{"id":1335,"date":"2022-11-07T04:52:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T04:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2024-04-12T04:52:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T04:52:50","slug":"mercyful-fate-brings-a-wild-show-to-wheatland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/?p=1335","title":{"rendered":"Mercyful Fate brings a wild show to Wheatland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"King Diamnd leads Mercyful Fate’s raging show at Hard Rock Live in Wheatland. Photograph by Raymond Ahner.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the 2,500-plus heavy metal heads that made the sojourn to Wheatland\u2019s newest music venue, Hard Rock Live, few in attendance would say they didn\u2019t get their money\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercyful Fate\u2019s show there on October 30 was one of the area\u2019s most-anticipated events since it was first announced; and while the band skipped the Bay Area to play in Sacramento\u2019s greater market, plenty of fans from San Francisco made the trek to Wheatland\u2019s open range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the uninitiated, the Danish group was formed in 1981 and took the metal world by storm as it featured a lead singer calling himself King Diamond (his real name is Kim Bendix Peterson). The king sings in a falsetto and wears white corpse makeup ala Kiss yet with decidedly satanic overtones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kim Bendix Peterson is the man behind King Diamond. Photograph by Raymond Ahner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These days, Mercyful Fate\u2019s lineup includes guitarist Hank Shermann, guitarist Mike Wead, drummer Bjarne T. Holm and touring bassist Becky Baldwin (filling in for Joey Vera who had prior commitments with Armored Saint).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the eerie and unsettling intro of \u201cThe Oath\u201d to the show closing \u201cSatan\u2019s Fall,\u201d fans were treated to songs solely from the band\u2019s first three commercial recordings. One exception to that was a new song, \u201cThe Jackal of Salzburg,\u201d which still received a rousing applause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlights of Mercyful Fate\u2019s performance included \u201cA Dangerous Meeting,\u201d \u201cMelissa,\u201d \u201cA Corpse Without Soul,\u201d as well as a revved-up version of \u201cEvil.\u201d Although the group has released more records beyond the ones that those songs appear on, it was clear they\u2019d come up with a set list to resonate with longtime fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mike Wead and Becky Baldwin let it rip in Wheatland. Photograph by Raymond Ahner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The band\u2019s over-the-top production was as sinister as its music, featuring two, heaving staircases, an upside down cross and a pentagram insignia. A changing background highlighted different songs blasting through the speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the live sound, the band\u2019s mix was unparalleled, which only augmented the near-perfect execution of its older material. And while it may have taken more than two decades for Mercyful Fate to play live again, fans can expect a new album in 2023 \u2013 one preceded by yet another King Diamond solo release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photograph by Raymond Ahner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(SN&R)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

King Diamnd leads Mercyful Fate’s raging show at Hard Rock Live in Wheatland. Photograph by Raymond Ahner. For the 2,500-plus heavy metal heads that made the sojourn to Wheatland\u2019s newest music venue, Hard Rock Live, few in attendance would say they didn\u2019t get their money\u2019s worth. Mercyful Fate\u2019s show there on October 30 was one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1336,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions\/1336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}