Welcome to the board, Orchidee!
I understand the perspective of cancelling the show, but from a business standpoint, that wouldn't have been wise at all, because eventually, you have to make up those shows. Think about the money it would cost to come all the way back here, band and crew included, just to perform one show. Doesn't make much sense, financially.
For example, the 2009 tour existed because they were make-up shows. The band had no intention of returning to the States after the '08 tour. But Hurricane Ike happened, causing the shows in Texas and (I believe) New Orleans to be cancelled. Then Anette got sick during the shows in Florida, causing the last few shows on the East Coast to be cancelled (Sonata Arctica, their opening act, still put on a show, and the members of Nightwish would come out afterwards and apologize/thank the fans for coming out anyway). They did not perform then, but fans still came to show their support anyway. But they returned in '09 to make up those shows that were cancelled (and add on a few dates in the respective areas that they had not played yet). If only one or two shows had been cancelled in '08, most likely a tour in '09 to make up those shows would not have happened, because it costs way too much money to bring the entire crew back here just to play 2 shows that they will likely not make the money back on that they put out on it to get here in the first place. What likely would have happened instead is that during this tour, an extra date or two in those areas would have been added on as a way to make up for it.
So while I respect the viewpoint that the show should have been cancelled; that's not a practical option when you consider the fact that this is still a business, and these are people going to work just like anyone else. At your job, if someone is sick, the entire project does not come to a halt, does it? Most likely the project is seen through, but the remaining workers just have to put in a little more effort to make up for the missing person, because you all know that if the project doesn't get done, no one gets paid. Art is no different than any other job in this respect. Not only this, but the people who paid money in Denver deserve to have a show as much as the people in Salt Lake City or New York or any other city that Anette performed in. Liking or not liking Anette has nothing to do with it; I'm sure a majority of the fans there that night all liked Anette, but they still paid good money to see a performance. I think it was a good idea of the band to ask the audience if they wanted the show to go on or not. I think if the audience had booed and said "no way", then they might have considered doing a make-up show sometime in the future. But the fans spoke, and they figured 5/6 Nightwish was better than nothing at all.
And I'm sorry, but the tantrum Anette threw about Elize and Alissa stepping in for her is just plain immature. Those girls stuck their necks out for her when they didn't have to; risking the chance of embarrassing themselves and possibly turning off people to them as performers and the music *they* were hired to perform, due to putting on a bad or sub-par performance for music they were not hired to know the words to. These women were not on board to memorize Nightwish songs, and while I'm sure they heard these songs day in and day out on the tour, they have their own parts to remember and it is certainly understandable that they would not know the words to songs they were not required to perform. So for them to do this when it was not expected of them shows their level of professionalism (not to mention doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, because they certainly could have refused). This is just my own opinion, but rather than complain about them, Anette should have written on her blog a huge THANK YOU to Elize and Alissa for picking up the ball and carrying it when she could not. This is what professionals do. Her attitude doesn't convey a lot of professionalism, at least not based on what she writes in her blogs. If she does feel differently, then maybe she should have thought less of herself and more about all the people who gave of themselves to bail her out as a favor to her.
Traxan: You're damn right, I saw Rush last night, and Anette could certainly take a lesson from them in how musicians conduct themselves. You don't survive 40 years in this business b*tching on your blog about how the whole world didn't stop for you.
