Bad Habits, Pink Vanity, Come @Temple – 29/12/2023

Just a couple of days before we bid farewell to 2023, the Temple Club has prepared two very interesting concert nights, giving us the right excuse to… rock out in the festive spirit of the holidays. We’ll talk about the second day in a separate report, so let’s see what happened on Friday.

Fifteen minutes past 9:00 and with the Temple Club slowly gathering people, Come took to the stage and made their live debut, gathering positive impressions from everyone who was there. First of all, we are talking about a trio with the main characteristic that the frontwoman (fantastic voice, by the way) had a big snare drum in front of her with which she accompanied the excellent drummer while the guitarist built the whole compositional structure with very good riffs and melodies. During the almost 30-minute set they didn’t give me the impression that they were a new band as they were flawless and their songs – which reminded me of something between The Last Internationale and Starbenders – were catchy and well crafted. My only objection was the absence of bass which would have given more depth to their sound. Congrats, guys.

In complete contrast to all of the above – at least, on a personal level – was Pink Vanity. An indie pop-rock act that left me coldly indifferent to the point that the hour passed more slowly than a high school Home Economics class. They started off with an atmospheric, almost psychedelic style that was reminiscent of Pink Floyd which as the hour went on morphed into alternative pop/rock which I have to say people seemed to kind of like. That’s why, in the beginning, I emphasized the phrase “personal level” as the evaluation of Pink Vanity’s performance reflects my own musical taste. However, I have to say that the whole stage presence also seemed contrived and ill-conceived to me. Anyway, it’s good to form your own opinion since the guys already have an EP out and are preparing their new release in the spring.

At 11:20 it was time for what all of us at Rockpages consider as the great hope of rock n’ roll for the Greek standards. Bad Habits is a band destined for big stages and even bigger commercial success. The night at Temple was, of course, no exception as these guys are a well-oiled machine that works flawlessly without losing any of the energy, spontaneity and most importantly the overall quality in any second on stage. I think that the change of drummer has been beneficial for the band while the four…on the front (Spyros and Tasos on guitars, Jo on vocals and Ellie on bass/vocals) give their own fantastic show. I think they appeared even more improved at Temple, despite the fact that the sound was ultra loud and I would have liked to hear more of Ellie’s bass, but that was just a small detail as tracks like “Nothin’ To Lose”, “Not My Call, “Under The Sun”, “Hell To Pay” etc. left absolutely no room for doubt.

50 years ago Alice Cooper said of KISS that all they needed to succeed was a good gimmick…I think Bad Habits need the same in order for a larger audience to get to know them. What gimmick would that be…? Time will tell. The only thing for sure is that we will be there…as we have been since day one!

setlist: I Wanna Stay In The City, Hell To Pay, Bad Luck, Baby I Want You (So Bad), Let It Roll, Not My Call, Down In Flames, Till I Die, California, It Ain’t Love, I Need, 1989, Nothing To Lose, Under The Sun, On The Run, Cyco Vision (Suicidal Tendencies)

Sakis Nikas

φωτο: Yiannis Dolas