Former NIGHTWISH singer TARJA TURUNEN has issued the following update:

"The long distance between Berlin and Barcelona is getting shorter as the road takes us further, closer to Spain. Is the best chance I have to write a new post.

I am the only girl again on the road with the guys, but the group of people are having fun together and it looks like this tour is going to be nice ending for My Winter Storm album.

Shows have gone really well so far. Is very encouraging to realize that nearly two years after My Winter Storm was released, more people is reaching us in our shows now than ever before :)

I have met many people that have seen my show for the first time. It is very awarding and refreshing to hear and see people excited about my work.

The rehearsal days in Germany seem now long gone. Everything went very fine.

The band sounds tighter than ever before. Christian and the new crew members are doing a great job and all of us are enjoining the results of our efforts. I am very positive that this feeling will continue until the end of this long tour. It is for sure the most challenging and roughest one for me so far on my solo career, but I am really working hard to get all the good things out of it and to cherish the moment.

I want to thank the people at the Elf Fantasy Fair for the great experience and memory. I have to say that everybody from our band and technicians were having fun at that festival, taking millions of photos and having good time with the visitors of the festival. People have put so much effort in making this beautiful event happen. I wish the festival would continue making people happy for centuries!

After the nice beginning for the tour, we visited Bremen, Hanover and Berlin. Germany and Germans showed me their love and support in a magnificent way. Oh man, these shows were all great. We took the chance to perform a quiet, acoustic set in the middle of the audience, like we did already in my hometown Buenos Aires earlier this year. It worked out very well and people seemed to be pretty surprised about it. After doing so in Bremen, every one of us felt that we have to try to do this in every venue when possible, since it was very nice to see people’s reaction towards us. Happy, smiling faces."

Turunen recently has announced the members of her Final Storm touring band. They are as follows:

Mike Terrana - drums (MASTERPLAN, SAVAGE CIRCUS, ex-RAGE, ex-MALMSTEEN)

Christian Kretschmar - keyboards (SCHILLER)

Oliver Holzwarth - bass (BLIND GUARDIAN, ex-SIEGES EVEN)

Alex Scholpp - guitar (ex-FARMER BOYS)

Max Lilja - cello (HEVEIN, ex-APOCALYPTICA)

Confirmed dates of the 2009 Final Storm Tour are below:

December

4 - Lahti, Finland - Sibelius Hall
5 - Tampere, Finland - Kaleva Church
10 - Lappeenranta, Finland - The Church Of Maria
12 - Joensuu, Finland - The Church Of Joensuu
13 - Haapajärvi, Finland - The Church Of Haapajärvi
18 - Seinäjoki, Finland - The Church Of Lakeuden risti