NIGHTWISH: Third 'Dark Passion Play' U.S. Tour To Kick Off In August

Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH are planning to undetake a third U.S. tour in support of their new album, "Dark Passion Play", beginning at the end of August 2008 and running through the end of September.

In other news, VIP tickets for NIGHTWISH's concerts in Quebec City (May 9), Edmonton (May 16), Calgary (May 17) and Mokena (May 31) are sold out and only regular tickets are available for these shows.

VIP tickets are still available in small quantity for these dates:

May 05 - Sayreville
May 07 - Poughkeepsie
May 14 - Winnipeg
May 20 - Vancouver
May 23 - San Diego
May 24 - Las Vegas
May 26 - Denver
May 28 - Sauget

All VIP ticket holders for the May 2008 tour will be admitted to the venue one hour before normal door times for the meet-and-greet so it is advised that you arrive there early.

Tickets are on sale at both EnterTheVault.com and via all normal ticketing systems.

NIGHTWISH will release a "platinum" edition of its latest album, "Dark Passion Play" (release date to be confirmed), which will include all 13 songs from the original version plus five bonus tracks:

01. Erämaan Viimeinen (new track)
02. The Escapist (new track)
03. Meadows of Heaven (orchestral version)
04. The Poet and the Pendulum (demo)
05. Bye, Bye Beautiful (DJ Orkidea remix).

NIGHTWISH has just released a Finland-only single, "Erämaan Viimeinen" (Last of the Wilds). "Erämaan Viimeinen" is the instrumental "Last of the Wilds" off "Dark Passion Play", but with Finnish lyrics, courtesy of Jonsu from the all-girl pop/rock band INDICA, who will open for NIGHTWISH in Scandinavia.

For more information, visit www.nightwish.com.

"Dark Passion Play" was recently certified gold in Sweden for sales in excess of 30,000 copies. The CD, which has already achieved triple-platinum status in Finland after selling more than 90,000 copies, has shifted more than 35,000 units in the United States since its October 2, 2007 release.

Watch fan-filmed video footage of NIGHTWISH performing the song "Sahara" on December 2, 2007 at Sentrum Scene in Oslo, Norway.