing it for free and for people who mostly hadn't even come there to see them. When they were finished, I bought their album.

The hastily assembled opening act, some local thrash band that even the concert hall staff didn't know the name of, was less successful. They were a desperate stopgap measure, and they knew it--most of the people there had come to see symphonic metal, not thrash. I don't mind thrash, and my husband loved it, so we joined the scattered cheers. "WE DON'T NEED YOUR PITY APPLAUSE!" they yelled, and then they played some song called "Fuck Your God" or something, (which had absolutely unintelligible lyrics so they probably could have gotten away with it if they hadn't announced it), after which the concert hall became absolutely silent. That's the way to do it. If you are going to fail, don't be afraid to fail all the way. I had had a few by this point, so at this point I shrieked as loudly as I could. I am impressed by spunk. The concert hall fell even more silent, followed by a few isolated, half-hearted and confused cheers from people whom I can only assume had also had a few. Well, whatever.

After the concert, we left with the crowd to find Marco (who seems to be the most outgoing member of Nightwish) hanging out by the bar, drinking and getting mobbed by fans. This wasn't an official signing, and I had nothing for him to sign anyway. (I saw another fan try to get him to sign one of those handheld cellphone/electronic writing pad thingies, only they apparently didn't have the pen for it, so he scrawled some scribbles on it with his finger, seeming drunkenly amused by the whole thing.) I worked up the courage to go up and ask for a picture--he was obviously out there for the attention, and enjoyed it, but natural timidness is hard to fully suppress--asking him to to do the metal devil-horns thing. He responded drunkenly with "I do the horns" in his Finnish accent, which I found adorable for some reason, and then we put our arms over each others' shoulders and "did the horns" while my husband snapped a photo on the cell phone. We rarely take pictures with that thing, so it actually turned out looking like complete crap, but hey. At least I get to cross "touch a rock star" off my list of things to do before I die.

I'd rather have seen them perform, though. Shit, I hope Anette gets better and they tour the US again.

The new CD gets better every time I listen to it. This is a good thing since I am compelled by divine powers to listen to some Nightwish for at least an hour a day or suffer a 1-die penalty to every roll.

Got 2 new CDs this weekend to celebrate my new job and alleviate the hour and a half of commute every day. One of course was the obvious choice, Dark Passion Play by Nightwish. Angst angst angst angst. Soon they will be just like Evanescence! There are a couple of really nice tracks on it though, like Amaranth and 7 Days to the Wolves. Who am I kidding, I love even their worst, most self indulgent songs with a wide eyed, utterly un-ironic adoration. I spent an extra five bucks for the version with the bonus track and the cd of instrumentals, too!

As predicted, the Poet and the Pendulum lyrics:
"Spitting on his grave as they came."

Well, I was a little off but I managed to make the connection that no one else appeared to so I count that one as a win.

Second was my first Dragonforce cd, Sonic Firestorm. In contrast to the charming earnestness and unabashed passion of Nightwish, Dragonforce is entirely self aware and conscious of how ridiculous their music is. This makes for less refreshing oceanic depth and more light, fun listening. For those who have never heard of Dragonforce, imagine Rush if only every one of their songs was Bytor and the Snow Dog. For those of you who have never heard of Rush, what the hell are you doing here? This is a Nerd Journal, boy. You go on back to the city.

transcribed lyrics from the leaked Poet and the Pendulum:

The morning dawn upon this altar
Remains of the dark passion play
Performed by his friends without shame
Screaming on his curse ???

INCORRECT. The last line is: "Screaming on his corpse they came" the corpse masturbating line referred to by one of the band members in the interview. When I purchase the album later this month those lyrics are going to be what is written in the liner notes and I will have the satisfaction of knowing that I am a genius.

Why yes I listen to this song while eating, why?