Concert – Kamelot/Edguy
I hear that there was an opening act, Arctic somethingorother, and that they were pretty good. I didn’t know that they were playing, because their name wasn’t printed on the ticket. I was busy eating a broiled eel that was airshipped in from Japan. It turns out I don’t like eel, no matter where it comes from. So, I only saw two of the three bands at BB King’s tonight, but that’s okay – those two bands were Kamelot and Edguy.
Edguy’s my favorite band that I don’t listen to. They always put on an awesome show, and it’s because of this energy that everyone in that band positively reeks of. They’ve all got such joyous expressions on, and they’re all so happy to be there that you have no choice but to be happy with them. I’m not an Edguy fan, but they played all the songs I like. I don’t find any of their songs memorable, but they’re all action packed and really solid – a great band to see live. Their front man Tobias Sammet dances, jives, and expends his boundless energy getting the crowd moving. He did a few audience participation games, and there’s one that I especially remember, because he did it before.
He divides the crowd into left and right, and tells each half to make some noise when he points at them. He sets up a rivalry between left and right, making each side want to out-loud the other. Right then, I thought that this was pretty silly, doesn’t the audience know that he’s playing with them? I answered my own question, as people have a tendency to do – people want to be taken on rides, if the driver is skilled enough. We love charisma, which explains lots of world events, and I’ll stop here before I invoke Godwin’s Law on my concert review. If there’s one thing that heavy metal crowds are good at, it’s making noise. Tobias points left, then right, then left, moving faster and faster as the stereo sounds get more frenzied. Soon, the game is over, the audience had a great time, and we’re all ready for the next song. I can’t think of a more apt description for an Edguy show than that.
Have a listen, I think you’ll find why I like this band’s live show so much.
I listen to Kamelot quite a lot. I’d place them in the top five metal acts of all time, and a large part of the metal fandom would agree with me. Their works are rich, textured and emotional, and usually quite a bit melancholy. Everyone is a master of whatever instrument they play, and they have an ear for great composition. Even considering all this, the best part of the band is by far their singer, Roy Khan.
There was a part of the concert where Khan steps backstage, and the other musicians do a group instrumental. This was eye-opening for me. If the other members of Kamelot didn’t have Khan, they’d be – dare I say – boring. Thankfully, they do, and Kamelot gets to be a marvelously interesting band. His is a supremely expressive voice, full of warmth and range and texture. When he breaks into a tearful high note from one of his resonant bottom tones, it’s enough to make the coldest of us weep.
I’m training to be a lead singer, and I look at frontmen with a careful eye when I go to shows, eager to absorb a lesson or two. The Kamelot/Edguy show was a master class, showcasing two radically different styles of lead that are both very effective. Where Tobias Sammet is bright, grinning and in-your-face, Roy Khan is dark, reserved and pulled-in. You can tell this from the amount of motion – Sammet is constantly moving, dancing and jumping, while Khan is much more still, rooting himself to a spot for long stretches. When Khan does move, he has a beguilingly liquid quality, and his whole performance has an intriguing undertone. Khan’s audience participation games are, of course, different from Sammet’s. He sings a musical phrase, and points the microphone to the audience, bidding them follow. Sammet did this as well, of course – it’s a staple of good frontmanning. Of course, when Sammet’s phrases are short and energetic, Khan’s phrases are drawn-out and subdued. I find it immensely interesting that both of these approaches resonate with the audience, as the two couldn’t be any more different.
Here’s a clip of a live Kamelot performance. In the middle, you’ll notice the “call and response” audience participation game.
All in all, it was a killer show, and a great study in contrast. Tomorrow, I’ll be seeing Iced Earth.