Songs covered by Nightwish

[Fugazi]

NW covered quite a few songs over the years, although now with so much original material they don't perform cover songs quite as often as they used to.

This was inspired by a compilation I found on reddit by user GouryellaIV (link here). I'm basically using their table and YouTube links but presenting it a bit differently. Here I chose to separate the cover songs NW actually recorded from the songs they only performed live. Links to YouTube were provided in the original reddit post.

 

Cover songs on studio albums

1998: Walking In The Air (Howard Blake, 1982) 💿 OB

2001: Over The Hills And Far Away (Gary Moore, 1986) 💿 OTHAFA

2002: The Phantom Of The Opera (Andrew Lloyd Weber, 1986) 💿 CC

2004: Where Were You Last Night (Ankie Bagger, 1989) 0️⃣ 💿 ONCE ("Wish I Had An Angel" single B-side)

2012: The Heart Asks Pleasure First (Michael Nyman, 1993) 0️⃣ 💿 IRUM ("The Crow, The Owl And The Dove" single B-side)

0️⃣ songs never performed live

 

Cover songs only performed live

2000: Roll Tide/Aftermath (Hans Zimmer, 1995 and Trevor Rabin, 1999) 💿 FWTE

2002: We're Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister, 1984) 4️⃣

2002-03: Wild Child (W.A.S.P., 1985) 4️⃣

2002-03: Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne, 1980)

2003: Don't Talk To Strangers (Dio, 1983) 1️⃣

2004: Symphony Of Destruction (Megadeth, 1992) 💿 ONCE ("The Siren" single B-side)

2005: High Hopes (Pink Floyd, 1992) 💿 EOAE

2009-12: Finlandia (Jean Sibelius, 1899)

2012: Show Me How To Die (Battle Beast, 2011) 1️⃣

2012-15: The Mug Of Brown Ale (traditional Irish music)

2015: Money (Pink Floyd, 1973) 1️⃣*

2015: Wonderful Life (Black, 1986) 1️⃣*

2015: Locomotive Breath (Jethro Tull, 1971) 1️⃣*

2015: Rock Around The Clock (Sonny Dae And His Knights, 1954) 1️⃣*

2015: Ace Of Spades (Motörhead, 1980) 1️⃣*

2015: Alone (i-Ten, 1983) 2️⃣*

2018: Elvenjig (traditional folk music) 💿 DL

1️⃣ songs rarely performed

*All part of a special acoustic performance during the Baltic Princess Cruise, June 2015.

[Fugazi]

And because that snippet of "Show Me How To Die" is the only live recording available, here's a better recording of the band presumably rehearsing backstage before the show. It starts with Marko warning the filmmaker "Keep your mouth shut or we will kill you!" 😁

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgLtsR1WLUs

[Fugazi]

Further to the above, here's the story of why Nightwish sang a Battle Beast song that one time in Stuttgart. Excerpts from Sonic Cathedral, by Angela Infernale:

 

https://www.soniccathedral.com/zine/index.php/concerts-events/162-Nightwish Live Review – European Imaginaerum Tour 2012

The show in Slovenia got cancelled, making Stuttgart the final show of the European Imaginaerum tour. Now what seems to happen at a final Nightwish show is that total prankage breaks loose, and that clothing is optional, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The show started out perfectly normal. Eklipse were about halfway into their set when there was a pretty unexpected addition to the band. Two scarcely dressed guys on the higher end of the BMI-scale came on stage with fake instruments, and joined the girls for a minute or two. Wearing black panties and some see-through tops, they had done their best to observe the dress code. The girls' reaction was priceless, but in spite of all they managed to keep playing without any noticeable mess-ups. But it also took a lot more than that for Anette to lose it later on, but first things first.

One detail I haven't mentioned so far is that between Eklipse and Battle Beast there was the shortest re-arranging break ever. It didn't take more than five minutes till they were finished and the next band came on. So when I expected to hear the usual, sort of symphonic Battle Beast intro I had gotten used to, I instead got some weird techno-ish music. It stayed on for about a minute until the real intro started. Granted, they – who ever they were – could have been a bit more creative on that one. In the break that followed the Battle Beast set, Dr. Cotton – that's what his lab coat said – handed out some free Nightwish shirts to the crowd. Well, children's shirts and old tour shirts from the “South American Kumbajah 2008”, etc.

So the biggest and funniest prank had to be played on Nightwish. But what would it be? First, Nightwish had their own shot at Battle Beast, making up for the yet funny, but not so hilarious prank before. During the acoustic part of their set, when they were supposed to play “Nemo”, they started playing Battle Beast's most characteristic song: “Show Me How to Die”. At that, the latter came running into the photo pit and rocked out to their own song, while Troy Donockley added some witty remarks, such as “I would really like to be deceased.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HE7KBybiPI

That could have been it, but no real prank had been played on Nightwish yet. And sure enough, as they were playing “Over the Hills And Far Away”, Battle Beast were suddenly back in the photo pit – only this time, they were dressed in sauna towels only (Nitte made an exception, she had thrown the towel on top of her stage outfit). Now “Over the Hills and Far Away” is a very danceable song, and a sauna towel can be really restrictive to your mobility. So some of the guys decided it would be better to open their towels in the front – facing the stage – and wiggle what they got. That's when Anette cracked up in the middle of singing. After that, no one knew what they were singing anymore. I know I didn't, but Anette and Marco also seemed to be singing different things when they were supposed to be singing the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziibL8Qn9pM (unfortunately Battle Beast are invisible but you can hear Anette laughing her ass off!)