Here it is. My account of Kamelot's visit to Toronto, finally. It's been almost two weeks since September 10, but I've been too busy to sit down and properly recount my concert experience.
#KamTO2013 was the tag I used to liveblog the day.
PRE-SHOW SHENANIGANS
September 10, 2013. The day I had been waiting for since March, and to a certain extent, for the past three and a half years. I sprang out of bed that morning much earlier than I normally would have. I'd agreed to meet James (henceforth known as Jams) at Union Station right after he got off work at 1pm, meaning I had to be out of the house by 11:30am. No problem. Just stuff my purse with my Silverthorn storybook, makeup, wallet, phone, iPod, metallic Sharpies ... and don't forget to grab Kamvengers off my desk. And a pen.
I also knew that I'd be doing a lot of liveblogging along the way. And that my phone contract's meager 100MB/mo was not going to let me do much for the rest of the month. But I had to liveblog, and I did, to a certain extent, because thanks to bad reception I couldn't reach Twitter most of the time (but Facebook was somehow ok).
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Eventually found Jams, and we relocated to a nearby cafe while I scribbled a quick letter to Kamelot on the back of Kamvengers. Not long after, we met up with Adam and Mav at this pub right next around the corner from the Opera House. But not before sighting the tour buses.
We also spotted Alissa on our way. Actually, Adam spotted Alissa and I had to do a double take to make sure he wasn't pulling my leg.
Just as we began to think of getting the bill and lining up, I see two guys talking across the street and towards the bar. At first glance I thought one of them was Thomas, but it turned out to be some other dude with long hair and baseball cap. But then they both stepped into the pub and the other dude was Thomas. And the guy who I thought was Thomas was the guitar tech. And they took a seat at the bar, so I was discreetly trying to see what they were up to. And walking past them to go to the bathroom might have sent my heart rate skyrocketing (just kidding, I'm not that easily unnerved).
And then there was the standing in line bit. It was super humid outside (I think 40 degrees at one point in the afternoon) and I forgot to bring water with me for the wait.
Interesting things that happened while in line:
- Sudden screeching of car brakes (and possibly a thud, I can't remember). Turns out someone rear ended a streetcar. On a one-way street. With two lanes, one of which was mostly taken up by parked cars anyway. Yeah have fun with that pal.
- Wae (from Kamelot France) came around to check tickets and put on VIP bracelets.
MEET AND GREET
So we eventually got inside the venue. First stop? Merch booth. I got myself a crow shirt (which I promptly put on), a tour shirt (the one that didn't look like the 2012 shirt) and a flag. All in all, $70 gone right then and I didn't even bat an eye (why would I?). And then we lined up for the meet and greet. I thought I had spotted carbonoid in the crowd but I wasn't sure.
By the time we reached the meet and greet table, I had decided they were signing my flag and not the storybook. Alissa was beautiful. Casey was badass as usual. And when I got to Thomas, I gave him my Kamvengers as a gift to the whole band. I was debating between giving it to them and chucking it in the garbage, but I figured they liked it when they saw it last year so no harm in a hard copy. Thomas recognized the Kamvengers and asked what my username was, and I told him. And I quote, "Oh, volextus. You're quite active on tumblr, aren't you?" and nudges Sean and Tommy next to him "Hey, this is volextus. From tumblr." and they give me this knowing look and I got to shake hands with Thomas, Sean and Tommy. I'm not sure Tommy recognized the name, but Sean definitely did. And then Coen was also very nice indeed.
Between getting autographs and waiting for the photos, we ran into Hanu. And then came the photos. And after the photo Thomas said to me "See you on tumblr!" and I might have ran away at that point. It was actually because I didn't want to hold up the line, not because I was about to pass out (I actually wasn't. I found myself surprisingly calm and able to hold a conversation with them.) But my hands were shaking as I tried to liveblog what just happened.
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| Jams got his wallet signed by the entire band. |
EKLIPSE
As soon as they let us, Adam and I rushed to the front of venue while Mav and Jams hung back at the top of the steps (where they probably had a better view than I did). I was in second row, behind two kinda tall guys (I mean at 5'2" everyone seems tall to me so I might be biased).
Eklipse eventually came on, and ohay I think I'm in love. The hair, the outfits, the instruments, the music. Everything about them. I'm so glad they're on this tour, because let's be honest. If they weren't guest artists on Silverthorn and/or supporting Kamelot on tour, they'd probably never get a chance to come to Toronto.
