When no less than four concerts take place on the same day at the same city, then it is only natural that a couple of them will suffer from low attendance number. Especially, if there is an obvious relevance in musical styles…that was the case in Athens on the 30th of November as Jaded Heart played at the same time as Bai Bang were also scheduled to appear within only a few kilometers distance from each other.
When the Greek opening act, Clairvoyant, hit the stage there were no more than 50 people in the venue and that number didn’t alter considerably as time went on. Clairvoyant tried their best but they clearly failed in delivering the goods showing signs of stagefright. The Italian singer let a lot to be desired with his performance and the sole survivor of the band’s set was guitarist Vagelis Keramidas who gave 100% throughout the night.
It’s no secret that Jaded Heart changed their sound after Michael Bormann’s departure thus they focus on a more heavy metal style (with a few modern touches here and there) that are in vast contrast with the band’s sensational hard rock past. Most of the fans, including this writer, came to the show in the hope of listening some of he band’s hard rocking anthems. Instead Jaded Heart had in store for us songs from the latter era leaving us disappointed to say the least. They didn’t even pay attention to the fact that this was their first show in Athens and there would be fans waiting for a more balanced set. Even the cover version of Anastacia’s pop tune “Paid My Dues” (which featured a guest performance by a female singer) wasn’t enough to spark more interest and if we take aside: a) the great performance by Michael Muller & Johan Fahlberg and b) the awesome numbers “Saints Denied” & “The Enemy” that was definitely a night that we will not remember for long.
Jaded Heart should definitely reevaluate its priorities. Is Michael Bormann listening…?
Sakis Nikas
***The photos of the band are taken from their Facebook pages, NO photos from the show in this article.
