Throwback Thursday may have been yesterday, but I’m going to wax nostalgic today. Many, many years ago, when I was just a wee lass who had limited access to Toronto and the last bus home left the big city at 11:30pm, I missed my first chance to see and hear King Diamond in the flesh. (Though it’s possible he was performing with Mercyful Fate at the time – my memory is foggy and since I didn’t actually get to catch the set…)
The show was supposed to be at the old concert hall on Yonge St, but we arrived to find a handbill on the door saying things had moved – to a later start as well as a different location. It all worked out in that this gave us time to actually find the Spectrum, catch Anacrusis, Flotsam & Jetsam and Cathedral, but it also meant there was no way in hell we’d be able to stick around to see the King in action and still make it home that night.
Why didn’t we stay in Toronto? There’s a long convoluted story but no good answer. Anyway, it ended up that I had to wait until 2003 for another chance (exclaim.ca/Reviews/Concerts/king_diamond_nocturne_single_bullet_theory-opera_house). And now, more than a decade later, King Diamond is back in town once again, and again with an act that I’ve been anxious to see live – Jess and the Ancient Ones.
To mark this mouth watering tour – including a stop at the Sound Academy in Toronto tomorrow night (Oct 18) – I share with you a taste of Jess and the Ancient Ones’ self-titled album (they have a new EP coming out any week now) as well as a little King Diamond retrospective, courtesy of the Hellbound archives and Gruesome Greg at gruesomeviews.com.
Jess and the Ancient Ones
King Diamond
King Diamond Reviewed by Justin Richardson
https://hellbound.ca/2013/09/hellbound-tuska-the-review-day-1/
Finally — the man himself — King Diamond. …
King Diamond Revisited by Gruesome Greg
gruesomeviews.com/2014/10/15/king-diamond-revisited-the-puppet-master-metal-blade-2003
Though this isn’t the best King Diamond album, it is the first to come with a bonus DVD, in which King explains the entire concept, for those who can’t hear high-pitched noises that generally only register with dogs. …
gruesomeviews.com/2014/10/16/king-diamond-revisited-give-me-your-soul-please-metal-blade-2007
King Diamond’s most recent recording actually dates back over seven years—this tour is actually in support of a two-CD greatest hits set that hits stores next month. Coincidentally, this record came out right when WWE wrestler Chris Benoit killed his kids and then himself…as it’s a ghastly tale of double-infanticide/suicide and the undead spirits that linger as a result. …
