Live review King Diamond-Manchester Academy

King Diamond
June 30th Manchester Academy 2025

Theatrical creepy rock show,

Its been a long wait for King Diamond to tour outside London or indeed the UK but on a warm Summer night he’s here in Manchester!! The familiar intro tape of Uriah Heep’s “The Wizard” gives way to the spooky keyboard sounds of “Funeral” along with the pre-recorded voices of the Black Horsemen as they decide who will be first to impale Abigial. King is centre stage with small coffin and a child doll which theatrically gets murdered,”It’s just a f***ing doll!” he laughs at the audience screams. “Arrival” sets the gig off proper with the opening track from King’s most successful album “Abigail”,long time guitarist Andy Le Roque crunching riff the bedrock to the track,with backing from Mike Wead also on guitar,Pontus Egberg on bass and Matt Thompson bashing the drums.. King prowls the stage like serial killer,his bone cross microphone a symbol since his Mercyful Fate days,”Halloween” gets the crowd singing along. King and his co –star a ghostly lantern carrying lady in a long white robe is an imposing figure, as is “Grandma “ a grotesquely looking figure in an old Victorian style wheelchair. It’s not all scary theatrics,King does enjoy some crowd banter between songs with the crowd. Other tracks from his long career were just as well received like Voodoo, The Eye of The Witch, Spider Lily amongst others. A stomping set of horror themed rock,just what it is required.
Mark Bedford ★★★★ ★