3 Power Metal bands, Kamelot, Battle Beast and Delain at Marquee Theater

Review and photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: Lucky Man
Venue: Marquee Theater
Date: Sunday May 6^th, 2018

What a night!  Three outstanding Power Metal groups in one concert event.  The first up was Battle Beast hailing from Finland (I am sure there is a Monty Python joke in there somewhere).  Next came Delain, a band from the Netherlands.  Both Battle Beast and Delain are fronted by amazing female singers.  The headliner was Kamelot, originally founded in Florida, but a number of its members now come from Europe.  Like all Power Metal groups, the fans sang along with the band.  At times the lead singers would even point the mic at the crowd so their voices could be heard.  Sometimes different parts of the crowd are only there to see their 1 favorite band.  But talking to a large number of people, they were all excited to see all three bands.

If you love Power Metal then you really need to see this show.  Three exceptional groups in 1 event.  Think of it as a mini Power Metal festival.  Four great singers and magnificent number of musicians.  I know I really enjoyed the show and from the fans reactions, so did they.

Kamelot

After the first two bands, Kamelot had a lot to live up to.  But they not only amazed the crowd but pushed us to even higher levels of energy and excitement.  Kamelot’s front man and lead singer, Tommy Karevik mesmerized the crowd with his powerful singing.  They built a special step system in the security pit so he could walk out to the crowd and even jump down to the barrier to greet the fanatic fans.

The first out on stage was the drummer, Johan Nunez.  Johan arranged himself in his multi-level drum kit.  He then started the show laying down a simple but powerful drum solo to start the first song.  The most stoic and tallest members for the band is keyboardist, Oliver Palotai.  He came out dressed in a highwayman coat.  After walking across the stage and smiling and waving to the fans, he got behind his Yamaha keyboard and started laying down the first song’s melody.  Probably the most animated character on the stage had to be the bass player, Sean Tibbetts.  With his long dreadlocks, he would dance around the stage pounding out bass riffs.  At times I wondered how he was able to still play as the dreadlock got into his bass guitar.  Founding member and lead guitarist, Thomas Youngblood laid down the power riffs that drove the music and fans wild.  Most Power Metal bands have 2 guitarists, but Thomas played both rhythm and lead throughout the night.

They started the show with “Phantom Devine” and as I was photographing the different members of the band, I heard this guttural voice.  I looked around and suddenly saw this small woman at the back of the stage shrouded in red light.  It was Lauren Hart and she was belting out the deep guttural sounds.  It was breathtaking to hear her sing both the guttural sounds and clear harmony.  For the rest of the show, Tommy had the fans eating out of his hands.  As he sang, he would look directly into the faces of the crowd and draw us in.  As I watched from the audience, I saw almost everyone throwing up the “devil horns” and singing along.

Probably the highlight of the show was during the song, “Sacrimony” when Charlotte Wessels, lead singer for Delain, came out and sang with Tommy.  Together they blended their voices to produce an astounding version of the song.  For the encore Kamelot played their hit, “Lair Lair” from their # 1 album Haven.  Again, Lauren joined Tommy and together they produced a stunning version of this great song.

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Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2018, All Rights Reserved

Kamelot Setlist:                         (Album)
Phantom Devine                           (The Shadow Theory)
Rule The World                             (Ghost Opera)
Insomnia                                      (Haven)
The Great Pandemonium              (Poetry for the Poisoned)
When Lights Are Down                  (The Black Halo)
End Of Innocence                          (Haven)
Veil Of Elysium                               (Haven)
Here Is To The Fall                         (Haven)
Ravenlight                                     (The Shadow Theory)
Drum solo
March of Mephisto                         (The Black Halo)
Amnesiac                                      (The Shadow Theory)
Sacrimony                                     (Silverthorn)
Keyboard Solo
Forever                                         (Karma)
Encore:
Liar Liar                                         (Haven)

Battle Beast

The first band for tonight’s Power Metal fest was Battle Beast.  I first saw Battle Beast in 2017 when they toured with Sabaton.  At that time, I was stunned by how good this band was (Noora was even sick that night) and that I had somehow overlooked them.  Never again.  So, when I heard they were going to open for Kamelot, I had to see them again.

They started the performance with songs from their latest album, Bringer of Pain.  From the very start, lead singer Noora Louhimo, power fisted her way through each song.  As she was doing the power fisting, the crowd would join in.  Like I had said before, it seems the crowd was really into the band and were singing along with Noora on almost every song.  Pyry Vikki, their drummer laid down the heavy metal beats.  I was a little surprised that he was using the Delain drum kit, but because of the small size of the stage, I assumed it was more for convenient.  Both guitarist, Juuso Soinio and bass player, Eero Sipilä were constantly headbanging on the left side of the stage.  Brothers, Joona Björkroth on guitar and Janne Björkroth on keyboards were on the right side of the stage.

Most of the songs were from their latest album, Bringer of Pain with “Black Ninja” and “Touch of the Night” from older albums.  From the very start, Noora commanded the stage engaging the crowd with her driving voice and dynamic stage presents.  Noora was joined by Kamelot’s backing singer, Lauren Hart to belting out “Lost in Wars”.  The entire band laid down a powerful show with the culmination being “Beyond The Burning Skies”.

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Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2018, All Rights Reserved

Battle Beast Setlist:                   (Album)
Straight to the Heart                     (Bringer of Pain)
Bringer of Pain                               (Bringer of Pain)
Familiar Hell                                   (Bringer of Pain)
Black Ninja                                    (Battle Beast)
Lost in Wars                                  (Bringer of Pain)
Touch in the Night                          (Unholy Savior)
Bastard Son of Odin                       (Bringer of Pain)
King For A Day                              (Bringer of Pain)
Beyond The Burning Skies              (Bringer of Pain)

Delain

In 2015 I got the chance to review and photograph Nightwish.  There were 2 additional bands on the bill that night that I had never heard of.  The first was Delain and the second was Sabaton.  They are both Power Metal bands, but with different styles.  Sabaton is more in our face power house, while Delain was more of a harmonic Power Metal band.

Its now 3 years later and having listened to a lot of Delain’s music I have a better appreciation for them.  I was amazed at Delain’s lead singer, Charlotte Wessels and her stage presence and marvelous voice.  She could both power out a song and then perfectly harmonize.  Probably the best example of this was when she sang their hit, “We Are The Others”.  Tonight’s show was a little different in that they did not have a bass player with them, but seemed to use a bass backing track instead.  Keyboardist Martijn Westerholt laid down the harmony while drummer Joey Marin de Boer provided the primal rhythm for the songs.  New since I saw them last time, they have added guitarist, Merel Bechtold.  She is joined by guitarist Timo Somers.  Between the two of them they traded off rhythm and lead roles.

The majority of the show was from their latest album, Moonbathers (See the stage backdrops).  This album is cementing them as one of the great European Power Metal bands.

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Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2018, All Rights Reserved

Delain Setlist:                          (Album)
Hands of Gold                            (Moonbathers)
Suckerpunch                              (Moonbathers)
Glory And The Scum                   (Moonbathers)
Get The Devil Out Of Me             (We Are the Others)
The Hurricane                             (Moonbathers)
Danse Macabre                           (Moonbathers)
Fire With Fire                              (Moonbathers)
Mother Machine                          (We Are the Others)
Don’t Let Go                               (The Human Contradiction)
We Are The Others                      (We Are the Others)