“ I got no reason to hold on …”
I think February’s Thursdays are not the ideal days for attending live gigs as most people prefer home cocooning but yes, sometimes worth the risk to go downtown and check small venues like Death Disco and leave pure rock n roll warm you up. Dion Lunadon (ex A Place To Bury Strangers) visited Athens in full throttle and gave a great show making us forget for a while all our troubles with songs from his solo albums. It was the proper rock n roll live show, without embellishments, like his tortured guitar that was leaning on the floor, because that’s what we are after all, the wrinkles on our face.
Along with him as an opening act were Bone Rave that confirmed how good is their debut album.
“cave of lust…”
It was chilly and dark in Ogigou alley and you could feel the misery in the general area. The empty pockets go along with the lack of good mood and the numerous “whys” of the ongoing crisis the last years. But the underground scene is alive and kicking with numerous great new bands. Such a great band is Bone Rave that arrived from Thessaloniki for the event and I think this was their first appearance away from their area and I wanted desperately to see them on stage. The main reason was their great debut album “Virgin’s Milk” that was released recently.
The fans that were outside the venue for smoking started to enter and most of us did the usual routine, first drink order and check at the merchandise corner. At 22:45 Bone Rave got on stage and for the next 45 minutes they offered us their melodies.
“I am running fast, leave no traces back…”
The power trio as expected focused mostly on their debut album with some nice sneak peeks on their Eps although I must admit that I missed “My Brothers the Crags”. I was expecting them to be more energetic but maybe the tiny stage didn’t leave them much space. But it didn’t really matter, they managed to keep everyone interested with most fans (on a fully packed venue) dancing with their garage/post punk tunes. Lab was great on drums while Jungle Chris was leading the band with his fuzzy guitar riffing no matter if he was the lead singer or not. Mariza was also good on bass and vocals although at first she seemed kind of cagey but after a while she got relaxed and even the small screams in some songs matched perfectly. They finished their show with a cover on The Damned’s “Neat Neat Neat” that was the icing on the cake. Don’t miss them next time.
live video Bone Rave:
Bone Rave setlist:
Desperate ways / fortune teller / purple mold / aint it fun / hot 99 / I dance alone / bloodstains / howling eye / astray child / fruits of hell / don’t call me human / neat neat neat
“living and dying with you…”
It was 22:35 when Bone Rave got off the stage and everything seemed that the night was long. Many times the organizers grumble for empty venues but they don’t really understand they are missing lot of people that would prefer to see the headliners around 21:00 or 22:00 and return back home before midnight. But then Dion Lunadon appeared on stage along with his second solo album that was released recently and got him out for a tour.
“too hard to love…”
Lunadon’s entrance was dynamic with “Hate” from Schreien single (by the way he played all the songs from it) leaving no space for relaxation and then “1976” that was our first contact with his solo work seven years ago, just before his first solo album released. Back then he hadn’t leave Α Place To Bury Strangers yet but he already knew the path he would walk, getting away from noisy rock and getting back to garage rock tunes. The catchy “Reduction Agent” was played back to back with “Howl” putting us all in a dance mood.
The musician from New Zealand is responsible for everything (except drums) in the studio but on stage he has some great team mates that follow his spirit, Craig Bonich was steady on the bass standing on the right dark corner of the stage, Nick Ferrante was hitting hard the drum kit along with some funny grimaces and Jake Pflum that was fully energetic playing guitar but also some keys that were necessary on songs like “Too Hard To Love Too Young To Die”, “Fire” etc. I don’t think I have to mention one by one all the songs since even Lunadon didn’t spend much time talking and offered pure rock n roll energy, a great move since this way he kept a great flow through out the gig. We had so much fun that I actually remembered some great shows of the past and how important are live concerts and the internal completeness you get when you listen live songs like “Com/Broke”. It was actually a concert like every rock n roll concert should be, without embellishments, like his tortured guitar that was leaning on the floor, because that’s what we are after all, the wrinkles on our face…
live video Dion Lunadon:
Dion Lunadon setlist:
Hate / 1976 / reduction agent / howl / glass / too hard to love too young to die / speed / com/broke / no control / by my side / living and dying with you / negative energy / eliminator / fire
encore: insurance rent and taxes / move
® text/photos/video: Konstantinos Mindcrimek Vlachos
