“Who will fix me now?…”
The third day of Ejekt Festival closed in the best way, since BRING ME THE HORIZON offered us a brilliant performance which was definitely one of the top 5 concerts in Athens this year. They have built a great name for a reason so it was really unfair we haven’t seen them live in Greece all these years. Their performance was impressive, they delivered a hell of a show, the production was perfect but there was also great music of course, which is the most important, great songs and great amount of emotion through the night. Before them we enjoyed NECK DEEP, BURY TOMORROW and SIXFORNINE.
So close no matter how far or “The body is here but your mind is far beyond…” as a SixForNine lyric goes and yes, my idea to attend the festival early enough to enjoy all the bands didn’t go well. Doors were supposed to open at 17:00, I was there at 17:10 (30 minutes before the first band get on stage) along with 300 other fans but the queue was moving slowly, really slowly, so slowly that when the band started to play I had moved just five meters and the queue behind me had now about 1500 fans! We started to fear that it would be impossible to cover the vertiginous distance of 30 meters to the entrance on time and indeed, when I finally got inside the festival area SixForNine were getting off stage. I guess it had to do with some technical issue on the ticket scanners, but I couldn’t imagine what would have happened if there were many more fans outside.
It has been years ago since I saw them live, so I was frustrated with the situation, but there was nothing we could do, we were left there, outside the entrance listening to them from a distance as the burning sun was trying to kill us. Hopefully, they will play again in September in a proper headline show of their own on local festival that will take place at Oinofyta.
SixForNine setlist:
More Than Words Can Say / Bullet Off Its Course / Sea Of Lies / Never Ending Road / Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining / Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon
“hearing whispers that will you to the bone…”
During the 30 minute break we checked the official merchandise of the bands and bought the necessary tokens for water and beers. At 18:35 Bury Tomorrow got on stage and they were supposed to play for about an hour, but in reality their show was way shorter. Things went wrong from the beginning, as the sound was weird and especially one of the guitars was on and off, all the time. A ten minute break followed, as they tried to solve the issue, while Daniel Winter-Bates was talking to the fans trying not to spoil their performance, but they were obviously disappointed as we were. The band from Hampshire returned on stage, there was still no bass around, but it didn’t really matter, they were energetic despite the hot sun over their heads. I like the fact they combine the harsh vocals of Daniel with the clean ones of Tom Prendergast (also on keys and some percussion), something that gives them nice variety, they also have great breaks and a general groove that keep your eyes and ears on them. Before “Cannibal” the told us how they like to see the fans united so no one feels excluded. They closed with “Death(Ever Colder)” but I really hope they will return some day soon and play in a club since their show in April was cancelled.
Bury Tomorrow live video:
Bury Tomorrow setlist:
The Seventh Sun / Abandon Us / Boltcrusher / Villain Arc / Life(Paradise Denied) / Cannibal / Choke / Black Flame / Death(Ever Colder)
“Better jump, better run…”
Time to refresh our drinks and five minutes to eight Neck Deep got on stage, a stage that was occupied by a colorful inflatable banner, something that let us know that a party was about to follow for the next 50 minutes. The band from Wales offered us feel good pop punk music that makes you happy, even if your are not so into them, but especially if, back in the day, you used to love bands like Fall Out Boy, Blink182 and Sum 41. They asked us if we believe in aliens before “Take Me With You” and it was really funny to hear the lyric “I need to know it’s not a drone” while a small drone was actually flying over our heads!
