Photos and Review by Jim LaValley
Galleries: King Diamond
King Diamond’s tour stopped by the Worcester Palladium recently. His stage was the set of a 1920 insane asylum, including old lighting and stage props, that blew the fans away. He returns with his first new song in over a decade, Masquerade of Madness is the debut single off of the new album out in 2020.
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats opened with their vintage late 1960’s rock and roll sound. They took you on a journey with psychedelic movies playing on the large screen above the band, setting the mood perfectly for King Diamond and his early 1900’s horror-themed theatrics to come.
As the lights go out, King’s show opened to St Lucifer’s Hospital while he got rolled out on to the stage on a stretcher with an IV hanging. His majesty awakes, rises, turns on an old fashion power-switch, and the show begins as the band goes into “The Candle” to start the crowd head-banging to all his classic tunes.
King then went into Funeral where he resurrects baby Abigale, only to execute her as he goes into “The Arrival.” King played air guitar all night with his bone crucifix mic, you could tell he was feeling it.
Swedish members Andy LaRocque and Mike Wead shared guitar leads and Pontus Egberg on bass were tight and sounded great. King Diamond put on a vocal clinic with his range and killed it with his strong falsetto screams such as in Welcome Home (“Grandmaaaaaa, what do you think of the house and the silvery moooooon?”). King’s wife, Livia Zita, was on background vocals hitting those notes that sounded perfect and blended beautifully.
King Diamond and his band put on a masterful performance and is well worth seeing. Go check out this tour as it makes its way down the west coast, it’s a must-see show.