  
L'Endevi opened the day's proceedings and did a great job of it. it's always hard to be the first act on, especially as people are generally tired from the previous day, and when you're playing to a crowd in which very few people have seen or heard you before then it's even tougher, but L'Endevi do a great job - sounding good enough to persuade me to buy their CDs from the merch stand.
Hell city were next up and with a sound based around traditional heavy metal they went down very well. They included a screening of their new video (for the song "Ice cold rage") as well which was a nice idea.
Dalriada came next - a Hungarian folk metal band. They had a really catchy fun feel to their music and I really enjoyed their performance.
Eleanor were next, a Japanese band. Their music actually has quite a western feel to it, without much of a Japanese feel. I really enjoyed them, and that more western sound will probably help them gain more fans over here too. There was a Japanese visual element with the singer wearing an outfit based around a Japanese Kimono, but modified and the overall effect was an East meets West look. A very good band I hope to see again.
Cadaveria were next, an Italian Horror metal band. With the band members wearing stage makeup to look like corpses and the singer wearing a veil for the first few songs they had a strong visual image and with music that was considerably heavier than any of the other bands so far, they stood out musically too.
Crimfall were next. They use the commonly used pairing of a female singer doing clean vocals and a male singer doing the growls. They sounded very good despite a few technical problems, but shortly after the festival they announced they had parted ways with their female singer, Helena, so it will be interesting to see if they replace her with a similar singer or try a slightly different direction.
Stream of passion were next. Another band that has played the festival several times, they were completely at home and put in their usual superb performance. Marcella Bovio has a fantastic voice and the band's performance of the Radiohead song "Street spirit" was truly amazing - one of the best song performances of the festival. As well as singing Marcella plays violin with the most "metal" vioin I've ever seen - a Flying V guitar shaped violin which really looks impressive.
Anneke van Giersbergen was next. She's clearly a popular choice but another slightly odd one as her music is very pop oriented, but as with Liv Kristine on the friday night she goes down very well with the crowd. I was looking forward to her set as I do enjoy her music, and her latest album is great. Tonight's set is excellent and has a really enjoyable feel. It was nice to hear some songs from The Gathering to end the set - I hadn't expected that and they were superb.
Revamp were next up. Having been to the two album launch gigs I knew pretty much what to expect, and they didn't disappoint. The songs from the new album sound great live, and Revamp powered through a great set made up of songs from both albums. Although singer Floor Jansen gets most of the attention, the band isn't just a backing band of hired musicians, these guys are damn good and put in great performances, and frankly they need to be good if they're to avoid being totally overshadowed by Floor's powerful vocals. A few members of the audience who clearly hadn't listened to Revamp seemed a bit shocked by the power and heaviness of the music, but most of the crowd loved it. A fantastic set.
Tonight's headliner was Tarja. When I've seen her before she's always sung beautifully but has never really looked comfortable on stage, but tonight she is the best I've seen her - looking confident and natural on stage, and sounding fantastic. Tonight's set is made up entirely of material from her solo albums including my favourite track from the new album "500 letters". Including a couple of costume changes she and her band put in a great performance and demonstrate that she's really starting to thrive as a solo artist. It's not till the encore that we get some Nightwish amterial - "Wish I had an angel", and then after ending with another of her solo tracks, "Until my last breath" the band take their bows before she playfully reminds the crowd that she'd promised them something, and after some cheers she brings out the new Nightwish singer, Floor Jansen. The two then performed a duet. I'd been wondering what they'd choose to sing, and assumed it would be a Nightwish song, and in a way it was as Nightwish sing it but as a cover - the song was "Over the hills and far away" by Gary Moore. It was fantastic to see these two amazing singers perform together and a superb end to the best MFVF yet. I can't wait to see how the organisers manage to beat this years festival but since it keeps getting better and better I have no doubt that they'll manage it somehow.
You can view photos from the festival here - http://www.festivalphoto.net/pictures&festivalID=1371&festival=metal-female-voices-fest-2013#.UngncxCPPIY |
