2010年 03月 30日 火曜日 11:11

Well its now a couple of days after the perfection that was Sun 28 Mar – Kamelot, Leaves' Eyes, Adagio and now my neck has stopped hurting and my voice has started to come back it's time to put my review hat on. Not going to lie, this review is going to be hugely positive, as I really really enjoyed myself at the best gig of 2010 so far for me.

For some reason for the last couple of years Kamelot always seem to turn up in London on the 27th-29th of March weekend, and just like last year's excellent event with Dream Evil and Amberian Dawn I decided to attend. In any case, I have to admit I was hugely excited even before I reached the queue for the Koko, a fantastic venue in good old Camden Town. Anyway, got in, got a tshirt and so began the gig..

First up we had Adagio, who I'd seen before and had been disapointed at. The sound quality was abit of a hash, the guitars and vocals were fairly inaudible but all the same they gave a credible performance, and a far superior one to last time. Their set included Second Sight, Vamphyri, The Astral Pathway, Undead, finishing with Fire Forever. A much improved performance, excellent guitarwork and fantastic and dynamic keyboarding. Definitely worth seeing again I think.

Next up, and after about twenty minutes wait Leaves' Eyes hit the stage. I've never really been able to get into much of their music, finding it rather generic, despite the interesting nordic themes. All the same, a damn good performance, despite flailing efforts to get the crowd going. Liv Kristine, whilst never being my favourite of female vocalists put on an admirable performance, and dressed in the ever familiar red and black dress had fantastic intonation, whilst leaving crowd interaction in the mildly capable hands of their male vocalist. Begining on Njord, the band preceeded through a fair few numbers, of My Destiny and Emerald Island before reaching the highlight of their set and my favourite song Take The Devil In Me that goes on to highlight Liv's considerable vocal talent, aswell as an excellent bassline. Ragnarok, the fan popular though generic Elegy followed and their admirable set closed with Frøya's Theme. All in all, whilst not admittedly being a huge Leaves' Eyes fan I thought they were pretty decent live, and will probably see them again when they hit the stage at this year's Bloodstock festival.

By now I was damn excited as the main event was fast approaching. Having seen Kamelot a good three times before (the first being on of my first gig) I knew what to expect. Eventually the lights when down, the dry ice rippled across the stage and the intro music started. The band bar Roy entered the stage and began the opening riffs to Ghost Opera and Roy himself began to sing, in perfect clarity and climbed to his podium in an epic coat at the front of the stage where he would remain for much of the evening. After this, we were treated to EdenEcho with its brilliant chorus, and then a short break where Roy apologised for the new album not being out yet, saying it would come out in June and instead treat us to a new track. So we got to hear The Great Pandemonium. Judging from the song live it'll be fairly symphonic live, with a good chorus and a typical Kamelot solo. The song itself isnt too different from March Of Mephisto, and hopefully will be released as a single before long.

Next came the epic Centre of The Universe, a typical track for Kamelot in their live sets. Again, like last year it was fantastic in every aspect. After this came Wander and a long instrumental section where Khan was able to take a break. There was also a bass and drum solo interspersed into the long instrumental section. I suspect this to be a song in itself on the new album, but remain unsure overall. Live perfection was then reached with The Pendulous Fall and a crowd favourite When The Lights Go Down. We were then treated to another break of a keyboard solo from Oliver, extremely reminscient off the solo on One Cold Winter's Night.

The Haunting (Somewhere in Time) then cropped up, with guest vocals from the extremely talented Elize Ryd from Amaranthe. I really like this band and hope they go far, and would have really liked if they'd supported on all European Tour Dates, rather than just the Scandinavian ones. This duet between Khan and her was absolutely perfect! Hunter's Season, another of the new tracks was then played, and again I really warmed to the new material, as it fitted in exactly with Kamelot's set. Can't wait to hear the studio version of this track! After this, in a decidely Arabian Nights style intro Rule the World (IMO the best track from Ghost Opera) got some airtime, and rightly so.

Then came one of the highlights of an amazing evening. Casey got his anticipated long drum solo. I can't quite express the talent of this individual, and really enjoyed watching said talent on display. He also did a great job of psyching the crowd up for the next track. So we had reached what I see as the best part of the whole evening. Thomas appeared on a raised booth on the side of the venue and the sweet melody from Grieg wafted down upon us. I knew what was coming. They played Forever and it was unbelieveable! It's my favourite Kamelot track by a good way and they played it to a tee as off One Cold Winter's Night. During the section where Khan has the crowd sing along with him, he talked about how Kamelot were planning another Live DVD some time in 2011! Excellent news indeed!

Encore time insued, and with an intro of Interlude II un Assassinio Molto Silenzioso The Black Halo got played. Followed up by Season's End and then the brilliant Karma. All of these were played to perfection. Lastly, as expected they played March of Mephisto with Elise doing the incoming drum beat. All in all, just incredible and the gig really wore me out.

Now, to the overall conclusions. Rampant fanboying aside, Kamelot were absolutely unbelieveable live, just as I expected and this gig from them happily sits with the best gigs I have been to, and the best of 2010 so far, and all with good reason. Anyone who could have gone to the gig, and didn't go for any stupid reason was missing out and should only ridicule themselves in shame! I can't really thing of any criticisms of the gig. Both support acts delivered, and though I would have preferred Amaranthe over Adagio they stilled performed well. Roy, Thomas, Oliver, Sean and Casey were all brilliant in every aspect and have fantastic stage presence and on stage personas (even if Khan mumbles his english from time to time!) and a big thankyou goes out to Elize Ryd from Amaranthe and whatever the name is of the male tour vocalist they have at the moment. So all in all, Kamelot rule (the world) and I shall look foward to seeing them again in the future and speculating about the promise of their new album in the summer.