Live Review : King Diamond @ the Tabernacle

The second date of their tour fell on the Tabernacle in Atlanta. It is a fitting venue since it used to be a church so still has the stained glass windows. I had excellent seat in the VIP section so I was on the first balcony on the right had side overlooking the stage. I will start by saying it might sound like a dream gig opening for King Diamond  For the first opener Idle hands who went on at 6:50 found the audience at 30 percent capacity. I think this works for them as they are a young band who played their instruments well, but still seem to be gathering their footing playing in larger venues to crowds  of this kind on larger stages. They had one guitarist who was more flamboyant in their performance  seemed like they had been plucked from an 80s hair metal band. Watching them it was clear they were all distinct individuals with separate influences.  Their drummer was the star of the show with jazz like nuance to his playing.It might sound like a dream gig opening for King Diamond, but you are talking about the greatest metal front man next to Bruce Dickinson, so the singer of Idle Hands who had a more Jim Morrison by way of the Cult  thing going on was up against insurmountable odds . He was probably wondering what he had gotten himself into.

Up next was Uncle Acid and the Dead beats. Everyone I spoke to was aware of the buzz about the band. I like their studio output myself so was curious to see how this translated live. The result was something more heavier and in line with stoner doom rock than the kind of creepy 60s  vibe I get from their albums. Perhaps playing for a more overt metal crowd prompted this. I still recognized the song they just came in on a denser cloud of distortion than expected. Some of this was due to the more stripped down approach, there were not keyboards to help give the more 60s sound. The dual vocal approach was unexpected. They were tight was a response I got most from members of the audience I talked to. They are headliners in their own right, so it is no surprise the are a well oiled machine on stage. The movies projected behind them were surreal 60s spectacles I would not wanted to have seen tripping. I do not think a King Diamond show would be one I would want to drop acid at and when I was doing drugs I think I might have been drunk or stoned, but do not recall anything stronger when seeing him,

  This show now marks the 8th time I have seen King Diamond. It is not mystery if you are a regular reader that he is one of my all time favorite artists. I have been listening to him for over 30 years now.  When I saw Iron Maiden they are pros and big energy, but King Diamond loves what he does, who he becomes and the fact this  shown through after he got the news  earlier that day his friend and former bass player Timi Hansen died is unbelievable.By the time he went on the floor was packed and I was glad I was in the balcony.  The stage was made to look like an asylum where he upcoming album "the Institute"  is set.   He did play a new song from this album called "Masquerade of Madness" which was pretty heavy and fits nicely along sie his other works, making me look forward to the new album. The bulk of the set drew from the first few albums of his solo career "Fatal Portrait", "Abigail" , "Them", "Conspiracy" and "the Eye" along with the title track from "Voodoo". Not only does he go out on tour in his 60s, but picks his most vocally demanding work to sing. He knows the fans want his and delivered.

He had his female back up singer who did join him to double up some of the higher parts. In the bast while he has sounded great, I wondered if this was because he could not pull it off by himself, but there were several sections where he pulled off his upper register by himself no help needed pretty flawlessly. Hitting notes Bruce Dickinson  ascend Rob Halford can no longer dream of at their age. I have been an advocate since teenage years that Kind Diamond is the greatest metal singer ever and this confirmed years of flying his flag. Did he have effects on his voice ? Yes, but so do the two singers I previously mentioned. They band was great the bass player who was the new kid the past 3 times I have seen King Diamond has now really settled in. I was surprised given Timi's death that they did not play any Mercyful Fate, though he dedicated the last song "Black Horsemen" to him and said from this point on it would be dedicated to him. Overall this one was on the best shows I would not say the number one show, but in the top 3 King Diamond concerts I have attended. 

Gothtober- Live Review : In This Moment @ the Tabernacle

maria brink 

The desire to see live music has waned somewhat over the course of the past year. So far catching Emma Ruth Rundle and Tombs have been the highlights for me. Big shows have become less of my thing. I did see the Cure and the Used last year, but I seem to like people less with every so choosing to be around large numbers of them takes a large dose of motivation. But I found myself at the Tabernacle, after first assuming this show was at the Masquerade where Veil of Maya was playing. So missing the Swedish nu-metal prog band Avatar who opened the show and coming in fortunately mid way into Of Mice & Men’s set. They were playing notes that on paper would equate heavy, but this new metal school of processed distortion never cuts through with the power and volume as if this was Morbid Angel or Slayer. The growling also lack conviction. They could not sell me on the fact they were playing metal, no matter how hard the suburban crowd wanted them to be. The evening all the way around was an example of how the definition of metal and the general populous’ is not on the same page and are more easily persuaded with choices that are easier to swallow. Things change , but no matter how close to Halloween it’s been I have never been at a metal show where they crowd would approve of “Thriller” being played over the p.a.

