Once history:
On Century Child, Marco Hietala replaced Sami on the bass and also sang the masculine vocal parts. Besides, Joennsu (near Kitee, in Finland) Orchestra took part in the album. With Once, Nightwish went definitely further on. Marco was still as present as on Century Child and the orchestral parts took a scope never seen before in the industry of metal music with the presence of the London philharmonic orchestra, famous for its performance on the score of The Lord of the Rings. Lead by Pip Williams (see opposite picture with Tuomas), the orchestra brought a huge inspiration of novelty to Nightwish’s compositions, supported with original melodies and many experiences throughout the album, between the beats of Wish I Had An Angel, Tarja’s vocals lead to all directions (The Siren, White Night Fantasy…) and the presence of the Native American John Two-Hawks on Creek Mary’s Blood too… This album marked a very important step in the career of Nightwish: a great diversity and an imposing orchestra which accentuated every song!

The making of Once:
For the first time, Nightwish offered its fans the pleasure to follow the making of the album, from the first rehearsing to the final mix, going through all the steps of the recording. Through the studio-reports written by the members and Tero (sound engineer and producer), we were able to imagine Nightwish work hard for this new album, see the problems they met and the happiness of Tuomas at the first hearing of the London Orchestra. You can see through this page, all the studio reports, translated in French, with many photos!

Once Upon A Tour :
The release of the new album of Nightwish was, as the previous were, followed by a great tour all across the world. Quite easily called “Once Upon A Tour 2004-2005”, the tour started on May 22nd in Kitee for a special show, with a degree of special effects and pyrotechnic never reached by the band before! The following week-end, Nightwish went to Estonia, and Dynamo Open Air… That time, the tour was very successful! Nightwish played old songs that had been put aside for a long time like Stargazers, Elvenpath and Dead Boy’s Poem, and, of course, songs from their new album Once: for instance, Dark Chest of Wonders which opened the show, Higher Than Hope, Nemo, Planet Hell and its great introduction, and Wish I Had an Angel which ended the show. Eventually, the unassailable songs like Come Cover Me, Wishmaster (surprisingly played right after Dark Chest of Wonders), Over the Hills and Far Away and Sleeping Sun are still performed!

From Drakkar to Nuclear Blast:
With Century Child, the contract between the band and the German record company Drakkar came to an end. Nightwish decided to entrust the distribution and management of their new album to Nuclear Blast, very famous and important record company. From then on, Nuclear Blast dealt with Nightwish everywhere in Europe, except Finland where Spinfarm Records was still working for the band. Nuclear Blast took its job very seriously! The German record company started the promotion of Once from March 2004, announcing four different versions of Nemo, the first single of the album. Without mentioning the posters and t-shirts announced! Nuclear Blast also organised a mini promo tour in Europe for the members, in order to give as many interviews as possible before the release of the album. Thus, Tuomas and Marco came in Paris on April 22nd for a promo day of interviews: from 10am to 9pm! During this period, Nuclear Blast sent the first promo cds of the album so that journalists could anticipate their reviews and questions!
Nuclear Blast also prepared the commercial release of Once. Thanks to that record company, fans were able to see the comeback of Picture Discs with the one of Once now available on Nuclear Blast website, while the one of Century Child unfortunately never got produced! Other announcements: a limited cd, a dvd audio (for the first time in Nightwish’s career) and a box limited to 2000 copies which contained, among other things, a snow ball!. Also, many tee-shirts, posters, flags…Eventually, Nuclear Blast organised a showcase in Paris the very day of the release of the album! Never seen before !