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A Nor’Easter was absolutely hammering parts of New York City and the Jersey Coast, but apparently nobody bothered to tell Kamelot, Visions of Atlantis and Frozen Crown that they were supposed to stay home. Instead, they showed up at Palladium Times Square and created a storm of their own.
Outside Palladium Times Square, the weather was doing everything it could to convince people to stay home, while inside the venue, three powerhouse metal bands were preparing to create a storm of their own. By the time the final notes rang out, it was clear that the weather had lost this particular battle.
Frozen Crown had the added pressure of making their first-ever North American tour stop, and they walked onto that stage with absolutely nothing to prove and everything to gain. From the opening notes of Kings, the Italian power metal outfit immediately made it clear that they weren’t here simply to warm up the room for the headliners. The One, Neverending, Who Wants to Burn in Heaven, Reborn and I Am the Tyrant delivered the kind of fast, melodic and relentlessly energetic power metal that made their relatively short set feel considerably larger than it was.
Then came Iris. Yes, THAT Iris. It was the band’s unexpected Goo Goo Dolls cover, and while I’ve seen some people complain about the inclusion of the song, I couldn’t disagree more. I genuinely enjoyed it. Frozen Crown didn’t simply play a straight metal version of the song and call it a day; they brought their own identity into it, with harmonized guitar solos and enough personality to make the performance feel like an intentional part of the set rather than a novelty. There is something refreshing about a band being willing to surprise an audience, especially when they can take a song so far outside their normal territory and make it work. By the time I Am the Tyrant closed their set, Frozen Crown had done exactly what a band making its North American debut needs to do: they introduced themselves with confidence, played their asses off and gave everyone in the room a reason to remember their name.
Then Visions of Atlantis took the stage, and this is where the night really started to feel different.
I’ve covered Visions of Atlantis five times now, so I have a pretty good idea of what this band is capable of onstage. They’ve always put on a great show, but there was something about this performance at Palladium Times Square that felt elevated from the very beginning. It wasn’t simply that Clemi and Meek sounded incredible, or that Dushi and Herbert were delivering some of the strongest guitar and bass work I’ve heard from them. It was the way the entire band seemed completely connected to one another, constantly feeding off the energy around them and turning the performance into something much more alive than simply playing eight songs in succession.
The chemistry between Clémentine Delauney and Michele Guaitoli was impossible to miss. Their voices already complement one another beautifully, but live, that relationship becomes something much more visual and physical. They play off each other, trade looks, interact with the crowd together and seem genuinely invested in what the other person is doing. There is a sense that neither one is simply waiting for their next vocal part; they are participating in the same performance, constantly reacting to each other and pulling the audience deeper into it. That chemistry was especially noticeable during the heavier moments, when the contrast between Clemi’s soaring delivery and Meek’s powerful vocals gave the songs an entirely different level of impact.
And then there was the rest of the band, who seemed to be having an absolute blast.
Dushi and Herbert weren’t simply standing there delivering their parts. There was constant interaction, movement and personality throughout the set, and that energy extended across the entire stage. Visions of Atlantis have always embraced the pirate aesthetic, but there was a playful sense of pirate mischief running through this performance that made the whole thing feel spontaneous. There were smiles, interactions, gestures toward one another and those little moments between musicians that you can’t manufacture. It felt like watching a crew that genuinely enjoys being onstage together, and that kind of chemistry is contagious.
That energy carried through Master the Hurricane, Clocks, Tonight I’m Alive and Legion of the Seas before the band launched into Hellfire. With Thomas Caser missing from the drum kit, Temperance drummer Marco Sacchetto stepped in, and considering how demanding this material is, there was every reason to wonder how the substitution would translate live. The answer came almost immediately: Marco absolutely nailed it. He didn’t sound like someone filling in. He sounded like he belonged there, locking into the band’s performance and providing exactly the kind of foundation the songs needed.
Then Meek opened up during the closing moments of Hellfire, and the entire room seemed to take notice. I’ve heard him sing this song before, but what happened at Palladium Times Square was something else entirely. The power, control and sheer intensity in those final vocals were on another level, and it became one of those moments where you can actually feel the audience reacting in real time.
New level unlocked.
From there, Pirates Will Return, Melancholy Angel and Armada brought the set home, but what stayed with me wasn’t simply how well the songs were performed. It was how much personality existed between them. The band looked comfortable, connected and completely in their element, and that combination of musicianship, chemistry and downright pirate mischief made this easily my favorite Visions of Atlantis performance I’ve covered so far.
