Former NIGHTWISH singer TARJA TURUNEN has checked in from the band's European tour which commenced in early October:

"The journey with my new album has begun. It was really exciting to actually start with the shows after rehearsing the songs only for few days with the band.

There was really a lot of new material for everybody to learn, but all went very fine. Now we have prepared many different set lists, so we can do changes between the shows.

The reception of the audiences in Warsaw and Krakow was incredible. I felt really welcome again in Poland. It was nice to see and hear people singing my new songs already. That was pretty amazing.

I had never been able to visit the centre of Krakow before, so I was lucky to do it this time. It is a very beautiful city with lot of old architecture and history. CHOPIN’s music was played everywhere and the sun was with us for the first time after many rainy days.

After Poland we started our trip to Ukraine and everybody knew in advance that this journey would be a long one; it was. The jumpy road kept me awake the whole night and the lack of sleep and food didn’t make me very happy. I was really delighted to get a real bed after 20 hrs being in the bus. Next day we had a chance to see the older part of Kiev a little bit, but it was lot colder in Ukraine than I thought it would be! Even we Finns were freezing! :)

The show, even though announced with a very short notice, was wonderful. People were really excited about our concert and with the help of their love and care; I realized that my music has a special place in Ukraine.

After Kiev we headed to Ostrava and Prague, Czech Republic. It was really lovely to be back in Czech, even though my last visit was just few months ago in Masters of Rock Festival. A lot of people came to see my shows and everybody got a bit surprised about it.

For example in Prague, the house was completely full and it made me very, very happy. People were just stunning!

Sometimes they were a lot louder than the band itself!

I started to feel a bit sick though during my Ostrava performance, so now I have to fight furiously against the flu that is trying to hit me. Nothing too serious, but enough to be more tired than usual.

Now we are in lovely Paris. The sun was welcoming us here yesterday and I already had my tasty, French dinner last night.

Is hard to know what to expect tonight. When we booked the shows, What Lies Beneath was not out yet and we had big expectations for the release in France with Universal Music.

Today I visited their offices to ask them why they didn’t release my album at all.

This is what I found.

It seems that in France, Universal Music is opening a market instead of selling records.

Maybe they are good in that field.

We can hear complains about the record industry going down… We should check a bit more the reasons for this to happen.

In one hour, the sound check will begin."

Turunen's tour line-up includes:

Tarja Turunen - voice

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

Christian Kretschmar - keyboards (SCHILLER)

Kevin Chown - bass (ex- TONY MACALPINE, ex-TILES)

Alex Scholpp - guitar (ex-FARMER BOYS)

Max Lilja - cello (HEVEIN, ex-APOCALYPTICA)

European Tour dates are as follows:

October

10 - Le Bataclan - Paris, France
11 - 013 Club - Tilburg, Netherlands

13 O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire - London, UK

November

4 - Porsche Arena - Stuttgart, Germany
5 - Bigbox - Kempten, Germany
6 - Zenith - Munich, Germany
8 - Max Schmeling Hall - Berlin, Germany
9 - Arena - Leipzig, Germany
11 - Jahrhunderthalle - Frankfurt, Germany
12 - Westfalanhalle - Dortmund, Germany
13 - VW Halle - Braunschweig, Germany
15 - JAKO Arena - Bamberg, Germany
16 - Schützenhaus Albisgüetli - Zurich, Switzerland
19 - Zenith Hall - Saint Etienne, France

December

7 - Verkatehdas - Hämeenlinna, Finland
9 - Tampere-talo - Tampere, Finland
15 - Rockhal Club – Luxemburg