I had some rough thoughts this gig would not end up in a full-packed venue experience. On one hand, the Greek audience - surely known across the globe as one of the wildest bunch of spectators in Metal gigs - certainly knows how to mumble why a gig's in midweek or why the venue's not next to their home or whatever. On the other hand, a certain grand doze of Metal gigs taking place in the spring_summer season would be a crucial 'financial' factor for the average metalhead in order to choose which gigs he can afford to attend to.
Luckily, the summary was more than high-predictable in defense. Fuzz Club was full-packed and - most of all - the crowd was rather vivid in response, helped in-fit by the venue's properly working ventilation system (a rare occurrence in Athens' clubs). Most credit, though, goes to - at least - FIREWIND and KAMELOT themselves for performing in near-top mood, even if e.g. the sound was not that much on their side.
Arrived rather late or the gig started rather early? Ha ha, the truth lays more on the second option, since the schedule was followed 'on spot' (good thingie going!). Pumped in while Greek famous Heavy/Power metallers FIREWIND briefly was onstage (sorry goes to FOREVER SLAVE); astonished by the amount of people gathered (aka wide smile), I tried to grab a beer and - while finding my way amongst the one-on-one packed crowd towards a better view - the quintet was performing the THIN LIZZY-influenced Mercenary Man off their latest successful album (their best so far?) The Premonition. First thing I noticed was Mark Cross' drums sound was on top of the rest of the instruments. Nothing bad, though, additionally bearing in mind the whole gang was rather cheerful; and the crowd was, too, even in the back rows. The band helped out for this, with its onstage 'hard-rocking' attitude, not letting off a second pass by without praising the fans, headbanging etc.
With Bob Katsionis 'exchanging' duties between keys and guitars, the feeling I got was that FIREWIND are in an 'upper' level in their career right now. Great musicianship, Gus G. has found the perfect equilibrium between virtuosity and 'I'm a metalhead' attitude, while the Cross / Christo rhythm section is fat and of full horsepower. Apollo Papathanasio is a separate case; rather touched by the response of the fans (most of them being a their early-to-mid 20s, a good thing to see) he delivered some great singing and - even if his voice was 'drowned' at times due to the 'massive db' rhythm parts backups - really succeeded in letting out the FIREWIND spirit at sight, even if he did not preserve the same level of quality in his singing all the way.
Between Heaven And Hell was a nice surprise to listen to, for the band's 'old' fans, while Till The End Of Time and Falling To Pieces made a 'specific' good impact in some (nearly) equally 'disco-laid' setlist. A good performance, and - judging from Gus G.'s smile afterwards - a 'more than stable' relationship between FIREWIND and the Greek audience is now in place.
Having the opportunity to chat here and there prior to KAMELOT's concert, it was obvious that this gig was 'pure'; meaning, the core fan base of KAMELOT was all around, giving an A+ impression. 30+ ages were a rare view, but - bearing in mind KAMELOT has already been around for nearly 15 years around - is a criteria not to be missed. And the stage was dressed in 'velvet' purple and 'dark' yellow lights...
Well, I did expect an astonishing performance from this Florida, USA act and I semi-get what I wanted. Meaning: KAMELOT performed for something more than 90 minutes, they were in good mood but not something majestic (I did notice some members looking rather tired at times). Overlapping this incident, Roy Khan did nothing less that delivering some notable singing. Not amazing? Not. Why? Because after 40-45 minutes his voice begun to break at high pitches, even if he - truthfully - did not let anyone down (the sound engineer rather helped out over there, down-grading his voice in the live mix where needed). For any other singer this would be a kinda point of no return but, hey, it's Roy Khan we're talkin' about! Theatrical, dominant onstage, the ex-CONCEPTION maestro was backed by some near-perfect instrumentation - Casey Grillo was again g-r-e-a-t; did not miss a single 'hit' - even if the sound was not adequate for KAMELOT's ultra-harmonic songlist. The guitar of Thomas Youngblood was somehow buried, leaving the keys on top. But, Youngblood knows how to make a song, he surely knows. He also knows how to be the maestro onstage. The headbanging - by the whole band - did not stop ever, and Thomas was in time when atmosphere was needed. A rather unique musician.
It's old news KAMELOT do not honor their pre-Khan era songs, while it was nice to hear the The Fourth Legacy 'oldie'. A set of 15 or so cuts - some more takes from Karma, The Fourth Legacy and Epica CDs would be fine - did drive the crowd frenzy. Truly, I was positively surprised to witness such a reaction by the spectators. Singing along to most of the lyrics, dancing to the wonderful grooves, crying out to support Khan at choruses...rare are the times I can see not-old-school fans replying that intensely. They also were brave towards a young 'backing vocals_acting' lady standing at the left-back of the band to 'color' more the refrains' parts.
I enjoyed this gig; I enjoyed the colors, too. But, the good part is that the whole crowd enjoyed it. Bearing in mind the schedule was in accordance to the announcements, the bands were in good will and - headline-wise - KAMELOT pleased their fans, this gig cannot be characterized as something less than successful for their 'core' fans (omitting the mediocre sound).