The band was in great mood and fully energetic, they really seemed to enjoy playing, apart from Matt Powels who looked he was more serious and fully focused on his drum kit (the Nottingham Forest t-shirt was a nice touch). Ben Barlow was very talkative, and knowing that most people weren’t there for them he decided to make jokes like “we are sorry we are not Bad Omens or Sleep Token guys”. He also went political at some point, pointing out that we should all stand together and that “we need more punks, we need more bricks”. The organizers didn’t allowed fans to bring flags with political messages but Ben had no problem to scream “Free Palestine” but, of course most fans seemed to care more when he asked who had a heartbreak recently and then they played “Heartbreak Of The Century”. He seemed way more honest when he asked who comes from a small town since “Can’t Kick Up The Roots” was about the misery in a small town that sometimes turns into a trap when you are a teenager and have no choices around when you want to conquer the world (or at least go the big city and have fun with your friends and listen to the music you love).
Neck Deep live video:
Neck Deep setlist:
Dumbstruck Dumbfuck / Sort Yourself Out / Motion Sickness / Kali Ma / Take Me With You / We Need More Bricks / Heartbreak Of The Century / December(Again) / STFU / Can’t Kick Up The Roots / In Bloom
“Every wound will shape me
Every scar will build my throne…”
At that time we realized there will be a 60 minute gap with nothing to do as we were watching the stage getting ready for the headliners. At 21:40 the wait’s over and some sample from Final Fantasy made fans to go crazy as the clever video intro with the video game like figure was asking us “Are you ready to experience something you will never forget?”. These kind of videos kept coming along their set later and separated it in three or four parts.
“Picked the stitches and now I can’t stop bleeding…”
They kicked off with “DarkSide” and the fans gone crazy singing the lyrics (something was about to happen through out their set in old and new songs). The sound wasn’t ideal at first (not that it was annoying though) but there was no time for whining, the first dive into the past came with “Empire” from Sempiternal and personally I wondered if they were really going to dive into their pro-2015 stuff (they finally played four songs from that album). I have nothing to say about the band, they were super solid, everything was perfect and the same applied with the catchy videos on the background that were in sync with each song. The interesting thing with Bring Me The Horizon is that although the last years they bring a feel good mood, a nice modern metal approach along with smiles but then you read the lyrics and you realize that there is a lot of pain and wounds behind Oli’s lyrics.
“Tell me, are you gonna bark or bite?…”
My all time favorite Teardrops gave us the chills while I started to notice that next to me there were fans that had tears in their eyes, but I couldn’t know if they are into the lyrics that much if they got emotional because they finally had the chance to see a band they love in front of them as it was the first time BMTH played in Greece. “We never played here before but I feel I missed you” and it felt really warm, like hearing it from someone that really cares. All the fans were really into the show, never ending sing-alongs, tension, and moshpits in many songs like “Obey”, great moments for body and soul, digital cyberpunk dancers during “Kingslayer” and then a small break because the sweaty frontman had another question: “is this temperature normal here? You may are used of it” and “We want you to have fun tonight but also to be safe”, you see? That sense that someone cares I just sent.
“You can have my heart…”
During “Antivist” a lucky fan was on stage living his dream as he sung along with Oli, we were jealous of course and then during “Drown” Oli fell into the arms of his fans in the front row. It was time to ask us “Can You Feel My Heart” which was the last one before the encore. At first we watched a nostalgic video of the band’s past, the band that started twenty years ago in Sheffield and now reached a point where they are adored by thousands fans, fans that are “Doomed”. I didn’t really like “Lost” when I first listened it on the album, it seemed way to joyful but here it was perfect because of the colorful psychedelic background and the dedication to boys, girls and everything in between as Oli said. Many people could and should feel safe and have people and space where they are not rejected. But all good things come to an end, “Throne” was the energetic last song of a night we would remember for a long time. BMTH just rocked my world as it was written on the digital screen…
Bring Me The Horizon live video:
Bring Me The Horizon setlist:
Darkside / Empire(Let Them Sing) / Mantra / Teardrops / Amen! / Kool-Aid / Shadow Moses / Obey / Top 10 Statues That Cried Blood / Kingslayer / Parasite Eve / Antivist / Drown / Can You Feel My Heart / Doomed / Lost / Throne
® live report/videos/photos: Konstantinos Mindcrimek Vlachos
