I'm sorry, but we have to return from summer holidays seven days earlier. FAITH NO MORE are coming to Greece!. Those where, more or less, my words when I found out that one of my dreams was about to come true. Fortunately, I didn't listen to any grumble about that. So, I returned form the Greek island Crete in morning of Monday in order to catch some sleep and get ready for this -I hoped not- once in a lifetime show.

Our anticipation was so great that we got at Vrahon Theater quite early. After we found the rest of our company, we all went inside and ran towards the merchandise booth. We bought some nice T-shirts (having the band's name Version 2.0 in front was a very cool idea), swallowed 2-3 beers and had a small chat, we went in the front rows just in time to watch BLISS. The three-piece band from Greece performed quite well. Their influences come from bands like ALICE IN CHAINS, early MONSTER MAGNET and only a deaf person wouldn't realize that those guys have a poster of TOOL in their room. The theater was half empty -or half full if you prefer- by that time. I started thinking that after all not many had the same idea with me to postpone their holidays to come here. BLISS did a great job to warm up the crowd having a pretty good sound and even though the bass had too much distortion covering all the rest instruments. After almost half an hour, they left the stage and I bet they won some new fans.

So, it was time for a small intermission to have the second round of beers and to see some old friends that happen to meet only in gigs. Bloody work hours... Anyway, the good thing was that more and more people were coming and finally the theater was full. At the end, many people had the same thought as I did and left the beach to come here. The small intermission tended to be a long one. You could see the roadies around and on the stage, tuning the guitars and basses, adjusting two lighted clown dolls (') and that was it! 45 minutes passed by and we started to think about a cancellation and that our dream wouldn't come true.

Suddenly the lights went off. We could see movement on stage and four guys in suits made their appearance. Last but not least, a figure in a red suit came on stage. I couldn't believe it! FAITH NO MORE were actually playing live in Greece! They started with Reunited, a PEACHES & HERB cover as they do in all their shows in this tour. The sound wasn't that good having the vocals covering everything. Fortunately, it got better song after song and even though it was too loud you could listen to every instrument. Next song was From Out Of Nowhere and from that point and forth I was living in my own world. Almost everybody started singing, screaming, dancing, moshing... doing almost everything! FAITH NO MORE was in a great mood and you could see that from Mike Patton's dialogues with the crowd and their performance as musicians. And since I wrote the name Mike Patton, I would like to declare the following: Don't you dare to put a poll asking Who is the best frontman?. Because Patton IS the best! And after so many years, he still has one of the best voices I've ever listen to. He can growl and scream like a Thrash or Death Metal singer and the next second he is singing like a tenor, just listen to the cover on BEE GEES' I Started A Joke. This man simply is capable of doing anything he likes with his voice.

The setlist had everything. From the chill out moments of Evidence, where Mike Patton gave the microphone to some guys in the front row and asked them to sing the chorus in Greek (!!!) but they failed, and Just A Man to their more aggressive ones like the old time favorite Digging The Grave, where 'wall-of-death' made its appearance with me inside. Of course, there were classic ones like Midlife Crisis, Be Aggressive and Surprise! You're Dead! were there for the young ones to learn and the older ones to remember why FAITH NO MORE is a big band. During Midlife Crisis, they played an acoustic part that is not in the album version. It was the Theme from an old British TV series called Eastenders. Mike Patton asked the audience if anybody knew where this acoustic part was from. A guy answered and they called him on stage to ...drink some of my honey ouzo... as Patton said. The thing was that, at first another guy went on stage, and afterwards went down and Patton threw the rest of it on his back. After the 'real winner' came on stage and took a photo with Patton, the gig carried on.

After Just A Man they left the stage just to come back seconds later for the first encore. But wait a minute. I know that melody! Come on Greeks, sing for Vangelis Patton said and they started playing Chariots Of Fire that they connected beautifully with Stripsearch. After that, the big surprise for the Greek audience came; Diging The Grave that they played only three times in their previous shows and Vrahon Theater was on fire! The night was over with Midnight Cowboy, where Patton played the main melody with his melodica. After an hour and a half the fairytale was over. Unfortunately, all the nice things have an end, and so did this concert. To tell you the truth, I'm still mumbling some of the songs I listened. A great performance from all five and I don't think that there is anyone that regrets that he_she came. Probably the ones that didn't come have already second thoughts about their decision. There are one or two more songs that I would like to listen, like Zombie Eaters or Ugly In The Morning but we can't have everything, can we? Hopefully they'll play them next time.

PS1: Sorry for the quality of the photos, but if you don't have a photo pass and you're in the middle of a mosh pit it is not easy to take photos.
PS2: A big sorry to the guys behind me that couldn't see anything during the first two or three songs blocked my hands and the camera.

FAITH NO MORE setlist:

01. Reunited (PEACHES & HERB cover)
02. From Out Of Nowhere
03. Land Of Sunshine
04. Caffeine
05. Evidence
06. Ashes To Ashes
07. Last Cup Of Sorrow
08. Cuckoo For Caca
09. Surprise! You're Dead!
10. Midlife Crisis
11. I Started A Joke (BEE GEES cover)
12. Easy (COMMODORES cover)
13. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
14. Epic
15. Be Aggressive
16. Just a Man
Encore 1
17. Chariots Of Fire / Stripsearch
18. Digging the Grave
Encore 2
19. Midnight Cowboy (John Barry cover)

(photos by Harry and Costas)

THE BLISS

FAITH NO MORE