Knights of Kamelot and the Dragon

Kamelot w/ Dragonforce
Showbox, Seattle, WA
12.03.15

My favorite band is Dave Matthews Band, which gets met with either utter excitement or questioning disdain. So, many would wonder why I chose to cover a metal show. Well, the reason is simple: Guitar Hero. Yup, I’ve nerded out for a ridiculous amount of hours testing my reflexes through songs like “Surrender” by Cheap Trick, and honing my skills for “Through the Fire and the Flames” by Dragonforce, who opened for Kamelot on Thursday at the Showbox.

Dragonforce consists of a bassist with an abundance of personality, a drummer who seemingly has four legs, the most hardcore keytar player in the history of music, two absolute ninja guitarists who shred with little effort, and quite possibly the most polite front man ever to have such a booming voice. Their music can be best described as epic theatrical metal, and would make great background music for hardcore workout montages or fight scenes. In all seriousness though, there was no doubt how much fun these incredibly talented musicians were having on stage. Herman Li stole the show with hands that moved at the speed of sound, especially in their powerful opener “Fury of the Storm” that drove the crowd into full let’s jump and shake the floor of the Showbox mode. The sheer speed at which they play is hard to put into words, so I won’t try… I will just encourage you to witness them.

Kamelot, while still very intense, was definitely a notch calmer than the wondrous chaos of Dragonforce. Lead singer Tommy Karevik set the tone with a rousing “thank you” to the Seattle crowd before barreling into the hard-driving “Veil of Elysium.” I thought I was going to take one of bassist Sean Tibbetts’ impressive dreadlocks to the face during one of the most intense headbanging exhibitions in my recent memory. Overall, Kamelot possesses an undeniable stage presence, coinciding with what appears to be simply having a huge amount of fun and appreciating the here and now.

In the end, I took one very unexpected but welcomed fact from this show: metal fans are among the best. I did not see one cell phone. Everyone was either in the moment or in the mosh pit, taken to a fantasy world by fantastic musicians.

Dragonforce Set List
Fury of the Storm
Three Hammers
The Game
Heroes of our Time
Operation Ground and Pound
Cry Thunder
Valley of the Damned
Ring of Fire (Merle Kilgore cover)
Through the Fire and the Flames

Kamelot Set List
Veil of Elysium
When The Lights Are Down
The Great Pandemonium
Center of the Universe
Karma
Talk
Torn
Here’s to the Fall
March of the Mephisto
Decibel
Rule the World
Insomnia
Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy)
Forever
Revolution
Sacrimony
Continuum