The idea of Nightwish was "born" in July 1996 at midnight when Tuomas (keyboards) was spending a night with his friends around a campfire. The first three songs, which were acoustic mood music, were recorded between October and December 1996. At that time, the band had three members: Tuomas, Tarja and Emppu. In April and May 2005, they had to have a break the tour because of Tarja's other interests, but at the end of May the band started the tour again by playing with Iron Maiden in Poland and with Mötley Crüe in Norway. The auditions for the position as new lead singer ended in mid-January 2007. All in all, the band had received and listened to more than 2,000 demos from singers from all over the world.

Please note for the UK tour Floor Jansen (ex-After Forever) will replace Anette Olzon.