Watch: ANETTE OLZON Kicks Off Summer 2026 European Tour Focusing On Her NIGHTWISH Era

Former NIGHTWISH singer Anette Olzon kicked off a European tour celebrating the two albums she recorded with the band — "Dark Passion Play" (2007) and "Imaginaerum" (2011) — on Saturday, July 25 at Kaaos Festival in Vaskiluoto, Vaasa, Finland. The trek marks the first time Anette has toured the continent since 2012.

Bandmembers:

Anette Olzon (lead vocals)
Filipe Duarte (bass, male vocals)
Sanzio Rocha (guitars)
Kiko Lopes (drums)
Vithor Moraes (keyboards)

The setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. 7 Days To The Wolves (NIGHTWISH song)
02. Ghost River (NIGHTWISH song)
03. Bye Bye Beautiful (NIGHTWISH song)
04. Amaranth (NIGHTWISH song)
05. Rest Calm (NIGHTWISH song)
06. Sahara (NIGHTWISH song)
07. Storytime (NIGHTWISH song)

Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen below.

Last fall, Anette celebrated the two albums she recorded with NIGHTWISH on a special tour of Brazil. The trek marked the first time Anette performed live, as a solo artist, the iconic songs from her era of NIGHTWISH.

The Swedish-born singer originally joined NIGHTWISH in 2007 and recorded two studio LPs with the band before being dismissed in 2012 in the middle of the group's North American tour. She was replaced by former AFTER FOREVER frontwoman Floor Jansen.

In a new interview with Marko Syrjala of Metal-Rules.com, Anette stated about her decision to perform NIGHTWISH songs again: "This all started because a promoter in South America asked me several times if I wanted to come over, and he said he would put a band together. He wasn't the first person to ask. Some people from Mexico also said, 'We have a band. Come play, come sing.' I also did something in Israel with some other artists where I performed NIGHTWISH songs and things like that. But I think I needed to get over all the bitterness and anger about everything that happened, because it had been a big pain in my heart. To be honest, the career I had was suddenly just… pshh, and I had to start all over again. So now I felt the time was right. I also felt I could finally do those albums justice."

After Syrjala noted that Jansen performs the Olzon-era NIGHTWISH song "Amaranth" during her own solo concerts. Anette said: "I know, she does. She also sings 'Seven Days To The Wolves'. And, actually, I was friends with Floor, so I have no problem with her. That's the thing. She got caught up in the whole situation and ended up being seen as the bad person. I have reached out my hand. I sent an e-mail to Tuomas [Holopainen, NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter] on the last tour in South America. 'Hey, hey. Hope everything is…' I haven't written to him since. We have never talked. But I felt I'm doing his songs, and I think I should write to him, hope it's okay. So, I did that. I didn't get an answer. And I think the fans would have loved it if we all could agree and do one show. Tarja, Marko, Floor, Sami, Jukka. I mean, they would love it. And I would do it. But they haven't asked us. I think if he asked, we would all be there because we love the songs. We love NIGHTWISH. It's like a big family, even if there's been problems."

She continued: "I tried to be [Tuomas's] friend for many years and get closer to him, but with a Finnish guy, it's almost impossible. But I know it's not going to happen. I understand that. They made those T-shirts with the names of all the musicians who have been members of NIGHTWISH. That's nice. But I think it would be really nice, also because of everything that has happened in the band’s history with Tarja, me, and all that. It would look good. But I know Tuomas, so it won't happen. But if he asked, I think we'd do it. I think he needs to think about it, at least for the fans."

Not long after Olzon was fired from NIGHTWISH 14 years ago, she claimed that an argument arose between her and NIGHTWISH when she asked for an Australian tour to be postponed during her pregnancy. Keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen suggested that Jansen should front the band on a temporary basis, but Olzon said no.

Anette explained in a 2014 interview: "I would have been too pregnant to go to Australia, so I wanted to push the dates back, but Tuomas didn't want that. Discussions about a substitute came up, and at first, I was, like, 'Yeah, well, okay.' But when they mentioned Floor, it was an automatic 'no' from me. I didn't think it was a good idea, because I knew what would happen — I knew the fans would love Floor, because she's a metal singer and I'm a pop singer, and I wanted to keep my job."

A year after NIGHTWISH fired Olzon, the band released a statement denying that she was dismissed because of pregnancy or illness. "We discovered her personality didn't fit this work community, and was even detrimental to it," the group said. NIGHTWISH went on to say that Anette was initially receptive to the idea of hiring a temporary replacement if she couldn't "manage everything," but that she later "took back her decision, and the difficulties really started. Fear of losing money and position seemed obvious." The band also insisted that "Anette and her company" were "paid a fifth of everything that was done during her time" with NIGHTWISH.

Since the end of her stint with NIGHTWISH, Olzon also formed THE DARK ELEMENT with former SONATA ARCTICA guitarist Jani Liimatainen. The group's self-titled debut album was released in 2017; a follow-up, "Songs The Night Sings", came out in 2019.

Olzon and noted progressive metal vocalist Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X, ADRENALINE MOB) released a collaborative album titled "Worlds Apart" in March 2020 via Frontiers Music Srl. The project was issued under the moniker ALLEN/OLZON. A follow-up album, "Army Of Dreamers", arrived in 2022.

Anette's third solo album, "Rapture", came out in 2024.