Nightwish have never shied away from a good cover. Over the years, the symphonic metal maestros have been incredibly successful at putting their own stamp on the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom Of The Opera, Howard Blake’s already fantastical Walking In The Air and Gary Moore’s Over The Hills And Far Away. That last one appeared in their sets for more than 10 years, and fans have long accepted such reinterpretations as part of the band’s intricate canon.
As Nightwish circled the world on tour from 2003 to 2005, it got to the point when a covers set was a guaranteed nightly tradition. Halfway through the show, then-vocalist Tarja Turunen would excuse herself from the stage for a breather (and, of course, to change from one resplendent outfit to another), leaving band leader and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, bassist Marko Hietala, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen and drummer Jukka Nevalainen alone onstage to put some playful, personal flair on classic metal tracks. These ranged from Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train to Dio’s Don’t Talk To Strangers and W.A.S.P.’s Wild Child. In 2004 – as their mammoth Once Upon A Tour kicked off in their hometown of Kitee, Finland, on 22 May – Nightwish added another to that list: Megadeth’s Symphony Of Destruction.
