SONATA ARCTICA
Stage 48 in New York City
03 April 2016
[separator style=”line” /] Finnish melodic metal band Sonata Arctica said goodbye to North America with a performance at Stage 48 in New York City. The band passed through the states on a 26-date North American tour as direct support for Nightwish. Following the tour’s end on March 23, Sonata Arctica embarked on a headlining tour of their own.Check out the photos of Sonata Arctica from Stage 48 here!
Jumpstarting the set with their song “The Wolves Die Young,” everyone cheered as vocalist Tony Kakko bolted out powerful clean notes. While newer songs went over well, the audience was electric when massive classics such as “My Land,” “FullMoon,” “Kingdom for a Heart,” and “Letter to Dana.”
As the night progressed, the crowd participation grew. By the time the band delved into “8th Commandment,” a circle pit had formed, along with crowd surfers at the front of the stage. 
Sonata Arctica toured the states extensively since their debut show at BB King’s in 2005. Since then, venues have grown larger. With bigger shows comes longer setlists. On this night the band performed seven tracks off of their debut album, Ecliptica. This is something they haven’t yet done in the states and it was a very pleasant surprise. Another highlight from the night was the hauntingly beautiful epic “White Pearl, Black Oceans.” The entire venue looked and listened in awe as Tony Kakko delivered the words to this nine-minute masterpiece. Everyone stood silent as if they were imagining the story unfold before them, but when the chorus hit the crowd sang along.
All in all, it was a great night; the band managed to draw a pretty large crowd despite it being a late Sunday evening. Many in attendance have traveled from overseas to see their favorite band, and stories were shared by those who had seen them the night prior in Worcester, Massachusetts. As the band closed their set, they announced plans for a new album to be released some time by the end of the year or early next year. Later on that night on their social media page the band announced plans to return in November with another headlining tour with Leaves’ Eyes and Omnium Gatherum.
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