It's six o'clock in the afternoon and I have just disentangled with the dentist!!! (yes that was an awful experience). I met the rest of my friends at the rendezvous point just 20 minutes before the concert. So we went for a very big cup of cold coffee and after that we went to An Club (the venue where Omen's gig would take place).
The arrangement of the gig was not as good as it should have been. There were four supporting acts, Bloodstained, Airged Lahm and Powercrue and the first, Bloodstained, was supposed to start playing at seven o'clock.
They started playing twenty minutes to nine and this is what I call "a big delay". Anyway, Bloodstained appeared on stage and played for about 50 minutes. They had a problem with the sound (the guitars did not sound as loud as they should have) but their music was very good. Pure Heavy Metal with an epical atmosphere. Their singer, Theodoros Gourlomatis, was the most powerful member of the band and I think that he is one of the best Greek singers around.
After them Airged Lahm took their place on stage and played for about 45 minutes. Their Epic Metal style was very good but I think that their singer needs to improve himself. Next was Powercrue's turn to appear on stage. This band is one of the oldest Greek Metal bands and probably one of the best. They played some songs from their forthcoming album and some off their older releases. The 40 minutes that they played were not enough and I think that they should have played one or two more songs. They ought to find a new singer because Thanasis (the second guitar player) has a good voice but not good enough for their songs.
Unfortunately all the bands had various sound problems concerning the guitar and I think that An Club's sound engineer is responsible for those mistakes.
Finally the moment we all had been waiting for had arrived. The moment I was expecting for many years already (they played in Greece two years ago but I did not have the chance to see them). Omen appeared on that very small stage and the dream begun…
They started with "The Axeman" and the temperature in the very small room of An Club became extremely high. Although they had a little problem with Kevin Goocher's microphone they overcame it and all was fine. The response of the crowd was very warm and during songs like "Battle Cry", "Eyes Of The Serpent", "Die By The Blade", "Teeth Of The Hydra", "Into The Arena", "Dragon's Breath", "Death Rider", and "Bounty Hunter". An Club shook as if an earthquake had hit Athens. Even though Omen had some problems with the sound (as all the bands did) they were great and their live performance will remain forever in the hearts of all those who were there that night, for many years. Kenny Powell was very energetic and he made all the people scream his name (as well as the band's name) all the time. After some problems with the drums in the middle of the gig, Omen showed us what Epic Metal means and the highlight of the night was the axe shaped bass!!! That was for sure one of the best gigs of the year and maybe one of the best I've ever been to. All the members of the band after the gig stayed at An Club to sign autographs for their fans and only a few bands do that.
I would like to say that it's not so easy for bands like Omen to come and play in Greece and the fact that they came for a second time here was a miracle. I am sure that I will never forget that day and I hope to see them again as soon as they can come back for one more time in Greece.
