Kamelots latest USA Performances

[Savage Pumpkin]

I attended the Kamelot/ Edguy show at The Pearl Room in Mokena, IL on Saturday, October 18th. I thought Edguy was great but what I was really looking forward to was Kamelos set. The band was in great form but Khan was not. I can't tell if he was sick or just having a bad night. I talked with some folks afterward and they said the same thing. That all told it was a disappointing performance. Then a friend of mine that just moved to Atlanta said he saw them there and again Khan was not up to par. My question is: Is this just a few people including myself being a bit picky or have some of you had the same experience?

 

[Riceloft]

I thought Khan sounded great in Cleveland last Friday.

Could have been an off night, the last time I saw them he didn't sound very good, but that was a couple years ago now.

 

[AngraRULES]

Funny thing is that I've been hearing from people in different cities that Khan hasn't been good at all. In fact, the MA show apparently the guy was wasted on stage. The same thing happened in Brazil a few years ago. He was so drunk onstage in Rio, that (don't quote me on that), some people on the crew said they had to use playback vocals. It wouldn't surprise me, although it's a big disappointment.

 

[Bear]

I will see them on Saturday in SF and I will give you my feedback next week...

Bear

 

[Jasonic]

I too was at the Pearl Room show.
I dunno, I thought he sounded fine.
I have to admit, I am not familiar with their entire catalog, so maybe I wouldn't be the best to judge the performance.

It was my first time seeing them live, so I don't have other performances to compare it to.

If you wanted to see a frontman drunk on stage, you should have seen Andi Deris at the Pearl Room!!!!!!!

 

[AngraRULES]

If you wanted to see a frontman drunk on stage, you should have seen Andi Deris at the Pearl Room!!!!!!!

Really? Was he that bad?

 

[edgeofthorns]

Eventhough I like Khan, I don't believe his voice comes across too well live. In the studio he's great, but in a live setting I just don't think he has the power to pull it off night after night. I could be wrong, but that's just my guess.

~Brian~

 

[The Invisible Guest]

I attended the Kamelot/ Edguy show at The Pearl Room in Mokena, IL on Saturday, October 18th. I thought Edguy was great but what I was really looking forward to was Kamelos set. The band was in great form but Khan was not. I can't tell if he was sick or just having a bad night. I talked with some folks afterward and they said the same thing. That all told it was a disappointing performance. Then a friend of mine that just moved to Atlanta said he saw them there and again Khan was not up to par. My question is: Is this just a few people including myself being a bit picky or have some of you had the same experience?

I saw the Mokena show as well .... thought Khan had a rough night. I thought he was pretty strong for more than half the show, but he started to really run out of steam down the stretch. I'm not so sure they didn't even lower his mic volume a bit late in the concert when he was really starting to struggle.

I've heard him sound very good in the past, but he's a bit hit and miss. Sometimes the pipes are there, and sometimes they aren't. He doesn't have the strongest voice around.

Britt

 

[The Invisible Guest]

Eventhough I like Khan, I don't believe his voice comes across too well live. In the studio he's great, but in a live setting I just don't think he has the power to pull it off night after night. I could be wrong, but that's just my guess.

~Brian~

I would agree with that. When he's on he is excellent, but I think he's a guy that could use a few more days off along the way.

Britt

 

[spag]

I wouldn't agree. I've seen Kamelot a few times, and Kahn can be incredible live. It's disappointing to hear that might not be the case this tour. The last time I saw them, wasn't as good as the previous, but figured an off night. Maybe the band is just loosing some energy, touring too much?

 

[Wandrail]

I was at the Atlanta show and I don't know how anyone could say he did poorly at all. He sounded great and I can't even recall catching any sour notes. The sound was bad in general, but that was the venue's fault.

 

[lady_space]

I would agree with that. When he's on he is excellent, but I think he's a guy that could use a few more days off along the way.

I think you're spot on there.

FWIW, he did not sound great in Atlanta IMO (when you could actually hear him). I adore the guy's voice, but shit happens. I also think he sounds more strained on the higher stuff even on record than, say, the Conception stuff, where he tends to do more of the "croony" stuff.