DELAIN
I don't think I've emphasized enough how happy I am with the opening bands this time. So happy. I've been blessed with good openers at both concerts I've gone to (Kamelot for Nightwish last year). The backdrops were beautiful. Charlotte's dress was amazing. Her hair was also amazing. As was her voice. I don't know why Mav and Jams are so critical of them, but they're one of my favourite bands, so again. Lots of bias going around. But this was their setlist:
Mother Machine
Go Away
Get the Devil Out of Me
Virtue and Vice
Electricity
Invidia
Not Enough
The Gathering
We Are the Others
I knew these songs well enough, but apparently not well enough to remember all the lyrics. But that was OK because nobody could hear me yelling anyways. My throat was already hoarse from screaming for Eklipse, but at that point I could have screamed for another few hours. It was actually a shame The Gathering was a solo Charlotte song because the duet carried so much more power (also Marco, duh). And a little bummed that Where's the Blood didn't make the setlist, but I guess there was nobody to duet with so it didn't make sense for them to include it.
KAMELOT
As much as I had wished the Delain set had been slightly longer, I also knew if Kamelot didn't come on stage soon I might have collapsed from exhaustion.
Now, nobody has uploaded a sestlist for the September 10th show, so I'm basing the setlist off the Montreal show 2 days prior because when I looked it over it looked pretty much identical to what I remembered from the Toronto show.
I don't think I've screamed harder in my life.
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| I was completely unprepared for the majesty of Casey's drumkit. |
The opener was Rule the World, as always. And this time I wasn't late to the show. It was great. I really did feel like I could rule the world. The sheer force of the speakers. And the energy of the entire band (I love them, I really, really do). And I was in the front (although with two tall dudes standing in front of me it was hard to see everything without having to do a bit of ninjaing around).
Next up wasn't Ghost Opera, as I had expected, but Torn. And ugh. Alissa. Wow. Hair. Voice. Outfit. Just. Stop. Too perfect. At one point during the set Thomas winked at me. After that was The Great Pandemonium, Veritas, Center of the Universe, Human Stain. There's not much to say except I loved every moment of every song? I mean there literally is no such thing as a bad Kamelot set. There might have been songs that we sorely wanted them to play (as Adam and I would find out later) but every song was pure gold.
I forgot when Tommy did his whole Decibel shenanigan, but he did. It was the same as last year. With the volume dial and everything. But before he reached three, someone in the crowd yelled "DO A PIGSQUEAL!" and you could just see Thomas and Tommy trying really, really hard not to crack up. But he did it. Tommy took a huge breath and growled THREEEEEEEEEEEE and of course the crowd exploded. Also he said we were a better crowd than the Montreal crew (which I desperately wanted to believe), and the crowd went nuts because nobody likes Montreal.
Next up on the list was Song for Jolee, which almost caused me to melt. He actually held a girl's hand for the entirety of the last refrain and sang to her. I was right behind her and immensely jealous (needless to say).
Of course, no concert experience was complete without the animal of the battery, "Casey fucking Grillo" and his insane solos. Because drum solos are great. And I'm not sure how his limbs are still attached to his body.
When the Lights are Down followed, and Forever came after that. It was also the first Kamelot song I had listened to (apart from that Interlude III fiasco, which was documented on the back of Kamvengers for all the band to read). And the opening lines were sung at me. And then Tommy touched my hand.
There's a pain within, that I can't define
There's an empty space, where your love used to shine
Um. Yeah. And since Forever is and always will be one of their classics, the song was phenomenal. And we did the singalong bit at the end too, but it was temporarily interrupted by the entire venue chanting KAMELOT. KAMELOT. KAMELOT. KAMELOT. At which point the videocameras came out (not that I've seen a On the Road video for Toronto yet). Too bad it was aimed at stage right and Adam and I were standing slightly stage left of the centre.
Eklipse came back out to play My Confession with them, and up next were (I completely forget which order) Don't You Cry (was NOT expecting it but super happy), and Karma. I think this concluded the pre-encore set, because I'm pretty sure the encore was Sean's solo, Ghost Opera (nice touch, with the Welcome all to curtain call at the opera bit, especially considering we were at the Opera House) Sacrimony and of course, March of Mephisto. Sacrimony and March were spectacularly excellent because holy wow the interaction between Tommy and Alissa.
Other things that took place during the set but I forgot when:
- Sean grabbing somone's camera and taking a selfie with it
- Thomas throwing waterbottles
- Picks and drumsticks were thrown. None of which landed near me, except the first pick, but I think that one fell through the floor because we were actually standing on a vent.
- I fudged up about half the lyrics in my excitement.
- And curtain call, booooooo. Sean and Coen gave out the setlists, none of which happened near me. Adam's hand did graze one of the setlists, to his chagrin.
We left the venue eventually (Jams lost his merch in the venue, I still feel bad for him). I spoke to carbonoid for a bit, and got a picture with Wae. And then we separated and headed home.
POST-CONCERT DRIVE HOME
Adam was kind enough to give me a lift back to Hamilton, since he lived in the same general area as well. And in the car we discussed the concert at length. On the highway, we were listing off songs that never made it to the set but should have. Apart from listing off half the discography, I suddenly realized Edenecho wasn't on it, although I knew for a fact that they played it a week ago. When I shared this bit with Adam, very loud swearing ensued (from the both of us).
To see all the photos I took that day: the Facebook album.
