The Ocean, Tides From Nebula, Abraham // Gagarin 205 Club, Athens, Greece // 25/11/13
The past months a large number of great bands visited Greece and enlisted our country to their tour destinations, even if the economical situation of our country is not the ideal. But what happens when three of the most important bands of our age plan to arrange two gigs in Greece?
Well, the answer stands below, in this concert report. I am referring to The Ocean’s Pelagial World Tour of course. After the major success of ‘Pelagial’, The Ocean planned a great world tour in which they could perform the whole’ Pelagial’. Together as one, the band joined forces with two great bands and friends of their, Tides from Nebula and Abraham, both bands with extra-strong releases. The outcome; a destructive show! While the start time for the first band is approaching, many decided to visit Gagarin 205 for the show early, being able to hear the support acts too.
The doors opened and approximately forty minutes later Abraham walked on stage. The band’s two lead singers opened the show, while the whole crew appeared a few seconds after. Their set was mostly created with tracks off the latest record, ‘The Serpent, The Prophet, The Whore’. As a result we had the chance to listen live favorite songs like ‘Start with a Heartbeat’, ‘The Chymical Fiance’ or ‘Carcasses’.
Their vocalist, who played keyboards, too, is an absolute lunatic on stage (with every possible meaning of the word). With plenty of energy he was singing, headbanging and climbing on the speakers, having the time of his life. Along with the other members, I would say the band is solid and greatly bonded together, with their songs to sound spectacular live.
When Abraham finished their set, it was time for Tides from Nebula to perform and shake the venue. The band is the ideal one to force your mind travel away and your body to relax. Their post-rock melodies provide some ear-orgasms. I didn’t attend their previous concert in Athens last year and I was curious to watch the instrumental band from Poland performing.
With a lovely mood, the band started their set. We heard a lot of songs off ‘Eternal Movement’, their latest record. ‘Only With Presence’, ‘Up from Eden’ are only a few songs we had the chance to hear. The venue got loaded with ambient, post-rock melodies and everyone had a great time.
Tides From Nebula are one of the most friendly to the audience bands I had the chance to hear and on stage they totally rock, moving up and down all the time and giving their 100% for the fans. The band thanked the fans many times but we should thank them back regarding the fact that they were explosive while performing.
Last but not least, the band we all wanted to hear; The Ocean! Pelagial was an inspiring and influential record. Its deep analysis of human’s wishes and its tricky music were the elements that rushed the record to the best-of lists of every extreme music fan. The record reflects in personal level in a great level, forcing the listener to think and think deeply about his/her life. The Ocean is performing the whole record on stage, as well as a few oldest hits.
There we go, the band is on stage and ‘Mesopelagic’ opens the show. What can I describe about the performance? I totally think that The Ocean is one of the best band live these days. They rock without a moment to slow down. They perform with tension and confidence. Loic’s voice is totally great. His brutals are destructive and his clean vocals very well- maintained. He is a great performer too. He stage-dived off the first floor of Gagarin 205, to the crowd!! He also shared the microphone with people from the audience.
Robin along with Jonathan were headbanging heavily and Jonathan was climbing along with Loic to every speaker they could possible climb. The crowd was singing along every single lyric and the memories we all had will be one of the best in our lives.
The Ocean is giving lessons to everyone who wants to know how a REAL live performance should be. As far as the setlist is considered, the band performed Pelagial without ‘Abyssopelagic II’, along with oldest songs from ‘Heliocentric’.
The show was a totally mind-blowing one. The sound was excellent in my opinion and every single band performed great. Let’s hope The Ocean will visit us soon, for a fifth time in their career, with many more great bands, a crazy mood and a setlist with even more songs.
Report: Kostas Tsotsanis
Photos: Dimitris Balabakis