That ONE night in Athens – Shadow Gallery Live at Kyttaro (10/10/2010)
Tuesday, 02 November 2010
That ONE night in Athens – Shadow Gallery Live at Kyttaro (10/10/2010)
Interview, Photos and Concert Review by Logan Lee
Hi perfect prog fans, i have just returned from Athens from what I may consider one of the most amazing nights ever. It all started the day before, by visiting the Acropolis (which by the way I strongly recommend you guys to see) that still has some of the mighty of once (we are talking about 2500 years ago for some of the monuments in there) and continued the day of the concert. Finding the correct address in their local language was really hard and unfortunatelly I was delayed by this search.
Finally, I arrive at the venue 15 minutes after the scheduled interview and Shadow Gallery was already soundchecking. After the soundcheck I was presented to the band, specifically Brend Allman (Lead Guitar), and the interview took place in the underground floor. At first, taken by emotion but also because I really tought the interview would be with Carl Cadden-James (bass), I got confused about who I was interviewing, but Brendt is a great guy and helped me fixing the situation. As he said on the interview, Shadow Gallery was until now a sort of Digital Ghost by not Touring (the reason why I did not suddenly recognize their members).
During the interview I was introduced to Gary Wehrkamp, who first answered me on a e-mail interview (thanks Gary). After the interview (see video), I went to the hotel and came back to the show. The opening band, Maplerun, was a surprise and I really enjoyed their perfomance. Than, the great moment arrived and the concert began. Unfortunately, I was unable to take notes (I guess I wouldn’t have take anyway since I were way to envolved), but after a little research on the net I found out what, if my memory is not failing on me, may have been their setlist:
v Stiletto In The Sand
v Mystery
v Pain
v Joe Nevolo’s amazing (and crazy) Drum Solo
v Haunted
v Room V
During the interview, Brendt promised to play Haunted (which is one of my favourites for sure) and he kept that promise (thank you Brendt!). The concert had also a very emotional moment when the band honoured Mike Baker’s memory which was very touching, even for themselves (the image of Brendt reaction during the long applause dedicated to Mike is impressed into my mind).
Another high point of the night was Joe Nevolo’s solo and if you have the chance, seek on the internet because I know for sure that our greek fellows have recorded it. He mixed his ability to play the drums with scenographic movements (he was pretty much drumming on every single part of the stage).
On this first live tour, Shadow Gallery is also presenting a guest member Eric Diegert who plays keyboards and guitar in such a way that makes us hope he will become a constant member. Besides, new singer Brian Ashland other than his vocal performance also played guitar in some tracks.
A few words to the crowd. Athens is one of the most sensational crowd ever. Wherever you turn on Plaka neighborhood you will see metal/rock. Plenty of stores with T-shirts and CDs, not to talk about the streets that are filled up with brothers in metal. This passion was also reflected on the concert (and after it), since the crowd was very loud and into their music.
Last but not least: Shadow Gallery members after playing one song from each album and some of their latest album (see my review of Digital Ghosts on the review section) in almost two hours came out to salute their fans. One by one they left the backstage immediately to BE with the fans, sign autographs, take pictures or just to talk with us demonstrating their profound respect for the people, thanking them more than once for the support.
Fantastic show, great guys, amazing crowd… now take a look at the interview (was a work in progress, but I think that is what prog is all about) J
Logan Lee
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 November 2010 )
