King Diamond and Exodus

I hardly write full blown concert reviews, but this was an exception. Here's what I sent to some close friends via email...

This past Friday brought to town hands down the biggest metal show of the year. A show so huge that as I walked into the Aragon Ballroom, I said to myself, "Holy crap this is every person I've seen from every show this year." That's right. The King was in town. Kim Bendix Peterson, better known to legions of metalheads worldwide as King Diamond, graced the stage Friday night to perform his seminal 1987 release Abigail in it's entirety as well as some hits, deep tracks, and Mercyful Fate classics.

The evening started with a 45 minute set from Bay Area thrash heroes, Exodus. With 30 years under their belt, they provided a great set that included "Bonded by Blood", "Exodus", "The Toxic Waltz", and "Strike of the Beast" as well as some new songs. Surprisingly, the crowd remained relatively tame for their set. That is until "The Toxic Waltz" kicked in. All hell broke lose the second the opening guitar riff began and about 1,000 of the 5,000+ filled ballroom ran in a circle like there was no tomorrow. The pit was a mix of fresh faces around my age and veteran thrashers and headbangers reliving their glory days as their concerned wives looked on. Steve "Zetro" Souza excalims, "THIS is the Aragon I fucking remember!!! The Aragon of '88 when we played here with Anthrax and Celtic Frost!!!" The crowd goes nuts and the band goes into their final song, "Strike of the Beast".

After Exodus finished, the older crowd took about a half hour to catch their breaths (it seemed they hadn't experienced that much pit action since the Clash of the Titans tour). Now it was the moment we were all waiting for. The King was here. The curtain rose revealing King's arena size production complete with lights, smoke, staircases, gargoyles, two giant inverted crosses, a giant Baphomet, and more as the night would reveal. The opener was “Welcome Home” which had the entire crowd screaming "GRANDMAAAAA!!!"

King then proceeded to play "Sleepless Nights", "Halloween", and "Eye of the Witch" before getting the crowd going with the Mercyful Fate classics "Evil" and "Melissa". Each song had a distinct backdrop made just for it. After this set was finished, it was time for King to play his 1987 horror epic, Abigail. Helping him recount the story of the evil child was a variety of actors and actresses as well as a variety of backdrops. Everyone stood in awe as King went track to track, he and his band performing the album note for note as it was in 1987. The craziest part? The fact that King can still, 35 years later, sing the exact same way he did back in the day. At 60 years old and after a triple bypass surgery, many would be able to forgive King for not being able to perform the exact same way he did back then. But that simply isn't King. After his surgery, he gave up smoking, drinking, junk food, and began exercising daily. He feels that he sounds better now than he ever has and that could be a valid statement to make.

As the Aragon dispersed Friday night, it wasn't like your normal metal show. You know the ones where the crowd goes to get some more drinks at the bar or heads to the merch stand or screams to each other "Dude that was fucking awesome!". At this show, everyone looked at their fellow concertgoers with a look of amazement. For the first time, I've seen the majority of a crowd speechless after a show. And not from singing. Simply because of the sheer magic that is King Diamond. I can only hope King brings that magic back again soon.

Note: While my friend and I made it about halfway up, my dad decided to chill in the back as he was still recovering from Thanksgiving dinner haha. It made for a great view though.