Funeral Revolt were the support band. They are a local band from Thessaloniki who have been around for many years but just lately they released their first demo and are preparing their first album soon. These guys supported Moonspell as well and you can read about them in the review of that gig in this very same site. This time I liked them more, they came on stage with some kind of uniforms which reminded Rammstein and their music as well had many references to the famous German  group. They played for about 40 minutes great Industrial Metal with heavy riffs and electronic parts. Nice stage presence from the whole band with the singer been slightly better than the last time. Most of their material was very interesting and I would really like to get my hands on their demo. 

       After Funeral Revolt there was a pause of about half hour for the roadies to prepare Anathema’s equipment. The lights went off and the band came on stage and while everyone was waiting for a fast song to open the concert like everybody else does Vincent told us to stay quite and the first notes of Shroud Of False were heard from the keyboard, this incredible piece of music that is the intro to Anathema’s most famous song, Fragile Dreams. After the 1 minute that Shroud of False lasts, Fragile Dreams with the edited live intro and then the explosion brought the club down with everyone jumping and singing the melodies and the lyrics. I can’t remember many concerts that have started THAT exciting. The band appeared for the first time in Greece with this line up. The 3 Cavanagh brothers were on guitar, vocals and bass. The setlist was very good, consisted of songs from all their albums after Silent Enigma. From Silent Enigma we only heard Dying Wish despite my shouts at the band to play Restless Oblivion too. Another older song that was performed was Sleepless somewhere near the end of the show and the rest of the setlist was focused mainly on the last 3 albums of the band. Songs that were played that magical night were : Empty, Everwake, One last Goodbye, Panic (which brought real panic in the crowd!), Inner Silence, Eternity (thanking Duncan Patterson for letting them play it after many years live), Pulled under at 2000 Metres a Second (once again chaos and moshing in the arena), Forgotten Hopes, Balance, Pressure, Cries in the Wind. During Parisienne Moonlight and A natural Disaster the lady that does the vocals on the album joined the band on stage to do her parts. She is Lee Douglas, sister of the drummer John Douglas. Her voice was very beautiful and added much to the band’s show. She also sung the vocals parts in the eternity songs. Anathema’s songs are very emotional and the whole venue was singing the lyrics, the crowd was louder than the band in many parts. These songs have touched many people including myself and witnessing them live was something special. I haven’t mentioned all song that were played that night, its not that easy to remember them all but they did some more material from their latest album A Natural Disaster. What more can I say….it was a very sensational live with many magic moments and when the band wanted to create a little panic in the crowd they played their fast songs. It was another incredible concert and one of the best ones I’ve seen this year. The band played for about 2 hours and towards the end they also covered Door’s Riders on the Wind! Anathema were full of surprises but just one thing didn’t surprise me. Anathema’s excellent performance and the ability to create such magical feeling that not many bands can do. We thank them for this night and can’t wait to see them again.