Firewind and Kamelot 050308 concert review

So we're back from the sold-out concert in Oslo (Sentrum Scene), and it was a truly awesome and memorable experience. Neither band disappointed. The only thing that ticked me off was the addition of a "special guest", of which there was no mention when we bought the ticket. I learned of the "special guest" through an ad in Aftenposten on the day of the concert (Saturday), and I was not pleased. To top it off, I'd never heard of this band before, despite me following the metal scene quite closely. What the hell kind of name is "Forever Slave" anyways - probably some band which shares label or management with the headliners, and thus is force-fed to the paying audience. These were my initial thoughts anyways.

Now, in case you're one of the glass half full and mind half empty-hybrids who might inquire why I'm being so negative to the addition of a third band to the bill, allow me to explain a little about the dynamics and hard realities we're dealing with here. First of all, the concert was sold out, like I mentioned. Which means you can't really go anywhere and expect to find your former space still available. Rather, you'll be forced to watch the concert from the nosebleed section. Second, when you've got to stand more or less in place for between four and five hours, the additional hour you didn't pay for - and which appears before the artists you shelled out cold hard cash to witness - starts to suck. Third, while the opening act doesn't add much in terms of playing time, they add 30-45 minutes of rigging and handling time between acts, as the drum set needs to be replaced, everything needs to be rewired and so on, 'cause no heavy metal primadonna wants to be stuck with someone else's gear. So; any additional act is going to delay the headliners by at least 60-75 minutes.

So; here is my review of this magical experience, with the artists in the order of appearance:

Forever Slave
I suspected that the "special guests" were going to be epic scrubs, so we delayed our arrival by half an hour. I'm glad. When we entered Sentrum Scene, "Forever Slave" were mid-gig, and I was not impressed. The sad thing is that the bands I gigged with in the early 90's would have blown this band right off the stage, 'cause the sheer lack of talent and absence of charisma they exhibited was borderline impressive. The outfit was a Nightwish-clone, which in and of itself is a big, red flashing sign. The concept of "beauty and the beast" with a - supposedly - classically trained soprano female singer in front only works if a) said female singer can carry a tune, b) they've got good song material, c) the other musicians know how to handle their instruments and d) they've got charisma and presence. This particular bunch of Spanish also-rans failed massively in all respects. The song structures were laughable, the guitar solos were tragic, the "opera song" was abysmally out of tune, and their attempts at crowd participation bits were monumental failures. "Hhhello...we're Forever Slave, and thees is last concert of tour....we hhhappy to be Norway, and we like thank management, record laaabel, Firewind and Kemalot for bringing us on tour, and of course thenk you veery much to all our fans in audeience". Bunch of Euro-mexicans. But what can you expect from a bunch that operates with black metal names - check it out: On vocals: Lady Angellyca. Bass: Servalath. Lead guitar: Oswalth., etc. Oh, brother.....back to the lab again, yo. Sadly, the band was formed in 2000, so unless they improve exponentially, they're still gonna suck long after Lady Angellyca has to give up her other gig as "goth model", whatever that might be.

Firewind
We've seen Firewind before - on tour with Dragonforce in 2006, right after Firewind released their "Allegiance" album. They impressed me then, and this time they were even better. They started off with two tunes from their new album (The Premonition) - the kick-ass opening song "Into The Fire" and "Angels Forgive Me" before any opening small talk. They played for about an hour, and there was almost no overlap with the set list from last time we saw them, save for "Falling To Pieces", "'Till The End Of Time", and the fantastic "I Am The Anger". I was overjoyed when they launched into "Between Heaven And Hell" in addition to most of my favorite songs from the new album - "Mercenary Man" and "Head Up High". Firewind keeps getting better as a band, and they've got great material. Apollo did an even better job on vocals than I remember from last time, and Gus G. just keeps getting better. He's got that solo guitarist look down, and his return to Yngwie-isms totally suits him. Gus obviously picked something up from the tour with Dragonforce, as he put his guitar through some of the patented Herman Li whammy-lift harmonics. His signature guitar really is an awesome-looking instrument. I should also mention that having the keyboard player double as rhytm guitarist is such a great use of manpower, and I cannot believe that we never thought of that back in the day. Dammit.

Kamelot
There's no denying that Kamelot were the true headliners. The show started in spectacular fashion, with a sole female violinist entering the stage and playing the opening song of "Ghost Opera" - "Solitaire" with a backdrop of purple smoke, after which the entire band launched into "Rule The World" accompanied by some heavy-duty pyro. Unfortunately, Roy Khan had problems with his voice - 23 gigs in 29 days all over Europe would do that to most - but he really gave it his all on this final concert of the Ghost Opera tour. Frankly I was worried about his voice, as he had to take a break in mid-set to rest his voice while the band launched into an instrumental/drum solo. he even had to take a second break later while Oliver Palotai played his keyboard solo. That was totally worth it though, as his technical skill and command of various classical pieces is second to few. Still; the band IS Roy Khan, and he's one of my absolute favorite singers. Moreover, he's got that elusive star quality which makes him a great front man. Despite his voice problems, it was absolutely magical to be witness to a live rendition of songs like "Forever", "Abandoned", "Center Of The Universe" and the stunning "Love You To Death". The equally stunning "The Haunting (Somewhere In Time)" was there as well, but without a quality soprano to perform the second voice (like Simone Simons of Epica), it lacked something. After finishing their primary set, they came on stage for an encore the likes of which I've never seen. When they entered the stage, Khan introduced his 85 year old grandfather by saying that if there was such a thing as getting musical genes passed down from someone, this is where he'd gotten his talent. The grandfather came onstage accompanied by Oliver Palotai, and was handed an accordion(!!). Khan then asked for silence (my grandfather is a bit hard of hearing) while they would play a song from the region of Norway Khan's family hails from - Danse Mi Vise, Gråte Min Sang. Khan sat down next to his grandfather, and sang while granddad played accordion. Both Khan and the granddad (and a good number of the good people in the audience) had to dry their eyes several times during the performance. I've got to say that it was really cool of the audience to give Khan's grandfather silence to perform and the mother of all crowd cheers when they were done. Truly touching. After escorting Granddad backstage, Khan roused the audience and launched into "Ghost Opera", "On The Coldest Winter Night" and "Nothing Ever Dies", before the band said goodbye and ventured offstage. ...only to return for a second encore, starting off with "March Of Mephisto", and ending with "Karma". Fantastic concert! I wish Khan and Kamelot all the success in the world, and I hope to see them again soon.