This is merely my own opinion. If yours is different, good for you, but no need to go bashing mine.
~~~
As I’m writing this, my throat is still hurting from singing along with practically all songs that were played yesterday evening, my neck muscles are still hurting badly, and my body is still hurting from the various punches I received from people who were moshing around me. Still, that does not change a bit how enthusiastic I am about last night.
Serenity
Setlist: (thanks to RPGW – possibly not in correct order)
Sheltered (By the Obscure)
Reduced to Nothingness
Coldness Kills
Rust of Coming Ages
Velatum
All Lights Reversed
Honestly, I wasn’t really familiar with this band. I have listened to their albums once or twice and thought they were alright, but tonight they made a very good impression on me. They got the audience going (more than Delain in my opinion, which isn’t that weird seeing they fit more into the same genre as Kamelot than Delain does) and the singer had a very energetic way of performing.
Serenity have definitely convinced me that they’re worth a few spins more.
Delain
Setlist: (not in correct order and few songs missing)
Stay Forever
Control the Storm
Sever
Go Away
April Rain
The Gathering
Personally, I was quite curious about the new songs. I had already had a listen to them as I could prelisten the new CD “April Rain” on the website of their record company, and I wasn’t really all that positive about it. However, last night definitely changed my mind. Delain proved that their songs that might sound poppy on the CD rock pretty hard on stage.
In my opinion they could have add one or two songs of the previous album on it, as practically nobody knew the new tracks. On the other hand, I understand that this tour with Kamelot is meant to promote the new album. But all in all, the performance was quite alright. I would have liked to see more movement on the stage. But Delain have improved a lot since the first time I saw them back in December 2006, especially Charlotte.
Kamelot
Setlist: (definitely correct, as I’m reading it off the one Khan gave me)
Intro
Rule the World (pyro)
When the Lights are Down
Moonlight
Centre of the Universe
The Pendulous Fall
Anthem
Karma (pyro)
Instrumental (including drum solo)
The Human Stain
The Haunting (with Simone Simons from Epica)
Edenecho (pyro)
Keyboard Solo
Forever
~~~
Ghost Opera
Love you to Death (with Amanda Sommerville)
Farewell
~~~
March of Mephisto
I always try to be as objectively as possible when writing a review, but with Kamelot, I simply can’t. They’re one of my favourite bands and definitely my favourite live band.
But I’ll give it a go anyway 
Please forgive me if I start fangirling somewhere.
Before the gig started, a huge white sheet was hung before the stage and when the intro started (not Solitaire, but something from a soundtrack that I know I have in my collection, but somehow can’t recall at the moment – very frustrating) a video was projected on it; A mixture of fragments from their videos for Rule the World and March of Mephisto, and text in between them (“Rule the World Tour” “March 20, 2009” “Tilburg”, nothing special really).
All in all quite nice, but as to atmosphere, the beginning of the concert they did in Amsterdam last year (with the woman on the violin playing Solitaire) pulled the trick better than this.
Now I’ve stated something without using superlatives, I like to think I did my job of trying to be objective and can go on with all the damn good things about last night.
Rule the World is one of the best songs of “Ghost Opera” in my opinion and definitely works well as a kick-off. That, pyros, and the guitars at full volume made it an energetic beginning. Khan wasn’t that clear in the beginning but during the second verse that was fixed as well.
Same as on the last tour, Rule the World was followed up by When the Lights are Down which is very fitting to continue the energy. I was slightly surprised when Moonlight began, as it’s new to the setlist. I didn’t mind that at all though, as I’ve wanted to hear this one live for a while now.
The audience was already warmed up by the supporting acts of course, but nothing warmed them up better than a start like this. Khan screaming “Tilburg” all the time made the crowd yell back louder and louder each time (hence my soar throat this morning), and the positively surprised glances combined with overwhelmed smiles of the band members worked great as well at showing the entire venue the band was having a great time as well.
