Last week, King Diamond announced details regarding his new booking agents. That made it pretty clear that the Mercyful Fate/ solo singer was planning his return to the stage following his triple-bypass heart surgery last year. Well, here’s the good news: King Diamond has confirmed his first festival appearances of 2012! Though he did take part in the mini-Mercyful Fate reunion at Metallica’s 30^th Anniversary shows, these two dates will mark the first time Diamond performed a full-blown show since his health scare.

The bad news is that apparently he’ll only be performing two festivals in Europe this Summer (though we wouldn’t be surprised if more popped up). Of course, it’s unclear whether more appearances outside Europe (including in the U.S.) are to follow this year. But for now, King Diamond has only confirmed performances at the Sweden Rock Festival and the Hellfest in France, and both festivals are claiming that they’ll be the frontman’s only appearances in Europe this Summer.

The Sweden Rock Festival has uploaded a video message of Diamond confirming his only Scandinavian date of 2012, as well as the King Diamond lineup that’ll be performing with him. Even if we in America have to wait a little longer for his return, we’re still glad that Diamond will be, as he puts it, “conjuring the devil” once again onstage soon. You can watch his video message above, while exact details regarding the two festival dates announced so far can be seen after the jump.

6/9 – Sweden Rock Festival – Sölvesborg, Sweden (headlining the Rock Stage)
6/15 – Hellfest – Clisson, France (headlining Main Stage 2)