Kamelot / Delain / Battle Beast -  House of Blues - Orlando, Florida - May 12th, 2018

 

 There  have been some fantastic shows so far this year here in the Central Florida area, and we're only halfway through the year! We've had to pick and choose and have passed on several shows just because there are almost TOO many good ones, we have attended more shows so far then we did in any other year since we've been living down here in Florida and we've been down here for 10 years now. When we saw that Kamelot was on tour again we knew that this was a must see concert, we've seen them several times and they never fail to put on an amazing show, the fact that Delain and Battle Beast were touring with Kamelot was a bonus as we also love both of those bands. We saw Delain last year when they were touring with Hammerfall but unfortunately we had to leave early. We have never seen Battle Beast but we loved what little material we had heard from them and were looking forward to seeing them live.

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 We had bought tickets for this show about 6 months ago as Enter the Vault was having a special sale where you could get a VIP ticket at what would normally be the price of a regular ticket, sounded like a great deal to us! The only issue we had was the day before the show we couldn't find our paperwork with the confirmation number on it, we're not sure if we lost it or never received it to begin with. We tore the house apart looking for it but it was nowhere to be found, I wrote to Enter the Vault and received an email within a half hour with all of the info. we needed and our confirmation number, we were VERY impressed with how quickly they got back to us! We were glad that this show was on a Saturday as it was in Orlando, about 1 1/2 hour drive from us on a good day, it ended up taking us closer to 3 hours to get there! The House of Blues is at Disney Springs and we arrived early and just kind of wandered around checking out the stores and such, we were meeting friends for a pre - show beer and dinner, always a good way to start a concert night!

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 We had to get in line early as the VIP Meet and Greet was held well before doors opened for the show, we had never done the VIP thing before so we were glad that we had several friends that we were with to show us the ropes as they had done the VIP thing for Kamelot several times in the past. While we were waiting in line we heard the fire alarm going off at the House of Blues, that definitely slowed things down as they were not allowing anyone to enter until that problem was taken care of. Once they got everything straightened out we picked up our VIP laminate, a poster and Kamelot bag along with our tickets at a table that they had setup outside the venue. It was interesting how the whole VIP thing worked, we were the first people allowed into the venue before regular doors opened, we were able to shop at the bands merchandise tables with just the VIP group, of note all 3 bands were running out of certain items and sizes of shirts as this was the second to last show of the tour. We got our posters signed by Kamelot and Delain and we were able to get a photo with the bands if we chose to do so. We would definitely do the VIP thing again as we felt that it was well worth the money, especially seeing that we only paid half price for it!

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 The show was running late due to the fire alarm issue, when we first enter the venue the air conditioner wasn't even working correctly! We heard that the fire alarm malfunction was caused by an issue in the kitchen and that the air conditioning, sound system and fire alarm were all tied together somehow and that they couldn't start the show until everything was fixed. The concert was supposed to start at 8 pm but because of the problem it didn't actually start until closer to 9 pm! We were worried that the bands would have to cut their sets but luckily Delain was the only one that had to do so and they only cut one song, the show did end up running much later though, it was close to midnight by the time it ended.

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 Finland's Battle Beast was the first band to perform and they went on only about 5 minutes after the doors opened, many people were still filing into the venue as the band took the stage. Battle Beast kicked off the show with Straight to the Heart off their 2017 album  Bringer of Pain. We had been looking VERY forward to seeing the band as we loved their sound and they did not disappoint! They performed an energetic set of 7 songs, all of them but 1 being from  Bringer of Pain. The only song that they performed that was not on Bringer of Pain was Black Ninja from the 2013 album Battle Beast. Vocalist Noora Louhimo looked like a total badass and had amazing stage presence. The entire band looked like they were having a great time on stage and the crowd really seemed to enjoy their set. We'd love to see this band in a headlining tour here in the US.

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 Next up was Delain, hailing from the Netherlands. By the time they went on, the crowd became enormous, our guess is either close to or completely sold out. Delain has been around since 2002 and have built up a huge fan base and it showed as the crowd went wild when they took the stage. Kicking off their set with Hands of Gold, they performed 6 songs from their current album, Moonbathers, 3 songs from We Are the Others, and one from The Human Contradiction. We thought that the graphics used on either side of the stage and the band's backdrop were pretty awesome as well as the lighted microphone stands. Vocalist Charlotte Wessels was very energetic interacting with the crowd and other band members. Meeting her before the show was a bonus, she was very sweet and down to earth. We now have seen them co-headlining on 2 tours, this is another band that we are looking forward to seeing again.

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 The final band of the evening was the one and only Kamelot, touring in support of their newest release The Shadow Theory! While waiting outside for the fire alarm fiasco to be resolved Kamelot's former drummer, Casey Grillo was hanging outside and talking with everyone. For those who do not know, Casey amicably parted ways with Kamelot earlier this year to concentrate on his drumhead business, and he is currently doing shows drumming for Queensryche.  For this tour, Kamelot was joined by Once Human vocalist Lauren Hart doing the harsh death metal type vocals on certain songs. We have seen her in the past with Once Human when they were on tour with Dragonforce, we ran into her at the bar after the Dragonforce show last year, and had a lengthy conversation with her. She is another cool as hell person. Their intro music Knights March started and the crowd of course went berzerk when they went right into Phantom Divine just after they took the stage, joined by Lauren Hart. The one single album they seemed to concentrate on as far as songs performed was Haven, with 5 songs. They seemed to mix their setlist up fairly well from most of their catalog, with songs being performed from Silverthorn, Karma, The Black Halo, Ghost Opera and Poetry for the Poisoned. Of course there were 3 selections from their latest album. Their light show was phenomenal, using many different color spots and strobes. Vocalist Tommy Karevik kept the crowd pumped up throughout their entire set. Unfortunately Kamelot's new drummer Johan Nunez had to step down from touring due to a leg injury, so Alex Landenberg from Cyhra and Luca Turilli's Rhapsody filled in for him for most of the tour. This was pretty much a home state show for most of Kamelot as they hail from the Tampa area. The only non Floridians are Tommy Karevik who is from Sweden, keyboardist Oliver Palotai and touring drummer Alex Landenberg are from Germany, Lauren Hart is from Australia, and Johan Nunez was born in Belgium. The band always gets a great response from the Florida crowd, and we know that some of the band's families were in the crowd. After this show, there was only one more show for this leg of the tour, that being in Fort Lauderdale.

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 Kamelot is a band that we will see any time they do shows in Florida as they are one of our favorite bands and they are great guys. Thanks to Jon Freeman of

Freeman Promotions for setting up the photo pass and of course thanks to Kamelot, Delain and Battle Beast for putting on a great show! We had a great time and look forward to seeing all of these bands again!

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