At The YouTube Theater

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Just my own observation but a lot of modern mainstream bands are overly dependent on theatrics and gimmicks, essentially using it as a crutch to compensate for a lack of musical ability and originality. Of course a live show should entertain but that doesn’t mean you should rely on smoke and mirrors and get-ups to distract a naïve audience who probably never knew about bands who’ve not only done this in the past but are still doing it to this day. Bands who are actually extremely great musicians and when you have the amount of talent and live presence that these true artists have, the costumes and all else seems practically unnecessary.

One band and artist that is the epitome of being that perfect band with the right blend of talent and that dash of theatrics as the cherry on top, is MERCYFUL FATE led by the king himself, KING DIAMOND. For the first time in my life (yes, I’m late to the party) I got to witness this amazing event on the Los Angeles stop on their tour which was accompanied by KREATOR and MIDNIGHT. The night took place a new venue called the YouTube Theater which isn’t too shabby of a venue. This line-up was an interesting combination of Blackened-Thrash, German Thrash and some dark and evil traditional Heavy Metal.

Located in the city of Inglewood and right next to So-Fi stadium was the YouTube Theater that hosted this great line-up. Not too large of a venue with a capacity of 6,000 with a large general admission floor/pit area, with additional levels high above it. This place reminded me of the Universal Amphitheater in Universal City, one of my favorite venues that sadly is no more. The YT theater has a real cool outdoors area to enjoy the Los Angeles weather, and enough room for a few of those expensive-ass trendy food trucks (save your $15-$20 for a few streetdogs from the vendors just outside the venue at the end of the show). Beers at the venue are what you typically expect so I of course always encourage people to pre-game, even though tailgating isn’t allowed here (super lame!). The sound inside the venue was on point this night, and the stage was quite large. Plenty of room for the ripping power trio that was MIDNIGHT who in hooded fashion, simply ripped through a very energetic set. I wasn’t very familiar with their music but that didn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it, ‘coz I did. They were definitely able to hold their own and show that there shouldn’t be any question as to why Athenar, aka Jamie Walters and company were a fitting choice for this bill. Along with (Shaun) Vanek on guitar, who was an absolute frenzied ball of energy thrashing all about on that large stage, while the drummer was relentlessly punishing on a simple 4-piece drum kit.

The headliner alone was enough to entice me into attending but hearing that KREATOR was also on the bill was a huge added bonus. To catch one-fourth of Germany’s “Big Four” is a large and rare treat as they don’t come through the U.S. often. They are after all legends in their own right. I didn’t want to underestimate the Los Angeles crowd because I really don’t know if KREATOR is a name that is common to many Metal heads in L.A., especially those mostly here for the KING. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a good amount of people in the crowd for KREATOR, making noise and stirring up a pit. Especially when they played "Flag of Hate" and then into "Pleasure To Kill", with Mille (vocalist) calling out to the crowd to “KILLLL!!”, Los Angeles couldn’t help but go crazy. They threw down a solid 45 minute set dishing out tracks from their illustrious career plus a couple from their latest release, one of the best albums of 2022, Hate Über Alles with the title track and one dedicated to the fans, "Strongest Of The Strong". Much respect to the German Veterans who have been going strong for nearly 40 years, and a high horns to the thrashers who came out to support these Thrash legends.

Of the long, LONG list of bands on my bucket list to catch, KING DIAMOND and MERCYFUL FATE was definitely on there. I will say that a TRUE bucketlist accomplishment is that of relative newbie Becky Baldwin who took a major leap into the big-time by landing this gig with MF. With having just met the KING recently at a VIP Meet and Greet, to only then be invited to fill-in for Joey Vera for the first set of dates as he and his band ARMORED SAINT were set to embark on their own tour. Becky and her badass Rickenbacker bass displayed some amazing prowess and showed why she was more than deserving to be on that stage and on this tour. The rest of the line-up consisted of drummer Bjarne T. Holm (of 1996’s Into The Unknown, 1998’s Dead Again and 1999’s 9), and on guitars was Mike Wead, who contributed mostly on many KING DIAMOND records, and the one and only Hank Shermann.

Their set continued to intensify and we got another added treat. A new song titled "The Jackal of Salzburg" which was over 8 minutes long. Quite ballsy to play not just a new song but a long one at that. The stage set-up consisted of a glowing inverted cross hung high above the stage over the band, the drummer’s pit which was trapped between 2 staircases that led to arches that cradled a Sigil of Baphomet just above him – the whole stage design was a brilliant and a very suitable creation. The musicianship was so tight, the sound guys were on point in dialing in the band’s sound, and the building’s great acoustics and a packed house singing nearly every song made the whole night amazing and memorable.