Roadrunner has issued that Nightwish frontwoman Floor Jansen recently appeared on the Dutch TV show Tiende van Tijl, on which pop and rock singers are invited to perform classical pieces. Jansen sang “Oh, Mio Babbino Caro” by Giacomo Puccini. This was her second appearance on the show; she said, “even though I studied classical singing, I am not a opera singer full time…It was great to do again. It was on a short notice, however, so I had no time to prepare a new aria. I wore a dress you would normally not see me wear!”

Jansen and Nightwish are currently on tour in Australia; click here for tour dates!
The latest Nightwish album, Imaginaerum, is available everywhere now – grab a copy from the Roadrunner webstore!

Source: Bravewords.com

On December 5th, NIGHTWISH touring vocalist Floor Jansen (REVAMP; ex-AFTER FOREVER) issued the following update on the band’s Latin American tour:

“The vast distances between the countries here in Latin America make us fly a lot and therefore it’s not a coincidence I write the first words while sitting in an airplane. A miniature plane will take us from Lima to Cusco today. No shows the coming 2 days but some very special site-seeing! We have the honor to see Machu Picchu!

Time becomes liquid when you travel a lot. It’s been a little over a week ago I left home to go to the airport. From Amsterdam to London where I met with all the guys to fly to Mexico City together. Fifteen men, 1 girl 🙂

The day after arrival we had a day off to adjust and relax. There was a nice pool and good gym where I spent some hours! So good to be back in Mexico! We had 2 shows in the same venue the days after. Two times 3,000 passionate people rocking with us! What a wonderful start of the tour!

Then it was time to go back to the airport for a day of traveling to Puerto Rico via Miami. A day I’d rather forget because I had problems with my visa and security and ended up missing the flight because I stayed at dinner too long talking Dutch with our tour promotor Eric. Haha, what a day! You can imagine how nice it was to finally come to the hotel in the beautiful San Juan!

The next day I had some time to go to the beach before going to the venue. With my super white Dutch skin I couldn’t stay long but it was wonderful nevertheless. The rain made an end to my outside trips and made the amphitheater a wet challenge. In the middle of Caribbean trees and wilderness stood an open stage in front of a concrete circle for the audience. A lovely tropical mixture of worlds. I loved it!

The rain didn’t come back and kept our heads and gear dry during the show. It was the first time in Puerto Rico for Nightwish but it didn’t seem that way. Everybody sang along every word and in that special ambiance the night was magical!

Off to Costa Rica the next day but not before we saw some more of the island. We went to the 16th century fortress El Morro. Beautiful despite its cruel past; a great insight in the rich history of the island. Also the old town was great to visit. The sun was shining this day and made our European bodies sweat 🙂 in our homelands it’s all frost, rain and snow…

After this welcome trip away from airports, hotels and venues we again had a flight ahead and took off to Panama to transfer there to San José in Costa Rica. No delays on my behalf this time, I was at the gate in time 🙂

The next morning I woke up feeling heavy and a little sick. As if I did a marathon the day before… But instead of more sleep or sobbing about it I went to the gym of the hotel and found my energy back! Totally revived we went to the venue to do the sound check. A lot of people were standing right outside the venue listening to it and a huge applause rose when we finished. Nice! 🙂

The show was LOUD! Louder than the shows before, and those were amazing already with the singing and shouting and screaming 🙂 This was the first show in Costa Rica as well and again that didn’t seem the case at all. I had a hard time hearing myself or the rest of the band on stage sometimes! Real rock’n roll, really awesome! Tears came to my eyes again during ‘Ghost Love Score’ and I stayed an emotional cooky after the show as well. The feeling of gratitude and love for all this grew bigger than me. Such an incredible high!

The next day was a travel day again. Off to the airport with our massive amount of luggage. It was raining cats and dogs when we left to fly to Lima, Peru. Hours later we sat foot on Peruvian soil. We walked out the gates after picking up our stuff to find over a hundred screaming fans at the door 🙂 A warm and hysterical welcome into a country none of us ever visited. So amazing! While waiting to be escorted to the van (with a lot of security, weird still) we signed many things and made hundreds of pics. Our ‘we just traveled long’ faces were captured haha!

In the hotel we went to sleep immediately for we had an early wake up to go straight back to the airport again…”

Stay tuned for more.

Source: Blabbermouth.net 

NIGHTWISH‘s British fan club The-Islanders.co.uk conducted an interview with the band’s new touring singer, Floor Jansen, prior to the group’s November 6 headlining concert at O2 Academy in Birmingham, England. The nine-minute chat, which includes questions that were submitted by fans, can be seen below. A couple of excerpts follow.

On what it felt like travelling to the U.S. on such short notice to join NIGHTWISH in the middle of their North American tour after the band abruptly parted ways with previous singer, Anette Olzon:

Floor: “I don’t think I could feel anything else [but] pure excitement. It went so fast that I had no time to really realize what I was doing. And I was so focused on learning the lyrics that all I did was learn [the words]. I was [mouthing] along [to the lyrics on the plane] silently, but still pronouncing the words, because sometimes, especially the ‘Imaginaerum’ [material], [the words are being spit out so] fast, you need to have a taste — taste it [to get a feel for how it should be sung].”

On how it feels to be singing for NIGHTWISH after having toured with the guys in the past with her previous band, AFTER FOREVER:

Floor: “Well, in a way, nothing is different, because we all are the same [people]. But you do get to know each other on a different level really fast. And especially because the situation was so extraordinary, you really are kind of dependent on each other, and that creates a bond immediately. And also because things worked out really nicely from minute one, that was really special. And I was afraid, maybe there [would be] a language barrier or something, but since the guys speak English well, and I do too — they’re used to speaking English also among each other — it was just really good.”

On whether she was surprised how quickly NIGHTWISH fans embraced her:

Floor: “Yeah, I was. I know a few years ago how a lot of people had a hard time seeing [original NIGHTWISH singer] Tarja [Turunen] leave and welcoming Anette. I think [Anette] really had to fight for her spot. And I think maybe now it’s different that again a singer changed — that might make things easier. And maybe because I’ve been around also the metal scene for the last 13 years… I don’t know. Fortunately, I had no time to think to actually think of what to expect from fans, because, like I said, everything went so fast, but I couldn’t have dreamed of so many positive reactions — so many warm welcomes. Everybody was, like, ‘Wow. OK. We like her. She sings the songs well. She fits the band.’ I’ve had so many compliments that it’s [been] really, really good.”

Jansen made her live debut as the frontwoman of NIGHTWISH on October 1 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington.

Olzon joined NIGHTWISH in 2007 as the replacement for Turunen, after the latter was fired in 2005.