When AGUA DE ANNIQUE's show in Athens, Greece was announced I came in front of dilemma; the same date one of the best (and still active) Black Metal bands, ROTTING CHRIST had also scheduled a special live performance that was to be filmed for the future DVD release. The end to my agony came when another announcement was issued some days later saying that the multi-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen would appear as a guest in Anneke 's debut show in front of the Greek audience under the AGUA DE ANNIQUE moniker. Adding to the above was the fact that I was also given the opportunity to talk to both artists and sum up two very good interviews that will be posted in METAL TEMPLE in the very near future.

I arrived at the Underworld 30 minutes prior the scheduled concert starting time and realized that the club's name goes hand-in-hand with it's location; the venue is located in a basement's level making it rather unfit for live concerts. Fortunately this would be an acoustic one so I was a little bit lulled. Inside the club I found that there were many metalheads (more than two hundred) like me who chose this show instead of the ROTTING CHRIST one. Actually I was very pleased to see that the female genre had strong and generally beautiful attendance.

Anneke showed up on the really tiny stage (even for her) with the sweetest smile and was warmly welcomed by the Greek audience. The amazing thing was that Anneke had some noticeable amounts of stagefright that disappeared as soon as she sat behind the keyboards and started playing. The first song of the night was a brand new one; I was totally stoned (and I think we all did) by Anneke's vocals that turned to be in an excellent form. The song was in the vein of her latest album with some minor almost pop additions. After this song we welcomed Joris Dirks on stage that by now seemed totally packed and crowded. The two of them performed songs from AGUE DE ANNIQUE's debut album Air making almost everyone humming the lyrics and the melodies. Anneke said that she really loves Greece and especially Athens in that degree that was inspired to write Beautiful One. She also explained that Yalin was also a dedicated song to a recent departed friend of hers and Joris. The audience became ever more enthusiastic as soon as Anneke said that some THE GATHERING songs were also included in the setlist and actually two of them they did; My Electricity and Locked Away from my personal favorite How To Measure A Planet album were excellently covered as acoustic ones. Arjen came also on stage and performed with Joris and Anneke the most melodic Valley Of The Queens that comes from the AYREON album Into The Electric Castle and one of the two BEATLES covers (I think they were Black Birds and Across The Universe . After almost 90 minutes Anneke gave an end to this special show by thanking everyone and stating that she will return along with the rest of the band.

The bottom line is that it was a really special occasion that satisfied everyone who came to the UNDERWORLD club that rainy Saturday night, including myself who has not a single complaint to make. Check out the photos from that night and see for yourself why I used the word sweet so many times...

PS: Thanks myself for the photos.

AGUA DE ANNIQUE photos