Event:	Blind Guardian: Greek Dates
Written by:	iaberis
Published:	08.05.2007

I can't even recall when the last time Blind Guardian came to Greece was but here they came again, with three concerts this time, one in Thessalonica and two in Athens, serving the hunger of their fans in both Northern and Southern Greece. The two shows in Athens took place in the club "Fuzz Live" and according to their staff were both "sold out" days before the shows. If you consider that this club can hold a bit more than 2000 people, you can see that the interest for these two shows was enormous and still many people were left without tickets, desperately searching for one outside the venue.

From these two dates (Saturday 28 and Sunday 29) I chose the first show, so I arrived outside the venue just about an hour before the show. It was scheduled to start around 21.00 but many people gathered there earlier, either looking for tickets or their friends. There also were stands with people selling unofficial T-Shirts of the show and the tour just before the entrance of the club. I have to admit, I bought one since it was half the price of the official ones inside the club, hehe! In the club, the service was good since you could leave your extra clothes at the relevant place for ?3 - a rather fair price, although it could have been free of charge. There was also a small store with official t-shirts but unfortunately with no CDs or other memorials to buy.

The show was planned to start at 21.00 but as usual with Greek organizers, it started with a delay of 20 minutes. At least the DJ was cheering the fans with good music, like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Nevermore and Iron Maiden. With this and that, Blind Guardian came on stage under the introduction of the sound of "War of Wrath" (as usual) and rushed into the music with the powerful "Into the Storm." The crowd was so anxious that from the first song a violent mosh pit broke out just right next to me with people fainting and probably being run over. A guy was carried outside and probably missed the whole concert but that's the price you have to pay for fooling around. Thankfully the crowd cooled down a bit after the third song which was the acoustic "Nightfall." Many Tolkien and fantasy fans came just for that song and no one was left unsatisfied.




Thankfully the concert was not only about the last album (A Twist in the Myth) as I was afraid and the band played songs from all of their albums. As a matter of fact, the only song they played from their new album was "Fly" somewhere in the middle of the show. Most of the songs they played were from the album "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" but they also didn't forget the rest of their legendary songs. Every now and then, Hansi Kürsch would speak with the crowd so the rest of the band could catch a breath. He also got a banner that some of their fans threw to him, but I didn't manage to read it from the distance I was at at that time.




The highlights of the show were almost during the last few songs. Three songs before the end the band left the scene and said that the show was over, but no one believed it since it's becoming a cliché joke for almost all bands. So after this small break, the band came back on stage to perform the last three songs. They started with "And Then There Was Silence" in the middle of which another big mosh pit started which eventually brought me just a few meters from the band. I knew then it was the time for their classic song, which they hadn't performed during the whole show. "The Bard's Song"!!! As usual Hansi left the crowd to sing in his place and it was a true moment of magic! The whole crowd was standing still with the hands in the air singing along. This atmosphere lasted till the last song which as Hanschi said, the band decided to finish concerts with that. "Mirror Mirror"!!! So this fine concert ended after two hours, with the crowd singing along with the Bards and their songs...

I have to admit that the new drummer, Frederik Ehmke, did a really good job during the whole show and replaced very well Thomen Stauch. He even threw a membrane of his drums to the crowd which gave a true fight for that!




So as you can see it was a great show which had it all; I even helped a dude perform "crowd surfing"! The only thing I have to complain about is the air condition of the club which was pretty bad since the heat was enormous. Cigarette smoke and the smell of sweat were floating the room from the beginning and many people felt uncomfortable and moved to less crowded areas. I don't know if this smelly atmosphere got cleaned later or I just got used to it but the air conditioning was not working well for sure. Thankfully every now and then some head-banging metalhead was bringing me some cool air!!! From what I've heard many people fainted during the show, probably due to the heat and the frequent mosh pits that were popping up. These mosh pits also kept me from taking some good photos... Damn!




I can't give you a complete set list of the show since I don't remember all songs and the order they performed them. Here is what I remember but I'm sure there were more:
War of Wrath, Into the Storm, Welcome to Dying, Nightfall, Ashes to Ashes, Born in a Mourning Hall, Fly, Bright Eyes, Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill), Valhalla, Majesty, Lost in the Twilight Hall, And then there was Silence, The Bard's Song, Mirror Mirror.