Rotting Christ
Agnes Vein, Spider Kicks, Cult Of Taurus
Block 33, Thessaloniki, Greece
15/01/11.
Rotting Christ is definitely a band that you enjoy watching live again, and again, and again! It was my third time watching them live, and I can say that it feels like each time is better than the previous one.
The live show started early, at about 20:00 o’clock, since there were three support bands. Unfortunately, I missed all of them because I arrived at Block 33 at 22:40; just some minutes before Rotting Christ hit the stage. For the record, Agnes Vein, Spider Kicks and Cult Of Taurus were the supporting acts. I’m really sorry that I missed them, but I’m really happy that I didn’t miss Rotting Christ.
Getting into the overcrowded venue I was really lucky to join the photo pit area and to find a really good place with the best possible view to the stage. However, as it was later proven, it was probably the worst spot, as far as the sound was concerned, since I was right in front of the speakers.
It should have been just some minutes before 23:00, when a sample from “Orders From The Dead”, featuring Diamanda Gallas (taken from the latest Rotting Christ album “Aealo”), started playing as an introduction to the show. I could sense that the heartbeats were rising inside the venue, as everyone was waiting for the Greek legends under the sounds of the breathtaking song. The time had come and the band hit the stage playing “Demonon Vrosis” from their latest album. From the very first moment it was obvious that Rotting Christ were really happy playing live in front of Thessaloniki’s crowd. They had a lot of passion that was transmitted with the best possible way to the fans, who, from the very first riff, didn’t stop banging their heads! At the place where I was standing the sound was not good at all (the bass was too loud) because of the speakers, as I mentioned before, but… who gives a shit…
“After Dark I Feel” was the second song, from the older Rotting Christ stuff, and the continuation was something like this: a best of-set list, among older and newer material taken from the discography of the band. “Shadow Follow” was third in the row, and then “King Of A Stellar War” came to burn the venue with the fans singing louder than ever along with Sakis, who was full of power and energy. The self-titled “Aealo” along with “Eon Aenaos”, were next, reminding that this is a show promoting the new album. Nevertheless, in this show, my friends, you could only equally like the older and the newer stuff. While in most of the shows of other bands the fans prefer the older hits and stay apathetic to the newer material, in Rotting Christ the reactions to the new songs were the same as to the old ones; proving that “Aealo” besides being an amazing album, also became a classic one in such a short period of time!
The rest of the show was in the same mood, with Rotting Christ proving once again that they worthily have the title of the “Greek metal leaders” and with the crowd actively participating to the show by moshing, head banging and singing unstoppably. The last song was the amazing “Threnody”, taken from the “Theogonia” album, and then the band left the stage.
Ok… of course it wasn’t the last song… The fans wanted them back for more songs, and as it always happens, the band returned for the encore that was including two songs; “Archon” and “Non Serviam”. In “Non Serviam” something special happened that actually was the highlight of the show; Sakis invited all the fans to hit the stage and sing along with the band…What happened next can’t really be described in words, and that’s why I’ll end this report here hoping that the pictures below can describe it in a better way.
In conclusion, I would personally like to congratulate the band for their great performance and thank them for this great experience. The show was amazing, full of power, energy and communication. That’s what I call TRUE METAL! I’ll be waiting for the next show.
Set-List:
01. Demonon Vrosis
02. After Dark I Feel
03. Shadows Follow
04. King of A Stellar War
05. Aealo
06. Eon Aenaos
07. Athanati Este
08. Fire, Death And Fear
09. Forest of n’Gai
10. Visions Of The Dead Lover
11.The Sign of Evil Existence
12. Transform All Suffering Into Plagues
13. Fgmenth, Thy Gift
14. The Sign of Prime Creation
15. Phobos’ Synagogue
16. Dub-sag-ta-ke
17. Noctis Era
18. In Domine Sathana
19. Nemecic
20. Threnody
Encore:
21. Archon
22. Non Serviam
Report: Karagiannidis Panagiotis.
Photos: Louis Konstantinou photography.