Primordial has always been one of my favorite bands and even though they've played in Greece before, I never had the chance to see them live. So, I was looking forward for this gig with a lot of impatience and joy at the same ime. On the 23rd of September the audience of Thessaloniki had the chance to watch one of the most important bands of Ireland perform live at Mylos club.
The first band that supported Primordial was Mourning Beloveth, a band from Denmark. They entered the stage at around 9:30 pm and they played for approximately 45 minutes. In their playlist they included 7-8 tracks from all their previous records as well as from their latest work "A Murderous Circus". Their Doom_Death Metal style was enhanced by the very good stage performance of all the members of the band. The audience seemed to like them very much and surely their reactions during the show pleased the band. I hope that they will consider the fact of playing again in Greece. Mourning Beloveth was one of the most suitable bands for supporting Primordial because their sound and style was close enough to the sound of Primordial.They left us with the best impressions.
At around 11:00 pm Mourning Beloveth finished their setlist and it was Primordial's time to enter the stage. From the very first moment the audience's response was very positive. The band played in the best way it could with a great performance by all the members but especially by singer A.A. Nemtheanga whose moves reminded me those of an old warrior or an ancient hero. From their latest masterpiece "The Gathering Wilderness" (2005) the band performed "The Golden Spiral" with which they started the show and of course the self-titled track which lifted the adrenaline of the audience to higher levels. Other tracks from the new album were "The Song Of the Tomb" and the incredible "The Coffin Ships", after a quite thrilling introduction done by the singer, about the tragedies of the Irish people throughout the centuries. "Sons of the Morrigan" was the only track that represented their previous record "Storm Before Calm" (2002) and maybe one of the few that caused never-ending headbanging in the audience. Going backwards, from "Spirit The Earth Aflame" (2000), Primordial played "Gods To the Godless", "The Soul Must Sleep" and one of their most beautiful songs, "The Burning Season". They also performed "To Enter Pagan" which was for me at least the best part of the concert. Traveling back to 1998 and "A Journey's End" Primordial performed for the Greek audience "Autumn's Ablaze" and "Journey's End".The astonishing performance of "To The Ends Of The Earth" ("Imrama" - 1995) fulfilled everyone's expectations. However, there were many sound problems since the left speaker was broken and this caused many interruptions in the sound, after the first hour. It was very annoying but even under these circumstances; the band presented professionalism and stated that even if the sound was fucked up, they would continue playing just for their audience.
The show ended at around 12:30 am and overall it left the best of impressions to those who attended the show. Primordial showed what a live concert is supposed to be like. I hope the Greek audience will have the chance to see this overwhelming band perform live again.
[Chief Editor's note: Yeah, I'd like to really thank the promoters for their unimaginably overwhelming help they provided us with. You really help promote Metal music in Greece the way it should be. And I'm Batman…]