Then the lights dropped, the atmosphere shifted, and Kamelot took the stage.
This was my third time covering Kamelot, and they have never given me a reason to lower my expectations. Still, there was something different about this performance at Palladium Times Square. From the opening notes of Sanctorium, there was a weight hanging over the room that felt almost tangible, as if the audience had stepped through the doors of RavenHill Asylum and into Kamelot’s world. Ashen World opened the set with Giada Etro joining the band, immediately establishing the theatrical scale of what was to come before Rule the World sent the energy surging through the room.
What really separated this performance, though, was how completely Kamelot fed off the crowd. Tommy wasn’t the only one connecting with the audience; the entire band seemed to be in constant conversation with the room through their movement, expressions, gestures and interactions with one another. Every time the crowd erupted, the energy came right back from the stage, creating this incredible back-and-forth that made the Palladium feel less like an audience watching a band and more like everyone in the room was part of the same performance. The chemistry between the members was just as obvious, with musicians constantly playing off one another and sharing those small moments that make a live performance feel spontaneous rather than rehearsed.
And apparently, the Kamelot stage wasn’t quite large enough for Tommy.
During Rule the World, Tommy came straight into the photo pit and climbed onto the barricade, singing directly to the fans. Suddenly, there was no separation between frontman and audience. He was reaching into the crowd, interacting with the people pressed against the barricade and giving the entire room something to feed off. The response was immediate, and the band seemed to ride that wave right alongside him. It was one of those moments where you realize the energy isn’t coming from one direction anymore; it is bouncing between the stage and the crowd and getting bigger every time it comes back around.
There was another layer to Kamelot’s performance that made the entire set hit differently, especially after our conversation with Tommy just before the tour kicked off. We sat down with him to talk about Dark Asylum and the world of RavenHill Asylum, and what became clear during that conversation is that RavenHill is far more than a dark, gothic setting created for theatrical effect. The asylum represents the human mind itself, with its rooms, characters, fears and fractured experiences reflecting the things we carry, hide and sometimes allow to imprison us. The album explores the idea of becoming trapped by our own creations and the fears that shape us, while ultimately suggesting that the path toward freedom may already exist within us. Seeing that concept translated from conversation to album to live performance gave the entire set another dimension.
That made the arrival of Dark Asylum particularly powerful. After hearing Tommy talk about RavenHill only weeks earlier, watching Kamelot bring that world to life onstage felt like another door into the asylum had opened. The song wasn’t simply another track from the new album appearing in the set; it felt like a continuation of the story we had discussed with Tommy, with the atmosphere of the venue, the band’s theatrical presentation and the darkness woven throughout the music all coming together in one moment.
Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy) followed, again featuring Giada, before Kamelot continued their assault with Godlike Alchemy, Karma and Revolution. Nocte Veritas provided an atmospheric interlude before New Babylon, Dark Asylum and one of the most beautiful moments of the entire night, Ivy, My Dear. There was something absolutely heart-melting about that performance, a rare moment where the sheer scale of Kamelot’s production gave way to something intimate and deeply emotional.
The band then shifted gears with the drum solo, incorporating Two Steps From Hell’s United We Stand, Divided We Fall, before launching back into One More Flag in the Ground. A keyboard solo followed, leading into Sanctuary, which brought Clémentine Delauney onto the stage alongside Giada Etro. Veil of Elysium pushed the main set toward its conclusion before Kamelot disappeared briefly and returned for an encore that had absolutely no intention of letting the night wind down quietly.
March of Mephisto with Giada was followed by Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife), once again bringing Clémentine and Giada together with Tommy and the rest of Kamelot for a massive final statement. By then, the entire venue felt completely consumed by the world Kamelot had created, and the connection between the band, the audience, the music and the story of RavenHill had never felt more complete.
By the time the final notes of “Sacrimony” disappeared into the walls of Palladium Times Square, the Nor’Easter outside almost felt irrelevant. Frozen Crown had announced their arrival on North American soil with a set that demanded attention, Visions of Atlantis delivered the kind of performance that makes a fifth time covering a band feel like the first, and Kamelot closed the night with the sheer power and atmosphere that have made them such a force live. Outside, the storm was still tearing through the coast. Inside, three bands had already done considerably more damage—and it was the kind of destruction that leaves you wanting more.
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