She is freaking beautiful. I am seeing them friday in SF, should be a great show. Here is what she had to say in her blog... It is also a trip that her band consists of some great players, Sasha Paeth and Miro from Kamelot collaborations...
Hello my Dears, and especially this time to Epica fans,
Sadly, Simone Simons, the lead singer of the Dutch band Epica, is still ill and will not be able to go on the planned tour through the USA and Canada this coming April-May. As many of you know, Simone and the guys of Epica are very good friends of mine. I have worked with them since their first album and on every album / DVD since their beginnings as the band we know and love that is Epica today. It is for that reason that Simone and the rest of the band have asked me to accompany Epica on the tour while Simone is ill. We all realize that this is a delicate matter and that Epica fans will be disappointed not to be able to see their beloved Simone, however I hope that you can understand the special circumstances and recognize that this is the only alternative to canceling the tour completely.
Its important to me that you know that it is in no way the bands nor my intention to replace Simone. She is one-of-a-kind, invaluable to Epica and indeed their front woman and the face of the band. I assure you that I will do my very best to do justice to the performance you have come to expect from Epica and give it my all. Since I co-wrote many of the songs and was Simones vocal coach during the recordings of the albums, I feel as comfortable performing the songs as if they were my own.
Here is Epicas official statement on the matter:
--"The extra weeks of rest, as a result of the cancellation of most of this months shows, have helped Simone a lot in recovering from her MRSA infection. Three out of the four aspects in her latest test already showed negative, which is a major step forward! Unfortunately one of these still showed positive. As optimistic as we may be about these final test results, we just cannot risk her health by having her go on tour this soon already. Simones doctor also advised her to stay home.
We have come a long way already and we must continue this way to overcome this. Therefore we have decided to ask our good friend Amanda Somerville to substitute Simone on our upcoming USA tour. As you all know, Amanda has been involved with Epica from the beginning as a vocal coach and can also be heard on every album as backing vocalist as well as part of our choir. We are very happy that Amanda is willing to help us out and we are most positive that these extra weeks of rest will give Simone enough time to fully recover from this infection so that she can join us on stage again during our Dutch club shows."--
Thank you for your understanding and for your support. This is, of course, quite a turn of events for us all and a mix of emotions is riding high. Despite the unfortunate circumstances, however, I feel positive about the tour and we will give it our all to make the shows an unforgettable Epica experience!
xx Amanda
