''Once Upon a Tour'' was the third world tour by Finnish

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

band

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

, in 2004 and 2005, to promote the release of their fifth album, ''

Once Once means a one-time occurrence. Once may refer to: Music * ''Once'' (Pearl Jam song), a 1991 song from the album ''Ten'' * ''Once'' (Roy Harper album), a 1990 album by Roy Harper * ''Once'' (The Tyde album), a 2001 debut album by The Tyd ...

'', released June 7, 2004. A new greatest hits compilation, ''

Highest Hopes High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

'', was also released to tie in with the tour. The albums combined with the band's most expansive merchandise campaign by

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

meant this tour was heralded as the band's most important in many years. Many of the band's songs had not been played in a long time.

Background

The success of the album allowed the band to perform in many countries they had never visited before: Colombia, Ecuador, Scotland, Estonia, Greece, Romania, Denmark, Japan, Australia, Portugal, and Slovenia. The band also played their first tour in the United States, with various sold-out concerts; the South American leg also sold out all its concerts. A second tour was planned in the US, but it was cancelled by

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half o ...

, who also cancelled some concerts in Australia. Nightwish performed at the opening ceremony of the

2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF ...

held in Helsinki, highlighting the acclaim the band had recently gained. After touring in Europe and South America in late 2004, and some separate shows in December, the band had some time off in January 2005. In February, Nightwish won five Emma-Gala Awards (Finnish Grammy); among other awards, they won "The Band of the Year" and "The Best Selling Album of the Year". Tuomas Holopainen and

Marko Hietala Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala (born 14 January 1966) is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Internationally, he is best known as the former bassist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, of the symphonic ...

flew to Helsinki to receive the awards from touring in Europe. In March, Nightwish performed for the first time in Japan and Australia; in April and May, they had to have a break because of Turunen's other interests; but at the end of May, the band resumed the tour by playing with

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

in Poland and

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...

in Norway. During late 2005, Nightwish played several shows including a sold-out performance at the legendary

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...

in London. The last show on the European tour, in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Germany was up until then their biggest gig, with an audience of ten thousand. The final concert was played on October 21 for 11,500 people in Hartwall Areena in Helsinki. The concert was also recorded to be released as an '' End of an Era'' live DVD and CD. This was the last tour with Tarja Turunen; after the last concert the four other members of Nightwish decided it was best to continue Nightwish without Turunen, a feeling they expressed through an open letter Holopainen gave Turunen after the show, afterwards posted on the band's

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

. It was written by Holopainen but signed by the other band members. The main justification for Turunen's dismissal given in the letter was the band felt both her husband Marcelo Cabuli (an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

businessman) and commercial interests had changed her attitude towards the band. In May 2007, former Alyson Avenue frontwoman Anette Olzon was revealed as Turunen's replacement.

Setlist

Tour dates

Personnel

– lead vocals * Tuomas Holopainen –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Emppu Vuorinen –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Jukka Nevalainen –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, vocals Additional musician * John Two-Hawks – vocals,

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

References

Sources

External links

Nightwish Official Website
2004 concert tours 2005 concert tours Nightwish concert tours {{Music-event-stub