2 down 2 to go

Halfway through my gig marathon for the week and I've seen two gigs so far with 2 remaining. Nightwish started it all off and were very good to be honest. Floor is the perfect fit for the band make no mistake. I didn't completely love the gig cause I missed material from the Oceanborn/Wishmaster era but that's cause that's my favourite Nightwish era and I'm not really a fan of post Tarja Nightwish. However the band was on great form and in Floor they have the frontwoman of their dreams. I personally don't really care if she gets the job full time or not but they'd be mad to at least not offer it to her. Pain, the support band, were a bit boring. I Couldn't get really good pictures cause I was pretty far from the stage but here are a few.

Last night was Kamelot's turn to shine which they semi-did. First we had Blackguard. The sound was atrocious and they sounded a mess. I  can sort of stand them on record but live they were just a chore to listen to. Good enthusiasm though. Next up were Triosphere who were pretty good. The sound was again a little dodgy but they were better than Blackguard. The front lady has nice headbanging moves though her voice sounded a touch strained. I enjoyed them anyway. Next up were Nightwish wannabes Xandria and their new singer. They did their best but their performance was a touch muted. I liked them a lot though and the new lady did a sterling job with her operatic vocals. They sound more spectacular on record than live though but once again there were a lot of sound issues with rough sounding guitars and vocals cutting in and out.

Finally at a slighly late 9.45pm Kamelot came on. The sound was ok but not perfect by any means. It was often a touch mushy and the guitars didn't sound crisp. However most were here to see how new singer Tommy would fare and to be honest it was completely seamless between him and Khan. So much that if you shut your eyes you could have sworn it was Khan up there singing. I'm not sure that's such a good thing though but Tommy easily won the crowd over with his performance by the end. The new songs sound very good live and the band are hardened pros at the power metal game that's for sure. One thing to note is that the venue was far undersold. The attendance wasn't small at around 350-400 but the promoters must have got their sums completely wrong to book this 1000+ venue when it was only half full. However to end positively Kamelot were far better than the last time I saw them with Khan which was a rather boring gig as I recall. This was by far better than that gig and the band sounds refreshed and energised with the addition of Tommy Karevik that's for sure.

Triosphere:

Xandria:

Kamelot: