Anneke van Giersbergen, E.V.E., Dreambleed // Gagarin205, Athens, Greece // 02.11.12
Although I’m not a very big fan of female voices, the fact of being able to see live one of the best and most enchanting presences in the whole scene while she was visiting our country once again, made me really excited. Of course I’m talking about Anneke van Giersbergen.
When I entered the club, it would be around the time when the first band went up on stage called E.V.E. The musicians could claim it was a very nice performance, after they played something from rock with many progressive changes, a very beautiful female voice and high spirits of the entire band.
The followed band was Dreambleed that was the depressed band of the night, without making me quite an impression, neither the songs nor the voice of the frontman. Next band was Elysion which were very good, with a strong scene presence, I had a lot of fun and they played with their value and pull to look upon them.
The time was 23:00 and without much delay, Anneke van Giersbergen and her band go up on stage. The setlist started with “Feel Alive”, the sound was very good and did not take long to figure out Anneke’s value as a presence, too cute and comfortable, which made everyone inside the club be in a good mood. The set included pieces of her former band, The Gathering, to songs that she has made guest appearances. I would say it was a good live with overmuch good bands as also good voices. Unfortunately the crowd was not as much as it should, we had very few people, but the bands did not give up and showed them their skills. I was left with positive feelings and the fact that Anneke has the gift to sing in her live performances just as in the albums, which is very difficult but she accomplishes such a task very well.
Marios Arkoulis.