I remember talking to a guy working for a local (Greek) promotion company about four (or five) months ago, while I was attending a U.D.O. concert for the magazine. I remember asking him how come they hadn't brought Edguy to Greece since the band's latest release, Hellfire Club, had already sold a lot of copies (I also used to work in a record store…so yeah, I know that album used to sell a lot). The reply I got was because they wouldn't even fill the smallest venue. I was shocked. That was one of these things that has transformed me into a firm believer I must be living in some country that lacks of synchronicity with the rest of the world, when it comes to Heavy Metal music. Oh well that's the same lame reason for not bringing other bands too, like W.A.S.P. for example (and they finally did, after two decades).

The concert was due to take place at the Gagarin 205 club, in Athens, at 08:30 pm. Eleni and I got there about half an hour earlier and headed for the guest-list counter. A minor mistake in the list though grounded us outside the venue and we had to wait for Edguy to arrive in order to attend the show. So, unfortunately we didn't get to see the supporting Greek act, Battleroar, who opened at 08:30 and is an Epic Metal band. Oh well, they're a usual opening act here in Greece, so I guess I'll see them soon in some other gig and will then write about them in detail. To this point, additional exhaustion was being added to our already tiring Sunday (and I used to like Sundays…), as we stood outside waiting for like an hour or so.

When we entered the venue, Battleroar had just stepped off the stage and the club was slightly more than half-full (700 people? – I might be a bit wrong; I'm not great with capacity numbers). We chose to observe the show from the upper floor, grabbed ourselves some beers and patiently waited for the show to kick off. Suddenly the lights go off, the stage is dressed in blue (light)…a familiar sound starts humming out of the speakers. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the freak show… – The crowd goes wild and all you can hear is the fans yelling Edguy, Edguy, Edguy!!!
The freak show has begun and the German power-band appears on stage while their opening song hammered our ears with tons of decibels and despite the fact that we all thought it was going to be Mysteria, after the short intro, it was Under The Moon that led the club into Heavy Metal madness!

Before I move on to my comments, here's the entire (and precise) set lit:

1. Intro (opening words from Mysteria)
2. Under The Moon (Hellfire Club album)
3. Navigator (Hellfire Club album)
4. Land Of The Miracle (Theater Of Salvation album)
5. Lavatory Love Machine (Hellfire Club album)
6. Vain Glory Opera (Vain Glory Opera album)
7. Drum Solo
8. Fallen Angels (Mandrake album)
9. The Piper Never Dies (Hellfire Club album)
10. Mysteria (Hellfire Club album)
11. King Of Fools (Hellfire Club album)
12. 1st Encore: Chalise Of Agony (Avantasia's The Metal Opera Pt. II album)
13. Tears Of A Mandrake (Mandrake album)
14. 2nd Encore: Out Of Control (Vain Glory Opera album)

After seeing Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson jump around on stage, like he always does, several times in my lifetime, I thought that he was one of a kind (as far as energy on stage goes – need I mention his voice's uniqueness?). I was wrong. There are two of a kind (apparently)! Tobias Sammet ran up and down, jumping from here to there, swinging around his microphone stand, constantly high-fiving the audience, stage diving off the drum set's platform….This guy's completely crazy and the crowd (including Eleni and me of course) loved it! And Sammet's not the only one in the band spreading out high doses of energy. The entire band was constantly moving around the stage, forming guitar doubles and chord triplets. They sure damn enjoy playing live and they show it throughout their entire show!

