Nightwish Got Me!

What’s the connection between Phantom of the Opera and Symphonic Metal? I would suggest the Dutch singing sensation Floor Jansen.

I was browsing through my usual YouTube channels and stumbled across this little show, very popular in Holland, called “Beste Zangers” (Best Singers). The performer’s names meant nothing to me, however I love this particular Opera and am always reminded of duets between Sarah Brightman and various others going way back. This clip seemed to be getting a lot of attention and so I listened and was immediately struck by Floor’s high octane voice. Watch it through and you’ll see what I mean.

The actual performance for the show was in April 2019 at resort Atzaró on Ibiza Island. Hosted by Jan Smit. Not only Jansen & Poort ( and the other 5) sang live, also the Marcel Fisser band performed live! They also deserve credit.

Well that got me curious and I discovered that, apart from being super popular on this current Dutch TV series, Floor was a long-standing member of the Finnish ‘Symphonic Metal’ group called Nightwish since around 2013. A quick search on YouTube and I fell right into a Nightwish number called Ghost Love Score performed in 2013 at Wacken Open Air which is an open-air heavy metal music festival. It takes place annually in summer in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany.

If you thought the above was good, fight any aversions you might have to the ‘Metal’ genre and watch this next clip of that performance to the end. You might gain a new respect for Floor Jansen and may even, like me, become hooked on multiple plays of this and  other Nightwish performances out there in YouTube land!