Random acts of music

[Mendalla]

Nightwish is finally getting to tour in support of the album Human :||: Nature, that has now been out for two years. The pandemic messed up the schedule badly so that they are now spending most of the next twelve months on the road while also working on the follow-up.

The tour got off to a rough start when lead singer Floor Jansen came down with stomach flu just before the first gig in Tampere, Finland. She went on but was definitely not on top of her game. Now the North American leg has kicked off with a club show in Toronto on May 4. And Floor is back with a vengeance. Listen to the long F5 near the end of this performance of their classic "Nemo". Her ability to sing like this is why she has attracted a rabid fanbase for both her work in Nightwish and for her budding solo career. One of the better fancams from that night.

And while Floor did include a nice acoustic version of Nemo in her solo live album, I still prefer the heavier full band version as here.

 

[Mendalla]

A little something for Mother's Day. Floor Jansen wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the music for "Strong" back in 2005 when she was in After Forever. The song is about her mother's struggle with rheumatoid arthritis and how her mother tried to keep "strong" for the family (two daughters, both singers). The song has remained part of Floor's repertoire down to today. I deliberately chose the cover by Emma Heesters from 2019 because (a) it is an excellent version of the song and (b) Floor's reactions to hearing it sung are priceless. Apparently, Emma picked it as her song for the Beste Zangers episode dedicated to Floor because her own mother battled cancer.