A Saturday night is ideal to go to a concert, especially to watch a band that is a new favorite of the Greek audience, as well as a promising local support act one on of its first live performances.
Saturday Night Satan opened the night playing their third concert in their recent and short history, after Up The Hammers and their show the day before in Thessaloniki. They played the songs from the album “All Things Black”, of which so far I can single out “Devil In Disguise”, which closed their set at Fuzz. I can see some awkwardness on stage, which I can justify since the band is new and hasn’t played many live shows, although the members that the band is consisted are veterans in the Greek scene with the high mileage that comes with it. I must also notice that the sound I was listening to in front of the stage at the beginning of the show didn’t allow the vocals to be heard very well, while when I moved towards the back after the first 3-4 songs things were much better and everything sounded crystal clear. I wish the guys well with the new band and it’s great to see new groups being embraced by the fans and the same goes for the next ones as well…
The headliners of the night, Green Lung, took to the stage amidst enthusiasm from the crowd and for about 90 minutes they took us all the way to Norfolk and the Devil’s Den, where legend has it that if you leave a glass full on one of the rocks, the next day you will find it empty because the Devil will have drunk it. Their spooky tales of the island’s dark haunted forests, castles, towers and buildings created the perfect atmosphere for a dreamy concert.
Their performance was objectively flawless, as all five musicians killed it. Their passion, energy and enthusiasm were superb. Tom Templar is an excellent frontman and a skilled vocalist, who performed Green Lung material almost as he did on the albums, while rousing the crowd, who took up almost the entire bottom of the Fuzz, who knew the band’s songs and accompanied them with fists and devil horns. “Maxine”, which was only the second song and certainly took the audience by surprise, who probably weren’t expecting it so early, was where the crowd went crazy and the truth is that this style, which differs somewhat from the other songs, brings them closer to a pagan pop hybrid, but also Ghost in terms of sound. I don’t know if the band will follow this path in the future, but it certainly suits them very well. Obviously, “This Heathen Land” held the lion’s share of the set, but songs from both the excellent “Black Harvest” and the debut “Woodland Rites” were enthusiastically received by the audience who pretty much sang along throughout the set, and there were plenty of Green Lung shirts spread out all around us. Personal highlights included “Reaper’s Scythe”, “Leaders Of The Blind” and “Song Of The Stones”.
Of course, a major part of the experience was also played by the atmospheric lighting, which obviously was… green. The reactions and participation in the concert clearly showed that a love affair between the Greek audience and Green Lung is about to begin, which can only be seen as a positive thing. Unfortunately, in such a magical atmosphere there were also some guys who couldn’t stop talking to each other and bothering the rest of the crowd, creating the question: if you obviously don’t care and want to talk to your friend, why don’t you go out? Either way, shut up and let us enjoy the show.
So as long as we managed to see them, after the cancellation due to Covid four years ago, we are happy and look forward to their return in front of even more people and new fans from now on.
Yiannis Dolas
Prologue, The Forest Church, Maxine (Witch Queen), Woodland Rites, Mountain Throne, Leaders of the Blind, Song of the Stones, Hunters in the Sky, One for Sorrow, The Ritual Tree, Reaper’s Scythe, Old Gods, Oceans of Time, Let the Devil In, Graveyard Sun