 In This Moment might not be metal, but they are very entertaining when it comes to the spectacle they put on live. I was struck with the feeling that it was like watching Katy Perry’s Halloween special. In fact Maria Brink and Perry might have the same voice teacher because they both speak in the same voice in-between songs which seemed like something that was learned in order to prevent them from screaming in-between songs. She also did almost as many costume changes as Perry, most of which were changes from one Stevie Nicks like cape to another. There was a slight burlesque element to her performance. She had two backup dancers , which it should be noted that if you are at a show where there are backup dancers you are not at a metal show, this applies to Motley Crue as well. The choreography was not on Madonna level and they went to the well one too many times for the one your knees head bang to swing your hair stripper move. Brink is as entertaining to watch with the volume off as she is with it on. She had a skin toned Spanx like body suit on underneath her costumes no matter how revealing it wished to be. She does have a nice set of hips on her. Vocally she did the best when she was in her Amy Winehouse inspired chest voice. Her upper range war practically non-existent and her lower notes disappeared in the mix. She did sing the hell out of the cover of “In the Air Tonight”. Though she moved a little like Mariah Carey in a couple of places that broke my focus. The harsher metal voice that she didn’t use as much as I expected was the main thing that separated her from being in the Katy Perry club.

 I was surprised how heavily there set leaned on the new album. One of the high lights was during one of Brinks costume changed when the band played instrumental versions of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “ Creeping Death”. The crowd was blend of bros, goth kids, people you are sure you saw at past years Dragon-cons, and trailer trash in Five Finger Death Punch shirts. There were two girls whose faces would be next to Websters definition of “basic bitch” standing behind me. The sentence that cemented this stereotype they were living was “I was crushing on this guy so hard, but I did not recognize him on Instagram”. By her own admission of sorts she basically said that In This Moment stood for people loving one another, helping each other and was against violence, war and hate, so opposed to all the subject that makes for good metal. Metal is not about motivational speeches, but saying “fuck you I’m going into my empowering fantasy world of satan, barbarians and post-nuclear dystopia”. Regardless they put on a good show, that is entertaining in a way that Katy Perry were to a Halloween show.

King Diamond's A Night of Abigail @the Tabernacle.

The third time King Diamond has come through in a just over a year's time. The catch this time was tonight he would play Abigail in it's entirety. Something many bands have been doing over the past few years. Abigail being my favorite King Diamond album made this have more appeal than if he chose " the Puppet Master" or even "the Eye". The concert was being held at the Tabernacle, an old church that was turned into a House of Blues venue. Metal shows were once held there with a little more frequencies right around 911. I've seen Slayer, Dimmu Borgir, Pantera, and Morbid Angel there. Tonight the show started pretty promptly with Exodus opening. Having been plagued with line up changes , this one which included "Pleasures of the Flesh " singer Steve Souza back in the band was solid enough, the only problems is aside from "Body Harvest" when they strayed from the first three albums the songs became stiff and one dimensional.

King Diamond did a variation of what I expected. Going into it you know he is going to play soe other stuff aside from "Abigail" , but the when of that equation, I let be a surprise and resisted hunting down the set list online. He opened up with "Welcome Home",  after first rolling Grandma onstage. They followed it up with "Sleepless Nights". Then he stopped and said despite it being a few days late  every day for him was Halloween and thus they kicked into to the song from "Fatal Portrait" might have been the first time I have heard him play that live. This is my seventh time seeing King, granted one of those was the mid 90s Mercyful Fate reunion so some of those blur together. He kept going churning out "Eye of the Witch" a good choice , and surprised he stayed clear of some of his hit or miss 90s stuff like" Abigail 2 " or " the Puppet Master" , where the lyrics to the latter remind me of a child molester half the time. Then the Mercyful Fate covers happened , " Evil" as expected and "Come to the Sabbath" was replaced by "Melissa" another one I don't recall hearing before, even on the Fate reunion.

Then the lights dimmed and the coffin was rolled out for "Abigail" . The opening played over the p/a before the cranked up into "Arrival'. King's voice was in fine form, the only moment it ever faltered over the course of the evening was the slight flatness to the bridge earlier on "Sleepless Nights", but it could be that he couldn't hear himself. We were on the floor and by the time "Mansion in the Darkness" was busted out the procession of drunk redneck trying to weave their way to the front so they could hold their drinks in the air to songs they didn't know began. The actress / dancer who plays Grandma under a mask did an excellent job of acting the story out. The best moment for me was "Possession" which is my favorite song from the album, though the classic riff to "Abigail" never fails. "Abigail" like a few of the others I heave heard before though it was not played to two times previous to this one, so was a welcomed return back into the set.

The pressure was really on drummer Mike Thompson , who had to keep up with was original drummer Mikkey Dee's pinnacle performance. Thompson pulled this off as well as "Welcome Home" which has to have now become part of his wheelhouse. Mike Wead was also impressive in his ability to hang with LaRoque. Their new bassist has been on the road with the band to have comfortably settled into his role as well. There was no surprises on the "Black Horsemen" which is now the third time they have closed with this . Overall only King Diamond could keep me as into a performance the 3rd time in the span of the year and shelling out the fifty bucks for it with no qualms. Long time fans will find this show a must when it rolls through your town and if you have yet to catch him now is the time, while King is showing little sign of slowing down and just announced a new album in the works for 2016, we can only hope it's as good as "Give Me Your Soul Please".