 
King Diamond @ Metro, Chicago, USA
Absinthe: We've seen and reviewed the King before, but the old Satanist has a special place in both of our hearts. King Diamond was the first metal show I ever dragged you to, no? It was nice to see that fifteen years later he can still deliver that saucy satanic singing that we love so much. He even brought out Grandma!!
La Fée: I think you had dragged me out to a couple of other metal shows before King (Kingdom Come? King's X? What's with all the metal Kings, anyway?), but he was a whole new level. It was a treat to see him at the Metro this time around – and it seemed to me that he'd pretty much dispensed with the pretense of being "scary." This show was even more tongue-in-cheek than when we saw him in '98 on the "greatest hits" tour, to the point of being almost pure comedy. He pulled out all the stops … Grandma, Abigail, speared baby dolls, witch burning, caskets, rubber knives, the bone-cross microphone, and even cemetery gates at the front of the stage! Metro hasn't seen this kind of theater since King Diamond's grandfather brought his vaudeville show here.
Absinthe: I really liked this show. The setlist was very heavy on Abigail and Abigail II, with quite a bit of "Them" as well. This was a good choice on King's part as this is really his strongest solo material. The new songs from The Puppet Master were very good as well. I do wish he would have included some Mercyful Fate songs instead of doing "No Presents For Christmas" or "Halloween," but I can't really complain. It was basically the great metal show I expected. I wasn't really surprised by anything, but after you've seen a band five times it's pretty hard to be surprised by anything they do. That's probably why my favorite show of our metal bender was Cradle of Filth. They're still a relatively young band and haven't lost their ability to shock and surprise me.
La Fée: I agree, nothing groundbreaking to the King show, just good ol' fashioned baby-spearing fun. "No Presents For Christmas" was unexpected, as it was the day before Halloween, but it was pleasing nonetheless. Probably my favorite aspect was that for once, I got to drag a newcomer along, so I felt like I was passing the torch, 15 years later. I'm also glad that I got a King Diamond t-shirt at this one, as I subsequently received many unexpected compliments while wearing it, and, of course, it provided my attire for the Cradle of Filth show.
NEXT: Heavy Metal Bender Pt. 4: Cradle of Filth
Review by La Fée & Dr. Martin Absinthe
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