I’m grateful for a Nightwish live release representing the Annette-fronted version of the band, but this could have been better. It’s a bit skimpy. There are 8 live tracks from the Dark Passion Play tour, 2 B-sides and a demo. The live tracks are great. They sound excellent and the band rocks hard. Don’t expect a whole lot of variation from the album versions though. Of course, there are no songs from the Tarja albums. If that’s what you’re looking for, there is a wonderful live release called End of an Era that is well worth checking out. This disc is a bit short. Not to mention the glaring omission of Meadows of Heaven, my favorite song from Dark Passion Play. The DVD is fluff. A short documentary about the tour and three music videos. I hate these CD/DVD combos. The DVD content is rarely worthwile and only serves to jack up the price as is the case here.

So although the content is good, this just isn’t a very good value. I would like to have seen a complete live show. The CD is only 66 minutes long. They could have dropped the three “bonus” tracks and included probably 4 or 5 more live tracks. And dropped the DVD entirely. But that’s record companies for you. For live Nightwish, End of an Era is certainly the way to go.