Review and photos by Estill Robinson
“What’s up WKRP?” yelled the opening act Midnight from Cleveland. What’s up… well what’s up is they kicked off one hell of a metal show for Cincinnati Friday November 4th. This band was the surprise of the night and a good pairing for this tour. As a three piece, they commanded the stage with plenty of energy. Winning me over as a new fan and I’m sure a lot more that night, they are a mix of old school metal, a little Motorhead, a little Misfits and a few of Doyle’s guitar smacks thrown in there for one hell of a show.
Kreator took the stage next with an impressive stage set of impaled and hanging corpses. Their excessive use of strobe lighting was annoying at least from where I was watching the show. I felt like I was gonna join the corpses on stage with my eye sockets impaled. Their musicianship was on point though, the guitar work was excellent and probably had the best sound mix of all the bands that night. They announced that they will be returning in 2023 for a headline tour…hopefully with less strobing lights.
And now for the band and the man that I was there to see! I have to say Mercyful Fate had one bad ass stage set. In the day of every major show hitting the road using screens, it was refreshing to see a throwback to a really great old school stage set. It kinda reminded me of Ozzy’s Diary of a Madman tour set but a little cooler. The castle, church or shrine whatever it was…sported a massive Baphomet’s menacing glare, inverted glowing cross and dual archways with 666 which definitely set the tone for an impressive show. Mercyful Fate opened with “The Oath” and King Diamond the master of ceremonies wearing an evil horned mask…the service has begun. The band was on point, Hank Sherman’s guitar work, King Diamond’s vocals, but I didn’t expect to see Becky Baldwin from Hands Off Gretel playing bass (excellent job as well). The mix overall for the arena was not great but enjoyable, Diamond’s vocals were a little buried sometime when he wasn’t slamming those falsetto screams that he’s so known for. They performed all the classics and my favorite of all “Curse of the Pharaohs”, such a great song and performance. They closed their set with “Come to the Sabbath” and returned with the encore “Satan’s Fall”. It was great to see King Diamond and the rest of the band interacting with the fans down front signing autographs after the show before they exited the stage. The true sign that a band still respects their audience and the part they play in their musical journey.
