From Wishes to Eternity

I thought this was a great Nightwish concert. Quite possibly my favorite out of all the ones I've seen. Recording concerts onto VHS/DVD wasn't as big in 2001 as it is now. I'm glad Nightwish decided to record this concert because it represents the best of what Nightwish has to offer during their best era. For that, I'd probably give this DVD a 100%, but it does have some minor problems with the production itself.

I own the original NTSC copy of this DVD. I have the one that was produced by The Foundry and distributed by PHD Canada. Obviously, they just converted the PAL DVD into an NTSC formatted DVD. I myself have never seen the Spinefarm PAL version, but I'm told it looks and sounds great. Being knowledgeable about audio and video in general, I can clearly tell that the NTSC version of this DVD isn't the best looking DVD I've seen. My version is in widescreen format, but it only has 2.0 Stereo and the Spinefarm PAL DVD has Dolby Digital 5.1. These are only small differences though. I'm just picky about my video. One last complaint: the actual DVD menu is a little screwed up. You're unable to hit the "watch all" in the menu. You have to select the first song of the show in order to watch the whole concert. There are also other small menu problems as well. Not a big deal, but things like this can be annoying. It's not too major, but it is worth noting.

But there is hope! Apparently, Century Media re-released this onto NTSC. There's a lot of scattered information about this US release, but I have seen it in my local record store so I can assure you it exists. I didn't look at the specs of the DVD but it is said to be just like the PAL version.

In conclusion, try looking for the US Century Media version of this DVD and not the Canadian PHD Canada version for the NTSC release. To all you Europeans: you needn't worry because the PAL version looks great. I know where I'm moving! :)

This DVD is just incredible. Its visual crispness and supreme audio quality blows one away, as well as the actual content.

The main event is, of course, the full length concert. Recorded at the Tampere gig of December 29th 2000, on the Wishmaster tour. Both older (Elvenpath) and newer (Wishmaster) songs are played. The atmosphere on the gig is enchanting, mainly due to the small size of the concert house. Tarja's voice is clear as always, and Tuomas, Jukka, Emppu and Sami master their instruments to the full. The latter fact is definately confirmed when the instrumental Crimson Tide/Deep Blue Sea is played. Brilliant.

But the DVD has got so much more..

Both Tarja and Tuomas are interviewed, Tuomas in english and Tarja in finnish. Some would rather have done Tarja's interview in english, but I think it's good. A chance to hear the finnish goddess in her own language.
Tuomas dishes out some facts around the early days of Nightwish and what metal bands he prefers. Tarja tells about herself a bit and of the difficulty of being the only woman on the tour.

Moving on to the off-stage footage. This bit is just absolutely hilarious! I bet I could watch it a hundred times and never grow tired of it. Roughly 30 minutes of off-stage mayhem! Among the tidbits: We get to hear some folk-music Tarja sang (She gets quite embarrassed); Tero The Caveman (their sound-tech I believe) gets a large amount of money to drink an unknown, though disgusting liquid; numerous food-wars; nude-bathing in Quebec (in the city, yes); one drunk-as-fuck Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho (Sinergy/Children of Bodom), swearing in Finnish; the beer-turns-to-vodka trick; Sinergy becomes Nightwish (Alexi as Tuomas...hmm) and lots of other really funny stuff.
The off-stage footage alone makes the DVD worth buying.

There are also some music videos on the disc, two live ones - Walking In The Air and The Kinslayer, and two promo videos, namely The Carpenter and Sleeping Sun. The live videos are quite good, especially Walking In The Air. When it comes to the promos, they are quite good too, though I find Tarja's look on The Carpenter a little weird.. Sleeping Sun is just mind-numbingly beautiful, and then I mean both the music, and the finnish flora/fauna :)

Also included on the DVD, are about 50 pictures, some live, some session and some off-stage. The off-stage ones are quite funny, and so are some of the session ones too. But there is also a little treat among these pics. The first ever pictures that were taken of Nightwish (spring '97) is included. Nice hair, Jukka :)

To top it off, the Nightwish discography (1997-2001) is included.

All in all, a must have for the serious Nightwish fan. Run and buy!

This DVD is great. All the members of the band are active. Tarja moves the audience with her beutiful, powerful vocals. Emppu makes the audience bang their heads with his heavy riffs, and sweet melodys on the guitar. Tuomas is an excellent keyboardist. It was interesting to watch and hear his interview. Sami, the bassist has presence on the stage, but not as much as everyone else. He seems like the calm guy out of the group. Jukka the drummer is excellent too. He impressed me by showing off a little.

Thinking about buying this? You should! It's well worth it. The DVD is long, and the deleted scenes are funny at times :). The videos were good too. They could have been a little better though. I would have liked Tarja's Interview to be spoken in English, but it's alright. If you're a Nightwish fan, you will probably like it! Everyone seems cool, like people I'd like to meet one day. I think this is my favorite metal DVD that I own.

Highlights of mine are:

The Pharoa Sails To Orion
Come Cover Me
Instrumental (Crimson Tide/Deep Blue Sea)
Swanheart
Dead Boys Poem
Beauty And The Beast

...I'll leave it at that :P