kamelot_2012_11

» Kamelot 2012 11 22

Reviewed by Tobbe
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Special guest: Blackguard, Triosphere, Xandria
City: Stockholm, Sweden
Venue: Göta Källare
Date: 22 November 2012
Set length: 88 minutes

Kamelot

With the departure of long-time lead vocalist Roy Khan, many fans thought Kamelot would lose much of their identity. After seeing tonight's show, I can't say they were totally out of their senses, but this was before seeing his replacement, the Stockholm, Sweden native Tommy Karevik, who is almost the opposite on stage. Instead of putting all efforts and focus on the actual singing performance, Tommy is more a metal frontman, who also focus on the show and the interaction with the fans and he's also way more interesting to watch. Even if Khan has, or at least had, a slightly better voice, Tommy's stage presence tip the scale to his own advantage and he comes out as the winner between them.

This show gets a somewhat slow start with a boring intro and Rule The World, which a song I see no reason for opening their sets with and in fact that song shouldn't even be played at all. Things then turn out to the better, starting with Ghost Opera and The Great Pandemonium, before launching the first song off their new release Silverthorn called Veritas. This song make the crowd go wild and with Center Of The Universe this set reaches its first climax.

Both guitarist Thomas Youngblood and bassplayer Sean Tibbetts have changed their patterns. They have stepped up to support their new frontman on stage and have become better live performers and as I see it, this new beginning and fresh start have done this band nothing but good. Keyboardist Oliver Palotai is as always placed to the right and he's doing good, even if the volume from his keys were a bit too loud tonight and sometimes drowned the guitar, making the guitarsound barely audible on and off.

Most shows have parts with slower pace, because it would be boring if all the songs in the set have the same tempo and beats. It's usually something not that bad, but with The Human Stain, the not so good new ballad Song For Jolee and a drum solo from the monstrous Casey Grillo, I almost fall asleep and when looking around the venue, I see I'm definitely not alone. Damn, that part took the edge of this performance, so when they speed things up again, it takes a pair of minutes in speedy When The Lights Are Down to get the crowd going again.

With awesome new song Sacrimony (Angel Of Afterlife), this nowadays international band, with three performers from the USA and three from Europe, is back on track again and this song will stay in their sets for a long time, as it already has turned out to be one of the fans' favorite songs. Season's End, a duet with Karevik and female vocalist Elize Ryd, follows and leaves no other impressions than me looking at what time it is. Perhaps it's time to make Ryd a permanent member of this band? I mean, she sings backing vocals on the major part of the songs and also do a couple of lead parts. A short keyboard solo follows and we all then know that it's time for Forever. A song that many of their fans consider Kamelot's best and the crowd's reaction tonight can't be mistaken.

The band says goodbye and next the encores are up. Tibbetts enters the stage for a short bass solo, before being joined in a short jam with Grillo, whose drum kit seems to cover half of the stage. The rest of the band soon enters as well and they play two awesome songs in Karma and my favorite song off Silverthorn, Torn, before closing the set as they always do, with March Of Mephisto. A song not that good in my opinion and I truly don't know why they end their shows with it. Perhaps it's the pumping beats and its kind of epic rhythms?

The venue, Göta Källare, was near sold out tonight and Karevik said that he had all kinds of friends and family there. The lead singer's excitement to play in his hometown was highly visible and the band was truly satisfied with the crowd's response. Ryd even shouted out that she soon have to move to Stockholm.

They played a varied set with songs from 2001's Karma and forward, but not one single song off their first four albums. I'm always disappointed that they don't play anything off The Fourth Legacy, which I think is one of their better records. At least play the title track for God's sake! This gig had its ups and downs, due to what songs they played. The better ones were fantastic and I enjoyed every second of them, but as you all figured out by now, there were a few songs who I didn't enjoy. A very good show, but not great. 7 chalices.

Performance: 7 chalices of 10
Stage sound: 7 chalices of 10
Best: Center Of The Universe, Sacrimony (Angel Of Afterlife), Forever, Karma and Torn.
Worst: Rule The World and the part with The Human Stain, Song For Jolee and the drum solo.

Setlist:
Intro
Rule The World
Ghost Opera
The Great Pandemonium
Veritas
Center Of The Universe
The Human Stain
Song For Jolee
Drum Solo
When The Lights Are Down
Sacrimony (Angel Of Afterlife)
Season's End
Keyboard Solo
Forever
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Bass Solo
Karma
Torn
March Of Mephisto
Continuum (Outro)