Kamelot

Carling Academy Islington, London, 4 April 2008

Support: Firewind

Crazycatgirl tells of her bitter disappointment at not quite getting to hear one of her favourite bands perform.

This is a group which causes confusion among the girls here at e-Mo Magazine. When I told GeekGirl I was off to see Kamelot she burst in song, spouting Learner and Lowe at me, until I explained that it was metal band Kamelot not seventies musical, Camelot!

When I tried to explain to Angel who Kamelot were things got a little confused and the description ended up as Michael Ball sings Megadeth – which, to be honest, is a little unfair a description of all concerned!

Kamelot are a progressive, somewhat gothic, metal band whose albums tend to push the boundaries of the metal genre. They are known for their dark lyrics, incredible riffs and fast drum beats.

I was excited about seeing Kamelot. I hadn’t been a fan long but as with all the things I’m a fan of, the length of time I have liked them is in no way proportional to the amount. In no small part, my adoration of the group is linked to voice of lead vocalist, Roy Khan. His voice has to be one of the sexiest male voices in metal today. Deep, but not too growling, smooth but still edgy. So the chance to hear him, and the rest of the band, live was practically more than I could stand!
 
The Carling Academy in Islington has the feeling of being intimate but with a large stage area, and two floors each with bar facilities it is in fact far from small. Yet when we arrived there for the gig it could only be described as cosy. Want to get snugly with total strangers – go see a sell out show at the Carling Academy!

The place was packed, so packed in fact that the chance of me (a little over 5ft) seeing anything from downstairs was minimal. Plus over a hundred heavy, hairy Goth men bouncing up and down in a confined space verges on being scary!!

So we headed upstairs. There were definitely less people here and miraculously before support band Firewind had left the stage we had a place by the balcony rail, virtually above the stage. Of course there was a long wait between Firewind leaving and Kamelot taking the stage, during which roadies swarmed across the stage moving equipment, replacing supplied of water and plectrums and sound checking.

They also at this point removed the cover on the largest set of drums I have ever seen in my life. A huge arc of a drum kit, complete with an overhead rail of symbols, a computer and two microphones. Guitars were plugged in, wires were coiled or uncoiled, somewhat shot a blast of dry ice up in to the air and we were ready to go.

First to take the stage was Simone Simons with her violin, the crowd in the mosh pit below us hooped and cheered. So loud were they, in fact, that up on the second floor we could barely hear what she was playing. It was a bad omen of things to come, but one I did not notice at the time. 

They came on one by one, Glenn Barry on bass, Oliver Palotai on keyboard and Thomas Youngblood on lead guitar. Each new member that entered the stage was met with thunderous applause, but the most riotous welcome was saved for Roy Khans entrance. Unlike the rest of the band he was wearing a long black coat and lace up leather trousers – he looked as good as he had sounded every time his voice had sounded through my speakers.

By now drummer, Casey Grillo, was putting the massive drum kit through its paces. Drumming with super human speed and power. I was mesmerized for a minute as the sound of the powerful rhythm filled the space. So mesmerized in fact that I hadn’t noticed Roy Khan had placed the microphone close to his lips and started singing… but I couldn’t hear him. The guy next to me turned to his mate and said “Is he singing?” We all peered closer, he was singing, to all intents and purposes he was giving it his all, but we couldn’t hear.

Whether it is a foible of the acoustics of the venue or the fault of the sound engineer, the vocalists, guitars and at times the keyboard were not audible to us. What we could hear, and hear at ear splitting volume were the drums. Which meant that instead of spending a glorious evening, happily drowning in Roy Khans voice, I spent it listening to what amounted to a drum recital.

I do not deny that Gillo is a talented drummer, and lord knows the man certainly has stamina to play with that power and intensity for that long, but lets face it, it’s not why you go to these things.

You could ask why we didn’t head downstairs, and I guess we made a choice, see them perform or hear them perform. I wish we could have had both, but it wasn’t to be. There was also the fact that from our elevated position we could see just how rough the floor below was becoming.

There is no denying that they put on an amazing show, the songs were mainly from their two newest albums, Black Halo and Ghost Opera and Khan is a wonderful performer. The crowd were worked up to the point of exploding by the end and demanded two encores from the obviously exhausted band. 

As for me, well, it’s as good an excuse as any to go see them again!

3/5