The Dutch are regular visitors to the Greek Capital. For the second consecutive year they visited us and they simply lived up to their name and the high expectations of the crowd. Epica’s live performances are a guarantee for a flawless, strong and professional presentation of a band that knows perfectly well how they want and how they should be.
That’s exactly what the crowd that packed the Floyd on Thursday received and even though they had to choose between football, basketball and a quite popular name day celebration.
The only thing missing was the always imposing presence of Mark Jansen who is absent from this mini tour as he is waiting a baby. He was replaced to a very good extent by Asim Searah on both guitar and vocals. Asim had his birthday, so naturally his band mates along with the fans sung “Happy Birthday”. But when talking about vocals in Epica, automatically the mind and eyes go to the one and only Simone who appears more and more mature every time. This girl is at the top level in every respect and rightfully receives the credit. Also excellent was the presence of Coen Janssen, perhaps the most communicative keyboard player in the metal world. This man put on his own show for most of the band’s ninety-minute performance with the crowd responding accordingly. He only struggled to say “welcome” in Greek for Mark’s baby who is due any minute, something the crowd took care of.
As for the setlist, some weight was given to “Ωmega” with four tracks and “The Quantum Enigma” which was recently re-released. I singled out the stunning performance of “Rivers” by a sensational Simone as well as the perfect encore with “Cry For The Moon”, “Beyond Of Matrix” and “Consign To Oblivion”. It was an excellent performance from a band that we still don’t know if they’ve hit a ceiling.
Setlist: Abyss Of Time – Countdown To Singularity, The Essesnce Of Silence, Victims Of Contingency, Unchain Utopia, The Final Lullaby, The Obsessive Devotion, Fools Of Damnation,The Skeleton Key, Rivers, The Miner, Code Of Life, Cry For The Moon, Beyond The Matrix, Consign To Oblivion.
Dimitris Kazantzis
photos: Afroditi Zaggana Photography
