Former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen will release a new live album and Blu-ray, “Circus Life”, on May 16 via earMUSIC.
The official music video for the set’s first single, “Shadow Play”, can be seen below.
Recorded in January 2020, in Bucharest, Romania, the “Circus Life” show was one of a kind when Tarja performed in this very special “in the round” format. The concert consisted of two hours of powerful music, featuring a setlist that spans Tarja‘s career, including all of her greatest hits such as “I Walk Alone”, “Until My Last Breath” and “Innocence”, as well as fan favorites like “Victim Of Ritual” and “Demons In You”, showcasing her evolution as an artist.
Featuring 16 accomplished musicians, including Tarja‘s brother Toni and a diverse ensemble from various stages of her career, it was an extraordinary event. All songs were provided with new arrangements just for this concert, making the show a unique experience for the longtime Tarja fan, as well as the first-time listener.
“Circus Life” was recorded in one take, 100% live — no re-recordings, no overdubs, no special effects. Just pure, raw music.
Originally included as bonus content in the strictly limited and sold-out mediabook and box set of Tarja‘s 2022 “Best Of: Living The Dream”, the “Circus Life” concert is now made available as standalone limited 2CD+Blu-ray digipak, featuring the two-hour live show on audio and video, and as limited black 3LP gatefold, including a LP-sized booklet and Blu-ray softcase.
“Circus Life” track listing:
01. Mystique Voyage
02. 500 Letters
03. Naiad
04. Diva
05. You And I
06. Love To Hate
07. Demons In You
08. Never Enough
09. Falling Awake
10. I Feel Immortal
11. I Walk Alone
12. Victim Of Ritual
13. Innocence
14. Die Alive
15. Tears In Rain
16. Dead Promises
17. Until My Last Breath
18. Shadow Play
Turunen was fired from NIGHTWISH at the end of the band’s 2005 tour by being presented with an open letter which was published on the NIGHTWISH web site at the same time. In the letter, the other members of NIGHTWISH wrote: “To you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with emotions have become much more important.”
NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen later called the decision to part ways with Turunen “the most difficult thing I ever had to do.” For her part, Tarja said the way she was kicked out of the group proved that her former bandmates were not her friends. “Maybe one day I’ll forgive, but I will never forget,” she said.
In 2019, Turunen dismissed Internet chatter about her possible return to NIGHTWISH after her December 2017 onstage reunion with the band’s then-bassist/vocalist Marko “Marco” Hietala during a “Raskasta Joulua” concert in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
“I know a lot of fans would love to see something happen, but it’s a very long distance away,” she told Kerrang! magazine. “Personally, I don’t see anything happening with me and them, to be perfectly honest. Marco came a little later into the band; he wasn’t there since the beginning. He was always a guy I was close to. Me and [NIGHTWISH keyboardist/leader] Tuomas Holopainen, however, haven’t seen each other in a long time… but we have been in touch. It’s not bad. The past is what it is; we can’t change that. We can only change the future.”
NIGHTWISH‘s authorized biography, “Once Upon a Nightwish: The Official Biography 1996-2006”, was published in Finnish in 2006 and in English three years later.
Turunen‘s husband, Marcelo Cabuli, and his business partners later sued the parties behind the book for defamation. Named in the lawsuit were the publishing house Like Kustannus Oy and the author of the book, Marko “Mape” Ollila. Cabuli and his Brazilian business partners argued that the book includes false accusations and insinuations that have caused them suffering and financial problems.
The book blamed Cabuli for the events leading up to Turunen‘s dramatic expulsion from the band in late 2005.
In 2011, the Helsinki District Court dismissed Cabuli‘s lawsuit, ruling that the book — which criticized Cabuli on only a few of its 380 pages — did not detrimentally affect his work or reputation in South America. In addition, the court determined that Ollila did not maliciously portray Cabuli in a negative light.
Content shared from blabbermouth.net.