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Live performances of specific songs

Fugazi

By Fugazi
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Fugazi

Fugazi

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Live performances of specific songs

I thought I would share this reference tool that I have built. If you want to find out whether a song has ever been performed live, or whether it has been released on an official live CD or DVD/BR, this is the place for you.

Songs are grouped chronologically by album (with distinct colours for each album). If a song name is red, like "Nymphomaniac Fantasia", then it has never been performed live by Nightwish (as far as I know, and with the help of setlist.fm). If a song name is bolded, like "Elvenpath", then not only it has been performed live, but it's also been recorded and released on an official CD (audio) or DVD/BR (video).

Then my table is separated by singer eras, so for instance Tarja has sung "Elvenpath" live, Anette hasn't, and Floor has. A greyed out box means that a specific singer has never performed that song live.

Moreover, the live album source is mentioned. For instance one can see that "Elvenpath" live has been released on From Wishes to Eternity (FWTE) with Tarja, and also on Decades Live (DL) with Floor.

The last column denotes the year when a song has last been performed live, if it hasn't been performed during the "Floor era" (after 2012).

Finally, yellow boxes stand for songs in the current tour rotation, that may potentially be recorded for future releases.

Live album acronyms are:

Please send in any corrections-additions.

 

Last update 2022-12

1.thumb.jpg.71c95df0f3c97139869c8b66d5f79277.jpg2.thumb.jpg.847b23a47b8acd13f167471ee9d3b259.jpg3.thumb.jpg.96c2841c57ba51ff7fafff35c60e0c5f.jpg

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Fugazi

Fugazi

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Adding on to this, I would like to make a list of the best fan or TV video recordings for songs that have no official DVD live recording.

 

For instance, for Floor we have the following live songs (not counting the Human Nature songs which will probably see future DVD/BR releases):

 

No official DVD featuring Anette was ever released, so I will be listing the best source for every one of the songs that she sang live. There are a couple of professionally recorded shows (⭐) from this era though so that will help.

 

Tarja sang a number of songs for which official live recordings were never released.

 

Feel free to send YouTube links, and I will go through the lists I have as well.

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Fugazi

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Making some progress finding suitable recordings of the songs that never made it to DVD. It's surprisingly difficult to find quality recordings of Floor singing the Imaginaerum-era songs like Slow, Love, Slow, Scaretale or The Siren. Anette singing Eva was also hard to find. If you know of better videos of any of the songs above, do let me know! Do you have a favourite version of Tarja singing Stargazers or Gethsemane? The latter was cut from the From Wishes to Eternity DVD, unfortunately.

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Fugazi

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Ok my work here is done! 😉 The best possible live recordings of songs that didn't make it to the official DVD/BR releases. Sources of better material are always welcome, as you will notice some subpar recordings in the list. Some songs also don't have known video recordings for now, only audio.

I was pretty certain that Tarja had sung Romanticide live, but it appears I was wrong. 🤔

Of note, recordings of Crownless live exist, but none are available on YouTube.

Comments welcome!

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Fugazi

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The Nightwish singers have performed solo many of the band's songs, some of which they never sang live with the band! Here's a partial list that may be of interest. Don't dismiss it only because it's not officially Nightwish, there's some surprisingly good (and exclusive) stuff here! And yeah, there's some pretty bad stuff too! 😁

The "unlock" 🔓 symbol denotes songs never performed on stage with Nightwish.

 

Tarja Turunen solo

Anette Olzon solo

Floor Jansen solo

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Fugazi

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Man, Tarja did leave no stone unturned when planning her solo shows... 😮

I found out today that she even performed "Where Were You Last Night" (the Ankie Bagger cover she recorded with Nightwish 😬) and "Erämaajärvi" (first part of Lappi from the first album) in 2010 during her solo tour. See the post above for links to this and more.

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Spartanguy83 Riddler

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On 12/27/2021 at 2:33 PM, Fugazi said:

The Nightwish singers have performed solo many of the band's songs, some of which they never sang live with the band! Here's a partial list that may be of interest. Don't dismiss it only because it's not officially Nightwish, there's some surprisingly good (and exclusive) stuff here! And yeah, there's some pretty bad stuff too! 😁

The "unlock" 🔓 symbol denotes songs never performed on stage with Nightwish.

 

Tarja Turunen solo

Anette Olzon solo

Floor Jansen solo

This is great, thanks! Still working my through some older posts. Tons yet to view!

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Fugazi

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With Floor singing 'The Phantom Of The Opera' with Nightwish tonight, I had to update a numbers of lists!

For the record, Floor has performed 65 different Nightwish songs live, of which 53 have been released on DVD/BR over the years. Hopefully Tribal, Shoemaker and The Phantom will be also included on a future physical release!

In case you're wondering, Tarja has performed live 49 different NW songs during her time in the band, and Anette almost as many -- 45.

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Fugazi

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Probably the only official source for the modern Phantom, as no live DVDs seem to be in the works for this tour. I still miss Marko, but there probably never will be a Floor-Marko duet with the full band so this is the next best thing. 👍 It's an improvement on the Beste Zangers or solo versions IMO, this song requires flames and mean guitarz. 😁

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Fugazi

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Back in January there was an interesting Metal Hammer article discussing the songs Nightwish have never performed live. I thought I would be fitting to add it in this thread. It seems pretty accurate to me.

