Once Upon a Tour
| Tour by Nightwish | |
Nightwish live at "Himos Festival" in Jämsä, Finland, on June 25, 2004
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| Associated album |
Once Highest Hopes |
|---|---|
| Start date | May 22, 2004 |
| End date | October 21, 2005 |
| No. of shows | 130 |
| Nightwish concert chronology | |
Once Upon a Tour was the third world tour by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, in 2004 and 2005, to promote the release of their fifth album, Once, released June 7, 2004. A new greatest hits compilation, Highest Hopes, was also released to tie in with the tour. The albums combined with the band's most expansive merchandise campaign by Nuclear Blast Records meant this tour was heralded as the band's most important in many years. Many of the band's songs had not been played in a long time.
The success of the album allowed the band to perform in many countries they had never visited before: Colombia, Ecuador, Scotland, Estonia, Greece, Romania, Denmark, Japan, Australia, Portugal, and Slovenia. The band also played their first tour in the United States, with various sold out concerts; the South American leg also sold out all its concerts. A second tour for USA was planned, but it was cancelled by Tarja Turunen, who also cancelled some concerts in Australia. Nightwish performed at the opening ceremony of the 2005 World Championships in Athletics held in Helsinki, highlighting the acclaim the band had recently gained.
After touring in Europe and South America in late 2004, and some separate shows in December, the band had some time off in January 2005. In February, Nightwish won five Emma-Gala Awards (Finnish Grammy); among other awards, they won "The Band of the Year" and "The Best Selling Album of the Year".Tuomas Holopainen and Marco Hietala flew to Helsinki to receive the awards from touring in Europe. In March, Nightwish performed for the first time in Japan and Australia; in April and May, they had to have a break because of Turunen's other interests; but at the end of May, the band resumed the tour by playing with Iron Maiden in Poland and Mötley Crüe in Norway. During late 2005, Nightwish played several shows including a sold-out performance at the legendary Hammersmith Apollo in London. The last show on the European tour, in Stuttgart, Germany was up until then their biggest gig, with an audience of ten thousand.
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