Planet Of Zeus, Whereswilder // Gagarin 205, Athens, Greece // 23.05.2014
A very special Friday night lied in store for all fans of Stoner/Southern rock at Gagarin 205. Planet Of Zeus, one of the most established bands of the scene, during their second headlining show ever in support of their new record “Vigilante” along with the psychedelic rockers Whereswilder, whowere the first ones to hit the stage.
Whereswilder were there to make the absolute contrast with Planet Of Zeus. I don’t know if it just turned out this way or they did that on purpose, but Whereswilder showed a more jamming and psychedelic attitude. Lots of delay on the guitar to make sounds that could travel your mind someplace else, a drummer the writer couldn’t take his eyes off (he was definitely holding all of the band together, as well as being incredibly groovy and technical) and two vocalists (guitarist and bass player) who completed each other beautifully. Very special voices, either eerie and high pitched or low, yet perfect for the jamming 70s atmosphere they wanted to create.
No flaws found there, a crowd mostly enjoying the music rather than sweating from headbanging or singing. They were a good warm up for the headliners (which they thanked for the invitation) and were loudly applauded by the audience. Definitely a band that deserves the fans attention.
Now at 22:30 Planet Of Zeus hit the stage with “Macho Libre” of the same-titled second record and Gagarin was set on fire: Moshing, headbanging, some of them crowd surfing. What that reminds you of a Thrash metal gig? Well think again guys, a jam packed Gagarin 205 thought otherwise and wrecked the place screaming their faces off with Planets’ cool, energetic, feelgood rock music. We heard stuff from “Eleven The Hard Way” (“Eat Me Alive” as one of the two encore songs, “Something’s Wrong”, “Space Loop 430”, “Stab Me”, “Supernothing” dedicated to those who like to drink a bit more, “Woke Up Dead (William H. Bonney)” dedicated to all of us) “Macho Libre” (“Vanity Suit” the other encore song, “Leftovers”, “Dawn Of The Dead”, “The Ballad Of Boston George”) and the brand new “Vigilante” (“A Girl Named Greed”, “Burn This City Down” (we did it anyway!), “Sky High Heels”, “The Great Dandolos”, “Tornado”, “Vigilante”).
The crowd knew every song perfectly well and there weren’t few times when Babis the bands’ frontman left the mic just to hear us singing. And for those who haven’t dug deep into this great band (the writer admitting to be one of them!), they grooved, they rocked and sweated like goddamn hound dogs! The guys couldn’t believe what took place beneath the stage, they said “This is your gig man, thanks a lot for that noise! You were amazing”. And they were damn right. No band in the world could have ever asked for a greater response from their countrymen. When the lights went on, all you could see was sweating everyday people, who just had the time of their lives for an hour and a half! RIDE ON PLANET OF ZEUS! See you on 23rd of June at Heavy By The Sea fest!
Report: John Savvidis
Photos: G.N.P. Productions
GALLERY
