So, this Saturday Skyclad played at Athens. The concert was held at the AN club in Eksarchia.
As soon as we got there, I contacted my good friend, [tag]Baggio[/tag], and went by his place, or rather by Alexis’ place.
We sat there, killing time for a while, until it was time to head out to the concert.
The original plan was to take Melas’ car to go to the club but unfortunately Athens traffic had other plans for us.
After being stuck in the traffic jam for half an hour and with no clearing in sight, we decided to ditch the car and tale the metro; and good thing we did because we later found out that the whole downtown area was off limits due to a skinhead march (?!?).
After much swearing and cursing, we reached the concert area and me and Philippos immediately headed to the front of the stage.
The support band was X-piral which I must say, wasn’t half bad if I must say. They were a more classic Epic themed band of the power metal school. Interesting was how a girl next to Philippos was very excited. We guessed that she was someone’s girlfriend >:)
After a long pause while [tag]Skyclad[/tag] came on the stage and set-up their own instruments (Oh how far they have fallen!) the show started.
Did I mention that the club was very small and had no railing? Luckily there wasn’t too many people, although that could be considered an unfortunate event as well.
Anyway the concert was excellent and the band was very energetic, especially Georgina who didn’t stop jumping around the stage when she played.
The crowd wasn’t very excited at first, at least for Greek standards but as the time passed and great songs were played things got more and more energetic. Especially on some songs like Anotherdrinkingsong and Inequality Street we went wild. Me and Philippos were dancing folk, others were stage diving etc.
They played a lot of the new album, Semblance of Normality but also some popular songs from previous work. Luckily I didn’t know only a few songs.
After the concert, the band headed to the Metal Night Club, Texas which I had heard a few bad things about. However it felt too much like Cult back in Thessaloniki.
There I saw one gorgeous girl that was, unfortunately, with another guy. However that didn’t stop me from staring discreetlely…she was that great.
Pity
In any case, after an hour or so, Skyclad came to the Club as well and went to the upper floor. Philippos and me followed after a while to meet them. They are a great bunch and pretty down to earth. I talked with Steve, Georgina and Kevin and we also took a group photo with them.
After I mentioned that I liked the track “Ten Little Kingdoms” Kevin promised me that they would play it in Thessaloniki the next time they visit but I’d have to bring 10 of my friends with me 🙂
On another note,
Steve also mentioned that they would have a new album by mid-2006 and probably a new tour soon after that.
Anyway, after half an hour or so, we took our leave. We didn’t want to bother them all night after all and went downstairs where Baggio and Tasos were waiting for us. We stayed in Texas until 5 am. I had started getting very tired by 3:30 and I was feeling a sickness coming on and so I couldn’t stay any longer. We were going to leave by 4 but we stalled as we tried to find some place for Philippos to sleep. Unfortunately, due to my not sending a message to Tasos and the parents of Baggio babysitting, we couldn’t find anything and due to my meltdown I also couldn’t keep Philippos company until Texas closed. So we said goodbye there (he was going to leave the next morning while I was going to stay one more day) and took off. I felt really bad about leaving him alone but, seriously, I couldn’t do anything else, other than collapse on a table and sleep.
The road to Tasos place was especially hard as well, I was barely walking and something I ate must have been spoiled (I blame the peanuts) because I was feeling like I was about to throw up. Luckily I didn’t and after a long trip, I finally reached the bed where I slept like a concrete block.
PS: New Feature: From now on I’ll be posting what book I’m currently reading. Just for archive’s sake.
Currently Reading: Επίκουρος – Κείμενα ~ Πηγές της επικούρειας φιλοοφίας και τέχνης του ζην