Eight of the eleven songs from the new Once album were performed this night, and they also take on some unexpected covers of Pink Floyd's "High Hopes" and Gary Moore's "Over The Hills And Far Away." These two songs fall far from the band's unique style, but they turn in some remarkably faithful and impressive performances. The band also invites Oglala Lakota Native American musician John Two-Hawks onstage to perform his own song, "Stone People," before joining them on "Creek Mary's Blood," which featured his vocals and cedar flute playing.

I purchased the deluxe, three-disk edition of End Of An Era, which includes the concert DVD, as well as two CDs covering the same setlist. The disks are housed in a tri-fold digipack that is adorned with dark gothic artwork and includes a 14-page color booklet. The DVD includes two very impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo audio tracks, and a crystal clear widescreen video presentation. My only real complaints are with the nauseatingly quick camera angle changes, and the directors infatuation with the slow motion button.

The DVD extras include a picture gallery, and the 55-minute documentary, A Day Before Tomorrow, which provides an intimate behind-the-scenes look at the band during their 2005 world tour. Many of the conversations are in Finnish and no English subtitles are provided.

It took me a few tries to get through all of this DVD, but I came away a bigger Nightwish fan than when I first started. This is definitely the type of music that may require a little extra time to grow on you, but any symphonic metal fan would be remiss to not give End Of An Era a spin.

Set List
1. Dark Chest Of Wonders
2. Planet Hell
3. Ever Dream
4. Kinslayer
5. Phantom Of The Opera
6. The Siren
7. Sleeping Sun
8. High Hopes
9. Bless The Child
10. Wishmaster
11. Slaying The Dreamer
12. Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan
13. Nemo
14. Ghost Love Score
15. Stone People
16. Creek Mary's Blood
17. Over The Hills And Far Away
18. Wish I Had An Angel

Ratings:
Performance 8/10
Production 8/10