What a fan wants the most is to be able to watch his favorite bands on-stage especially when they are at a career peak. And this was the case when EPICA confirmed the live dates in Greece promoting their highly successful "Design Your Universe" album.

At around 30 minutes after the doors of FUZZ Club had opened the one and only supporting band for this event THE RAIN I BLEED started their live performance. The Greek melodic/prog (someone could also say symphonic) Metal band is currently finishing the debut album "Narcissist" and consequently this live was the perfect chance to promote even more their music. The band's sound and style, similar to bands such as NIGTWISH and EPICA, was really familiar to the audience and taking into account that they are considered to be a very promising band, made them a logical choice for the opening act. During the 30 minute set THE RAIN I BLEED performed very well and totally enjoyed the given opportunity to play live in front of a big audience. To my pleasant surprise many fans knew some of the songs and they were really supportive making the band feeling like home. During the first song they had some sound problems in the drums and in particular with Mina's microphone who had eventually to get a new one. However after that, everything went smoothly and Mina was the center of attention having a very good on-stage presence. Her voice along with all the rest of the band performed very well winning a warm applause by the fans. A band with good potentials that I believe will get better in the near future.

The clock was showing 22:50 when a small intro marked the beginning of EPICA's performance. The band opened their set with the first 2 songs of their latest album "Design Your Universe", the prelude "Samadhi"and "Resign To Surrender". From the beginning of their set the fans were really excited and enthusiastic but I have to note that it was after Simone's entrance when the fans went crazy. The setlist -as it was expected- was focused on their latest release with 6 out of the 15 total songs taken from the great "Design Your Universe". Fortunately almost 7 months have passed since the release of this impressive album so the fans had the time to get connected with the new songs and I think they were pretty pleased with the band's selections. EPICA continued with five all-time favorites which took the enthusiasm of the audience even higher: "Sensorium" from their debut album, "The Last Crusade", "Seif al Din", "Facade Of Reality" and the incredible "Cry For The Moon" (which in the end also included a small drum solo by Ariën van Weesenbeek). Then it was time for the new songs to step up. The slow-melodic and melancholic ballad "Tides Of Time" touched everyone while the wonderful single "Unleashed" (with another perfect performance by Simone Simons) and "Martyr Of The Free Word" were warmly welcomed like they were in their set for years. "The Obsessive Devotion" followed and EPICA ended temporarily their performance with a new one "Kingdom Of Heaven" during which Ariën van Weesenbeek took charge of the majority of death vocals.

Then the time for the usual encore came. The band thanked the fans many times for the support and love stating that the Greek audience is better than the others they had in previous live shows. What the encore offered was songs that every EPICA fan adores to listen. "Sancta Terra", "Quietus" and "Consign to Oblivion" closed impressively their 100 minute performance. The fans simply deified the band and gave them a thunderous applause.

In general it was a great live event. EPICA performed their songs in excellence, with passion and all everyone in the band did a great job. For Simone Simons what can I really say? Words are simply not enough. She has an angelical, beautiful voice and combined with her astonishing stage presence and beauty gave us a stunning performance. Honestly no male fan could take his eyes off of her. Of course, the female fans weren't left unhappy with Mark Jansen being the primary focus of their attention. Also I must mention that Mark was really energetic and put on a really good performance on guitar and growls. The sound could have been a little better in some points but generally we can't really complain about that.

Everyone left FUZZ Club really happy and full of excitement, having witnessed a perfect live show from probably the best symphonic Metal band nowadays.

EPICA Setlist:

1. "Samadhi"
2. "Resign To Surrender"
3. "Sensorium"
4. "The Last Crusade"
5. "Seif al Din"
6. "Facade Of Reality"
7. "Cry For The Moon"
8. "Tides Of Time"
9. "Unleashed"
10. "Martyr Of The Free Word"
11. "The Obsessive Devotion"
12. "Kingdom Of Heaven"
13. "Sancta Terra"
14. "Quietus"
15. "Consign To Oblivion"

THE RAIN THAT I BLEED

EPICA