Kamelot’s concert in Sofia was awaited for a long time from many people in Bulgaria, and a few months ago we surprisingly realized that a band as famous as them was not going again to miss the chance to meet us on its big world tour.

The promoters ABV Pro did their best to show from the beginning that they will try to make things stable, and methodically explained everything that will happen on April 18, 2008 at the Hristo Botev Hall in Sofia.

The concert began right on time - at 7:30 p.m., when the first band for the night, Forever Slave, came on stage. Many people were not well disposed to such gothic metal, and it was really hard to be, even if you wanted to. From the first song of the Spaniards to the end of their set sound problems disturbed the audience’s attention from the brilliant music flowing from the stage.

The boring beginning was changed fast with the more dynamic part of the show - the set of the popular and well known in Bulgaria Firewind with Gus G. (ex-Dream Evil, Mystic Prophecy, Nightrage) on board. Logically, they gave prominence to their latest album, but in most cases we didn’t succeed to understand which song from it was played. They impressed with singing and playing as in an original studio recording - a skill that many bands do not possess. Fans were also there to scream for their favourite band as a real headliner.

In fact, the leaders on this Friday night were different. They were those which made people to do their best crawling through the traffic jam and travel hundreds of kilometres from every part of the country - Kamelot! With their concert on April 18 they proved that all the fetch has been worth it. They entered the stage under the sound of an airily violin played by a beautiful woman who was afterward singing the female vocals on the songs from the setlist.

Roy Khan and his colleagues appeared on stage with their showy clothing in front of the metal brotherhood only 30 minutes after 9 p.m. and pleased the crowd with 18 compositions in their typical style. We should mention “Soul Society”, “Abandoned”, which was sung by everybody, “Nights of Arabia”... Actually every song was perfect. Maybe someone was still dissatisfied, maybe someone didn’t hear his/her favourite song, but Kamelot did their best to please the most fastidious people.

The first encore in which we heard three songs was eagerly awaited, but the second one was a surprise for the most of the fans. “March of Mephisto” is great not only because of the guest appearance by Shagrath of Dimmu Borgir, but because of its marching rhythm and heavy metal charge. Everybody sang to the limit of their voices in these last minutes of Kamelot in Bulgaria.

We saw a real show in Sofia only a week after the birthday of Tangra Mega Rock in the same venue. Problems with the sound were the only obstacle to call everything that happened brilliant. ABV Pro started at accelerated rates with organizing this event, and Forever Slave, Firewind and Kamelot did a professional live lesson for us.

Words: Boyana Atanassova

Photos:В Victor AlexandrovВ 

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