Shaye

 

[Unholy_Prince]

I saw Kamelot's first two gigs of this tour in St Petersburg and Ft Lauderdale Florida. The first night his voice was really really off, pretty bad. However the night after in Ft Lauderdale was one of the best vocal performances I had heard him do, the sound was perfect. I think he may just be having a lot of on/off nights this tour?

 

[Cheiron]

No excuses. You either take care of your body & voice, or you don't. There's some major singers that have no issues because they do those things. They make sure they sleep and eat well. They make sure they practice during 'offseasons', and do proper warmups before shows and cooldowns after shows. Khan, being a trained vocalist, I'd expect more from him. I thought he sounded really good in almost all songs in Atlanta (when I could hear him), with a couple that I could hear him straining at times.

 

[Wandrail]

I think you're spot on there.

FWIW, he did not sound great in Atlanta IMO (when you could actually hear him). I adore the guy's voice, but shit happens. I also think he sounds more strained on the higher stuff even on record than, say, the Conception stuff, where he tends to do more of the "croony" stuff.

Shaye

He's always sounded strained on high stuff. I think songs like Nights of Arabia are not even in his proper range and you can tell. I honestly don't know what was so bad about the ATL performance. He sounded about like I expected and about the same as any other time I have seen them. He wasn't hitting bad notes or anything...or was the sound so bad that I missed something?

 

[Wandrail]

No excuses. You either take care of your body & voice, or you don't. There's some major singers that have no issues because they do those things. They make sure they sleep and eat well. They make sure they practice during 'offseasons', and do proper warmups before shows and cooldowns after shows. Khan, being a trained vocalist, I'd expect more from him. I thought he sounded really good in almost all songs in Atlanta (when I could hear him), with a couple that I could hear him straining at times.

Yeah but then again shit happens. When you're touring in a foreign country you may be exposed to more germs, your body may get run down from traveling or you may be exposed to bad environmental conditions that all hurt your voice (i.e. SMOKE - my voice was screwed up for a couple days after the ATL show from the smoke...). Roy is notorious for making venues shut off the AC and fans and things, so I think he does have a mind for taking care of his voice...

 

[Heavenly Call]

I'm in the camp that thought he sounded great at the Atlanta show. I do agree that he comes across better on CD, but thought this most recent Atlanta performance was nothing short of phenomenal to my ears.

 

[AMBR]

I thought he sounded great in NYC. I've seen him play there before and he was excellent then as well. I also saw him play outdoors at Sweden Rock a couple years ago and he was, again, excellent. I don't know a vocalist yet who can say they haven't had an off night or a difficult time during certain parts of a long tour. Still, some vocalist definitely seem to have more vocal stamina than others. How much is due to conditioning and care is difficult to judge.

What was the feedback from their ProgPower performance? I seem to recall it was mostly good.

<whisper> Tobias had a great night too in NYC <whisper>

 

[Jasonic]

Really? Was he that bad?

Well, he was three sheets to the wind, but it did not impact his vocal performance at all!!! He openly spoke of all the "American Red Wine" he drank backstage.

Most heard of this already that there was an hour and half break between Gamma Ray and Helloween due to "technical difficulties".

There have been numerous reports about what really happened. Who knows what is fact or fiction. I have heard everything from Helloween wanting to get paid before they play to the band not being happy at the $75 VIP ticket price, to supposedly the Pearl Room charging $80 at the door once the show had started.

 

[lady_space]

He's always sounded strained on high stuff. I think songs like Nights of Arabia are not even in his proper range and you can tell. I honestly don't know what was so bad about the ATL performance. He sounded about like I expected and about the same as any other time I have seen them. He wasn't hitting bad notes or anything...or was the sound so bad that I missed something?

I wasn't quite clear with my wording... I didn't mean to imply he sounded *bad*, but I didn't think he sounded what I would call *great*. I have only seen them twice before, both at PP (and then of course the Conception gig).

And I agree 100% about when he sounds strained. Honestly, I had never noticed it much before, but my lovely husband now has me listening to things a bit differently. He's almost ruined my enjoyment of some Steve Hogarth stuff. Well, okay, that's an exaggeration but I do notice things more in the past couple of years.

Shaye