KEE MARCELLO – Bergen – Madam Felle

The hugely talented and renowned guitarist/vocalist Kee Marcello (ex-Europe) paid Madam Felle in Bergen a visit on a rather gloomy and rainy Thursday night, and I might as well tell you right here and now that the entire show ruled. With a rock-solid and impressive line-up in tow, Kee Marcello took us on a wild ride through his wicked musical repertoire that left us floored.

The opening act, a Swiss trio spearheaded by guitarist/vocalist Luke Gasser, was a decent old-school rock band with a bluesy vibe to it. Nothing out of the ordinary in my opinion, but some of the songs had some nice and groovy riffs to them and some rather gritty passages that sounded pretty mean. "Retribution" was a good opening song and the driven "Baby Please Don’t Go" had its moments too. "Mercy on Me" and "Forget Me Not" did not really do a whole lot for me. All in all a decent performance, but nothing outstanding as such.

The Kee Marcello band went on stage a little after eleven and launched into the catchy "Girl from Lebanon". The sound was excellent and the musicianship was tight, so no complaints there whatsoever. Truth be told, I was in awe of drummer Darby Todd (Gary Moore, Robert Plant). That guy is such an excellent drummer and is way too underrated in my opinion. The band as a whole was superb and Kee’s vocals were brilliant. Luckily, the set list featured tunes from last year’s excellent "Scaling Up" album", namely "Black Hole Star", "Don’t Miss You Much", and the title track. Other dynamic and vibrant cuts that were performed included "Dead End Highway", "Tower’s Calling", "More Than Meets the Eye", and "E.M.D.". There was a lot of diversity between the different songs and it was unbelievably cool to hear the underrated Europe track "More Than Meets the Eye" in a live setting. The encore was a hard-hitting version of the immortal "The Final Countdown", which was a nicely climactic ending to the show.

What was truly puzzling was that so few people showed up, but that probably had something to do with all the other festivals and festivities that are happening in Bergen this particular week (or just the fact that people are lazy and cannot be bothered to attend a concert on a Thursday night!). Still, those who were not there totally missed out on an awesome and memorable gig with lots of energy and passion to it. A 90-minute show with the Kee Marcello band in an intimate setting was the perfect way to spend the evening. Trust me on that.

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