Words fail to express how much I've been waiting to see Anathema live, since they are the band that the past few years accompanied every dark moment of my life, one of the few bands in my mind that managed to change so much through time and still honour its past in the best way.
What's more, Savatage where playing the same day I could go to Anathema, so I knew I would lose another great gig, but there was no dilema for me, I was just dying to see live one of the bands I respect the most, especially since I've never seen them before due to past misfortunes. The choice for me was rather simple.
And the payback came in the best way. The band walked on the stage at 8:30 pm, the exact moment the show was supposed to start. I should mention here that both, Friday's and Saturday's shows where sold out.
For over two hours, everyone witnessed the greatness of emotions that only Anathema have the way to produce. Though you don't expect from their playlist to have actual fun, Vinnie had his way of making us laugh, smile, talk back and in general he had his unique way of interacting with the crowd. I think the part where they got out for an encore and started throwing exotic fruits to the people in the front row helped a lot! So, thumbs up for the stage appearance.
And now to the crucial performance factor. Though their songs might not be technically difficult to perform, it's hard nevertheless to give the dark feeling to the audience. Well, you should see everyone react from the first song of that night, Fragile Dreams. Shivering, I watched the band unfolding their beautiful playlist consisting of jewels such as Pressure, Looking Outside Inside, Leave No Trace, A Fine Day To Exit and Temporary Peace from their latest album, Deep, Pitiless, Forgotten Hopes, Make it Right, One Last Goodbye and Judgement from the self titled album, Fragile Dreams, Empty and Inner Silence from Alternative 4, Angelica from Eternity and the surprise of the night, Sleepless from their first Serenades. They finished this great night with their tribute to Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. I am sure I left a couple of songs out, but blame me for not having the courage to take notes of the playlist when one of my fave bands performs on stage.
If you put a gun on my forehead to make me highlight some of the moments of the night, that would be the entire Rodon Club singing along with them One Last Goodbye, their amazing brutal performance of Sleepless (I expected one closer to the '96 version), my personal favorite (for my own reasons) Inner Silence, Fragile Dreams and their Pink Floyd cover. Simply unrivaled.
The crowd was great, and we only witnessed some small browls between the occasional -I smoke everything that can fit in a small newspaper- guys. Everyone was singing along and participating in this great journey Anathema offered us. I couldn't think of a better first live gig for 2002. Oh wait, Candlemass are coming up soon. Till then and for the years to follow, Anathema conquered some more space in my heart.
