Published on Dec 18, 2019

Rating:

Genre: Live Music

Dates: Monday, April 20, 2020

Venue: Exhibition Theatre

Prices: 388, 688, 988, 1288, 1488

Features: The Finnish metal band Nightwish will be set up their new world tour and will debut in Beijing at Exhibition theatre on Monday April 20th, 2020.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

It’s July, 1996. A hidden campfire looms on the island in the middle of Lake Pyhajarvi, Kitee. Then at midnight, something happens that has far-reaching consequences. Tuomas Holopainen has an idea of a solo project that would play atmospheric “mood music.”

The idea quickly crystallises: the sound would include acoustic guitars, flutes, strings, piano – and female vocals. Guitarist Erno “Emppu” Vuorinen and vocalist Tarja Turunen soon join the project.

Holopainen’s embryonic idea takes form in just a few months, and the first Nightwish demo is completed in early 1997. Outsiders’ opinions are reservedly positive, and the seeds sown during the summer start sprouting during the freezing winter of Karelia.

New dimensions soon appear in the band’s music: Vuorinen changes from acoustic to electric guitar, and Jukka Nevalainen joins as the drummer. A few weeks of furious practise culminate in a studio demo recorded in April, featuring seven songs by the new line-up.

The songs attract the attention of Spinefarm Records, and the band is offered a deal. During the summer, Nightwish record four more songs, and their debut album Angels Fall First is released in November. The album rises to number 31 on the Finnish charts, while the single, “The Carpenter” has already made it to Top Ten.

Wrapping up a year of surprisingly hectic action, Nightwish play their debut gig on New Year’s eve. Over 400 people show up at Huvikeskus, Kitee, and the band is jumpy as hell, but the concert surpasses all expectations.

Oceanborn is released internationally during the spring, boosted by the new single, “Sleeping Sun” that sells more than 15,000 copies in a few weeks in Germany alone.

When the guys get out of the army, Nightwish are truly able to hit the live circuit, and as Nightwish is booked for almost all major Finnish festival, the summer sees some furious gigging.

Boosted by the success of Wishmaster, Nightwish set out on their first world tour, and the summer months see the band perform to crazed audiences in places like Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Panama, and Mexico. In the autumn, Nightwish headline their first European tour, and in late November, they fly to North America for the first time to play two concerts in Montreal.

Early 2004 flies by fast in the studio, and in early June, Once is released; an hour-long musical masterpiece that introduces new flavours to the band’s trademark sound. The British genius Pip Williams has created some majestic orchestral and choral arrangements, and the Native American musician John Two-Hawks appears on the track, “Creek Mary’s Blood.”

Mika Jussila masters Endless Forms Most Beautiful at Finnvox studio in Helsinki in mid-January. The band is one hundred percent happy with the result – and something exceptional can be interpreted through the smile of the singer, Floor Jansen, performing on her first Nightwish album, as she states that:

“This is not only the best album that I have ever sung on, but this is actually the best album ever.”

The “Elan” single and a promotional video of the same name, bursting with the appearance of Finnish acting legends, is released on February 13, and the new album will be available to fans at the end of March. Nightwish’s world tour will start in early April at the famed Hammerstein Ballroom – and this is just the start…

Tickets for Nightwish World Tour 2020 Live in Beijing are Available now!