So, as I said, Under The Moon was the opening track. Then came Navigator in a slightly slower tempo than the one on Hellfire Club (on the contrary, I expected it to be rather faster) but that wasn't lousy, not at all.
When it was time for Land Of The Miracle Tobias Sammet said the next song is a pussy-ballad, it's a song for all the men, the women and the gay… Of course the entire venue laughed (and that was his intention – great sense of humor) and he continued since it's been 6.5 years since our last visit here, we intend to play a lot of Heavy music tonight, so this song is to save you some energy! So the song started and the crowd sang along the lyrics, some holding lighters, others hugging their girlfriends (and vice versa) and others just waiting for the show to get wilder (those who don't like ballads).
Lavatory Love Machine and Vain Glory Opera were super-cool, especially Vain Glory Opera which was introduced by Sammet as the song which is a rip-off of Europe's Final Countdown (making humor all along). By that moment, my neck had already started aching from headbanging and I was definitely thirsty for more. We live to fight the hand of doom, we got the pride to strike a fool, vain glory be my wicked guide – the entire venue sang along as Sammet played with us (he did that in almost every song; had the crowd sing lyrics or improvisations).
After that, Felix Bohnke did a great drum solo which ended by playing over Star Wars' Imperial March (he loves Star Wars…it's in his bio too, hehe).
Fallen Angels went on swell (not one of my favorite Edguy songs I have to admit), The Piper Never Dies ruled the entire universe (led by a small bass solo before it's familiar initiation) and Mysteria (to my delight) came after that though it wasn't even on the track list (as one of the band members later explained to me backstage we hadn't played this song for some time this year and we just decided to do it, just like that).
Sammet then joked by saying the next song is considered to be our 'commercial' song, some people say it's our 'sell-out' song; I say let's play it (or something like that) and smashed us with King Of Fools.
The band left and after a short we want more period, they came back to perform Chalice Of Agony which is from Tobias Sammet's mega-project sequel Avantasia – The Metal Opera Pt. II which was a pleasant surprise for all those who hadn't done their online homework (I knew they'd either play this or Avantasia) and then…it was time for the always-awesome-to-see-performed-live Tears Of The Mandrake…Oh man, I was deeply in need of some physiotherapy after that one.

The show ended with the second encore, Out Of Control, which was an excellent choice, a final sweet memory from tonight's show.
The band took a bow before the crowd, the crowd yelled out the band's name over and over again and applauded, the lights went on and another glorious gig went into the huge history book of Heavy Metal…by one of the definitely must see live bands around. And there is more to come, more to be expected by this really skilled band…Edguy!

Notes: After the show we hang with the band a bit backstage. I have to say that as personalities (well, as musicians I've told you already, they're great live performers) all the Ed-guys are awesome people. Really friendly and no we are famous, who are you? kind of guys, not at all. They seem to love what they do and to posses the required amount of passion needed to do marvelous things in the future. It was really fun talking to all of them after the show even though some were totally beat (especially Sammet after all the running up and down he did all night long). Their only small complaint was why didn't more people show up at tonight's gig if the album keeps on selling and selling and selling…well not as much as it does abroad but it's still weird because they're really good at what they do. They deserve more credit, no doubt!

Our special thanks go out to: Markus Wosgien for always helping us out when others here in Greece associate the internet to slap-my-salami websites only; Edguy's Tour manager for being the nicest person in the venue tonight (and he probably is a great person anyway! – thank you for everything man!); Felix for communicating with me in the Darth Vader-ish language (haha!); Sammet for being a cool sweaty guy with a great sense of humor; Dirk for having a cool chat with us – Man you need some sleep (haha)!; Jens for being able to create an iron pentagram out of an iron hanger (haha); Exxel just for being cool; Tolis from Astra for assisting us; my mother, my father…ups!

Our Special screw you go out to: The venue goon that dared grabbed me in a rather unfriendly way tonight; people who think they rule the joint just because they've got muscles and guard an iron door but forget that their brain's no larger than a rat's testicle; those who as usually have no idea what the internet is (isn't that where you can get like tons of free porn?) and yet work at venues (and not only); 18 year old bimbos who despite the fact that they're butt ugly (this is not a general reference), they think that all musicians crave for flesh and act so immature it only makes me wanna puke my entire last week's menu; people who won't help you out when it's quite obvious that you're in need of a favor (and it's their job to help); all those who make my country suck when it comes to organizing musical events (there are people who are good – a few – and there are people who simply suck and should call it quits and go baby-sit or something).