It appeared that Khan had been practising his Dutch, as he used a few phrases during the gig. Next to the usual “Dank je” (thank you) that most artists memorize, he showed us he also know what to reply when one says thank you by telling us “Graag gedaan” (you’re welcome), and he commented in Dutch on the temperature in the venue.
After Centre of the Universe and The Pendulous Fall, Khan announced they would play a song that he had written for his son, and Oliver started the piano intro of Anthem. I’m not really a sentimental person, but that song gave me goosebumps. If there is one thing that Khan is good at and his voice is suitable for, it’s putting emotion in lyrics. Most likely, the fact he has written the lyrics for his son did have an influence as well, but that doesn’t change the fact his voice fits the song very well. Oliver did a good job too, of course.
I was surprised when Karma began, expecting it to be part of the first encore. I personally think it fit better on the first part of the setlist, so I didn’t mind. It did make me curious for the first encore though, as to what track would replace it.
Khan left the stage and all the attention went to the other band members for a while. They played an instrumental song which lasted quite a while, Casey having a kick-ass drum solo during it.
After that, the setlist was the same as in Amsterdam last year; The Human Stain, The Haunting, Edenecho, a keyboard solo by Oliver and Forever as last song. The only thing that was different this time though, was that Simone Simons joined the guys on stage. I’ve heard The Haunting live several times already, but this was the first time with Simone. She sang good, sadly enough she didn’t sound very clear in the beginning. Khan and Simone performed with chemistry, and the good atmosphere rubbed off on the entire audience as it seemed; the song was well-received and it didn’t take long for the whole venue to be jumping around.
At a certain moment, a crew member came on stage and started handing out champagne to the band members as a sort of late happy birthday celebration to both Khan and Oliver. Spontaneously, the audience started singing “Lang zal ze leven” (Dutch equivalent of “Happy Birthday to you”). Maybe it’s not really a moment worth mentioning, but I thought it was a nice moment anyway. Especially since Oliver didn’t seem to like the champagne at all.
As always, the crowd was expected to sing along with the “oh-oh’s” during Forever, which most people didn’t seem to have any problems with at all. At the end of the song, most of the audience already started singing the “oh-oh’s” and Kamelot let us go on for quite a while. Then – I don’t know whether it was really planned that way or just something spontaneous as Khan couldn’t quite get us to stop singing anyway – Khan introduced the band members one by one, all of them receiving a lot of screams, whistles and applause. In between the introductions, everybody kept singing Forever and eventually, after a long long while, Khan joined in. Then he went off stage, before finally coming back to sing the chorus one last time.
The band left the stage for a little while, but quickly came back for the first encore. Khan asked if the audience was ready for some opera, and when the intro of Ghost Opera started it wasn’t a surprise.
Amanda Sommerville made a guest appearance during Love you to Death of which she does the vocals on the album version as well. I was glad to hear her live some time as last time I would have actually seen her perform she had to cancel due to personal reasons. She performed quite good and I was glad to hear her sing the female vocals instead of Anne-Catrin. Not that Anne-Catrin didn’t sing well, but her voice has less power and warmth in it than Amanda’s, in my opinion.
Farewell ended up being the last song of the first encore, which seems very fitting of course. I think it works better as ending song than Karma, as it’s much heavier and it leaves the audience with energy, which can and will be able to be released during March of Mephisto.
March of Mephisto was the best song to close the gates with on a night like this. It appeared as if they had some pyros left and decided to fully use them up, and give the venue an impression of the temperature as it is at Mephisto’s place. But besides the heat, you don’t hear me complain. It gave a nice blast, next to the music, that gave everybody a chance to give that last bit of energy and go home totally satisfied.
Highlights: Rule the World, When the Lights are Down, Moonlight, Anthem, The Human Stain, The Haunting, Edenecho, Forever, Love you to Death, Farewell, March of Mephisto.
Yes, that’s almost the entire setlist, I’m very well aware of that. Blame it on my fangirling mode.
