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Kamelot - Live At HOB Sunset 2011
Review and Photos by: David Priest © 2011 On Track Magazine.com One of the most anticipated
tours to come stateside recently is that of the prog/power
Metal virtuosos Kamelot.
After cancelling their tour in 2010 shortly after the release of their latest
studio effort Poetry For the Poisoned, there began
considerable unrest as the bands longtime vocalist Roy Khan fell ill and
eventually departed the group permanently in 2011. Coming to terms with his
departure the band (albeit an ongoing process, so I hear), the guys tapped the
vacated frontman slot with Italian vocalist Fabio Lione
(Rhapsody of Fire) for their long overdue
North American tour in support of PFTP.
Being the diehard fan that I
am, I can’t say that Roy was not missed when I attended the band’s performance
in Hollywood CA on Sept. 16th and I really struggled with the idea of anyone sharing
the stage with the band other than Mr. Khan. However after seeing a couple of
videos on Youtube I decided to give the new guy the
benefit of the doubt and proceed to the show with no real expectations. Now,
you’d think that as a guy trying to fill the shoes of someone as prominent as
Roy was to the band’s ranks you would be eager to make friends but on a personal
note I met Fabio prior to the bands set and he came across as a bit of an
egotistical rockstar subsequently blowing me off when I tried to give him props
for his place in the band as well as talk shop about his Rhapsody of Fire history. That being said I was already a bit jaded
when I caught the bands show an hour or so later. 
 
 
  Trying to keep an open mind
and avoid any biased views I have to say that the band including Mr. Lione came out with a monstrous roar and did very well to
hold the audience’s appeal. While the house mix could have been better in
bringing the vocals more out front, the performance overall was very precise
and intriguing to watch. Fabio did an amazing job in trying to achieve his best
Khan like voice but lacking the warmth of Roy’s passion and holding on to his
vibrato a bit too much he still sounded like the Rhapsody of Fire vocalist attempting a cover of Kamelot’s material. He nailed
every note and had great charisma in his stage presence, so the show came
across as a worthy contribution. Call it Karma (pun intended) but when he slipped
and fell on his ass after water was spilled on stage I couldn’t help but to
think that had he been a bit more approachable for the fans maybe that could have
gone better for him. Just sayin. Despite the anticipation of
some surprise appearances as we were lead to believe from the press releases
for this tour, the presence of guest vocalist Simone Simons (Epica) on only one song was a bit of a disappointment
to say the least considering they have four songs that they could have turned out
for this performance. Vocalist Elize Ryd handled
all of the other female backing and guest parts and sounded profoundly
beautiful. Musically the band were all in fine form
and did splendid for every movement. We were granted solo segments from all but
Mr. Youngblood (guitar) which struck me as odd but what can one do; special
shout out goes to bassist Sean Tibbetts for his “Stray
Cat Strut” solo. Whatever the future holds for this band I am still behind them
100% and look forward to all the new possibilities that await them. -Priest |
