How Nightwish’s Floor Jansen hit back at sexist attitudes

Nightwish
Nightwish (Image credit: Tim Tronckoe)

Nightwish vocalist Floor Jansen has spoken about the moment she silenced one male audience member who was shouting sexist comments at her during a show.

Jansen has been speaking to this month’s edition of Metal Hammer, which is dedicated to the women defining the metal scene and forms part of She Rocks month with Classic Rock, Prog and TeamRock.com.

Reflecting on her time in After Forever in the early 2000s, Jansen says: “I’d get shit from the audience all the time. ‘Oh look, there’s a woman up there.’

“In the beginning, I thought it was just part of it. But it soon became, ‘Really?’ They’d either be screaming ‘Slayer!’ or ‘boobs!’ ‘OK, we’re not Slayer and I have boobs – very perceptive of you, can we move on now?’”

She adds: “This guy was just constantly shouting stupid stuff at me like, ‘Boobs!’ and would not shut up. Eventually, I just said, ‘Seeing as you have such a big mouth on you, why don’t you come and tell me all these things to my face after the show?’”

Jansen says that “worked like a charm” and adds: “He didn’t say another word. If you want to be that stupid, by all means do it. But you don’t deserve my attention.”

The full interview can be found in the latest edition of Metal Hammer, which features Jansen on the cover.

The magazine also features interviews with artists including Doro Pesch, Amy Lee, Epica’s Simone Simons, Myrkur’s Amalie Bruun, Oceans Of Slumber’s Cammie Gilbert, Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia, Arch Enemy and more.

You can also read Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Prog free online with a TeamRock+ subscription.

Keep up to date with the She Rocks month on social media using the hashtag #SheRocks

Nightwish will release their compilation album Decades: An Archive Of Song 1996-2015 on March 9 via Nuclear Blast and will head out on tour the same day across North America. Find details below.

Nightwish Decades tracklist

CD1

  1. The Greatest Show On Earth
  2. Élan
  3. My Walden
  4. Storytime
  5. I Want My Tears Back
  6. Amaranth
  7. The Poet And The Pendulum
  8. Nemo
  9. Wish I Had An Angel

CD2

  1. Ghost Love Score
  2. Slaying The Dreamer
  3. End Of All Hope
  4. 10th Man Down
  5. The Kinslayer
  6. Dead Boy’s Poem
  7. Gethsemane
  8. Devil & The Deep Dark Ocean
  9. Sacrament Of Wilderness
  10. Sleeping Sun
  11. Elvenpath
  12. The Carpenter
  13. Nightwish (demo)

Nightwish 2018 Decades tour dates

North America

Mar 09: Atlanta Tabernable, GA
Mar 10: Charlotte The Filmore, NC
Mar 12: Norfolk The Norva, VA
Mar 13: Baltimore Lyric Theater
Mar 14: New York PlayStation Theater, NY
Mar 16: Philadelphia Electric Factory, PA
Mar 17: Worcester The Palladium, MA
Mar 18: Albany The Egg, NY
Mar 20: Montreal Metropolis, QC
Mar 21: Toronto Massey Hall, ON
Mar 23: Niagara Falls Rapids Theatre, NY
Mar 24: Cleveland Agora Theater, OH
Mar 25: Pittsburgh Stage AE, PA
Mar 26: Covington Madison Theater, KY
Mar 28: Kalamazoo State Theatre, MI
Mar 29: St. Louis Touhill Performing Arts Center, MO
Mar 30: Minneapolis The Myth, MN
Mar 31: Chicago Aragon Ballroom, IL
Apr 02: Omaha Sokol Auditorium, NB
Apr 03: Denver Paramount Theatre, CO
Apr 05: Edmonton Northern Alberta Jubilee Aud, AB
Apr 06: Spokane Knitting Factory, WA
Apr 07: Vancouver Queen Elizabeth Theatre, BC
Apr 08: Portland Roseland Theater, OR
Apr 10: Las Vegas Brooklyn Bowl, NV
Apr 12: Ventura The Majestic Ventura Theatre, CA
Apr 13: San Jose City National Civic, CA
Apr 14: Anaheim City National Grove, CA
Apr 15: Tempe Marquee Theatre, AZ
Apr 17: Dallas The Bomb Factory, TX
Apr 18: Memphis Minglewood Hall, TN
Apr 19: Mobile Saenger Theater, AL
Apr 21: St. Petersburg Jannus Landing, FL
Apr 22: Miami Olympia Theater, FL

Europe

May 18: Tallinn Saku Suurhall, Estonia
Jun 01: Pilsen Metalfest Open Air, Czech Republic
Jun 02: Nijmegen FortaRock, Netherlands
Jun 21: Copenhagen Copenhell, Denmark
Jun 24: Clisson Hellfest, France
Jul 06: Kvinesdal Norway Rock Festival, Norway
Jul 13: Joensuu Ilosaarirock, Finland
Jul 21: Lahti Mukkulan Tapahtumapuisto, Finland
Aug 03: Wacken Open Air, Germany
Aug 07: Schaffhausen Stars In Town, Switzerland
Aug 09: Villena Leyendas Del Rock, Spain
Aug 12: Derby Bloodstock Open Air, UK
Nov 02: Gothenburg Partille Arena, Sweden
Nov 05: Berlin Max-Schmeling-Halle, Germany
Nov 06: Hamburg Barclaycard Arena, Germany
Nov 07: Antwerp Lotto Arena, Belgium
Nov 09: Oberhausen König-Pilsener-Arena, Germany
Nov 10: Paris AccorHotels Arena, France
Nov 11: Geneva Arena, Switzerland
Nov 13: Bratislava Incheba Expo Arena, Slovakia
Nov 14: Munich Olympiahalle, Germany
Nov 16: Leipzig Arena, Germany
Nov 17: Krakow Tauron Arena, Poland
Nov 20: Budapest Arena, Hungary
Nov 22: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
Nov 23: Nuremberg Arena, Germany
Nov 24: Stuttgart Schleyer-Halle, Germany
Nov 27: Saarbrücken Saarlandhalle, Germany
Dec 04: Milan Medionalum Forum, Italy
Dec 05: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany

Floor Jansen: "People don’t get to dictate what they want from me"

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.