 

Here are all the songs Nightwish have never played live

By Catherine Morris ( Metal Hammer ) published January 04, 2023

https://www.loudersound.com/features/here-are-all-the-songs-nightwish-have-never-played-live

Symphonic metal giants Nightwish have recorded around 117 songs, with only 34 never seeing the light of day

 

If you’ve ever seen the Finnish symphonic metal giants Nightwish at one of their 951 gigs (at the time of penning this list), there’s a good chance you’ll have heard them play Nemo, Wish I Had an Angel and Dark Chest of Wonders. The band’s top three most-played songs all come from the 2005 album Once, but what are they not playing? 

With the help of tour Bible and gig reviewer’s best friend, Setlist.fm, we found 34 tracks from the band that have never been played live. For context, there are around 117 recorded songs in their discography; “around”, because their later albums have frequently been accompanied by a second disc of purely orchestral versions, and because Tuomas Holopainen has a penchant for composing songs that go over the 25-minute mark and consist of multiple movements. 

Some of these, like the Lappi (Lapland) quadrilogy, are treated as four separate tracks here per the album’s tracklisting, whereas songs like The Greatest Show On Earth are treated as one long song. Cover songs that are B-sides such as Where Were You Last Night, and the instrumental Imaginaerum soundtrack album, haven’t been included, nor has the second disc of Human. :||: Nature. 

Now that we’ve explained our highly sophisticated scientific methodology, below are the songs that have never seen the stage lights. Is your favourite Nightwish song on here? Get ready to strap in, and nerd out…

Angels Fall First (1997)

Besides the recently released Human. :||: Nature, the band’s debut album is the one they’ve delved into the least when it comes to live shows: the aforementioned Lappi (Lapland) and the largely acoustic Nightwish demo have all been skipped over, as have the mellow Return to the Sea and the folky Nymphomaniac Fantasia.

Oceanborn (1998)

The release of Oceanborn saw the band start to tour outside of Finland, and with the 1998 record full of tracks like Sacrament of Wilderness and Passion & The Opera, you could forgive them for overlooking The Riddler and Nightquest. Though if you ask us, we might swap Walking In The Air for either.

Wishmaster (2000)

From the band’s second-most played record, there are just two songs they’ve consistently skipped over: the mournful ballad Two for Tragedy, and the histrionic Bare Grace Misery, a song with a delightfully melodramatic chorus that frankly deserves at least one live outing.

Century Child (2002)

2002’s Century Child and the addition of Marko Hietala’s powerful voice ushered in a new era for Nightwish and brought what would become a new setlist staple in the form of the stunning Ever Dream. It’s not surprising they favoured other songs over the slow, plodding Forever Yours and Ocean Soul, but we reckon that the sultry Feel For You should have its day in the sun at least once. Speaking of which…

Once (2004)

Once is big for many reasons: their most played album, their last with Tarja Turunen, and the one that gained them a significant new following outside of Europe; of all its songs, only one has never been played, and it’s the guitar-driven Dead Gardens.

Dark Passion Play (2007)

The Dark Passion Play tour was, and still is, Nightwish’s biggest tour to date, which is why it comes as little surprise that they’ve played nearly every song on the record with the exception of the sweet mid-tempo For The Heart I Once Had and the vitriolic Master Passion Greed. 

With the latter widely understood to be a thinly-veiled jab at Tarja’s husband, perhaps the band felt that playing the song live would be taking things a bit too far, or that those bitter feelings are best left in the past.

Imaginaerum (2011)

With a feature film to promote and another massive world tour, only the instrumental Arabesque and the gentle folky ballad Turn Loose The Mermaids were missed off the setlist for the Imaginaerum shows. The latter, featuring a gorgeous violin solo by Pekka Kuusisto, definitely deserves to be heard in a live setting.

Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015)

Enter Floor Jansen to take Nightwish into their Attenborough-metal era. Nothing says “I’ve got a National Geographic subscription” like writing an instrumental track called The Eyes of Sharbat Gula as tribute to the publication’s most iconic cover photograph, featuring the piercing green-eyed stare of a young Afghan woman. Of course, instrumentals are tricky to do justice live, so we’ll let them off for not giving this one an airing.

Human. :||: Nature (2020)

They band are only now touring their most recent record two-and-a-bit years after its release, thanks to a little something we’d probably rather not think about anymore, but so far they haven’t shown any love to the album opener Music (except as an intro played over the PA), Procession or closing track Endlessness. Watch this space.

Deeper Cuts

Like any band with as many albums and singles as Nightwish have, they bring out the odd B-side from time to time. Personally, we’d love to hear Floor have a stab at the ludicrous The Heart Asks Pleasure First, a sweeping, cinematic waltz from with some eye-wateringly high notes and beautiful violin outro. 

They’ve also never played Away, Lagoon, Live to Tell The Tale, Once Upon a Troubadour, Sagan, Sleepwalker, The Wayfarer or White Night Fantasy. While there’s probably little chance of them playing Erämaan Viimeinen unless Floor really knuckles down in her language studies, perhaps Tuomas’ wife, Finnish singer Johanna Kurkela, could join in for the Dark Passion Play-era jig.

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