We don’t get to see often such concerts in Greece. As a matter of fact, you can erase the word “often” as we are not used at all at catching first class bands like Papa Roach, Hollywood Undead and Ice Nine Kills in Greek soil. Don’t forget that Papa Roach has been around since the 90s but as the saying goes “better late than never” and as Jacoby Shaddix promised…Papa Roach will return to Greece soon. Let’s take things from the beginning…
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More than 1800 fans had packed the venue when Ice Nine Kills hit the stage at 19:10 sharp. This is an up and coming band that we recently presented here at Rockpages, so keep an eye on them. These guys put on a hell of a horror show adding the metalcore touch to this 3-band live package. The band’s frontman, Spencer Charnas, was absolutely fantastic on stage as he was constantly changing masks, outfits…you name it and all these in between an endless parade of innocent teenage girls being slaughtered on stage, wicked clowns prowling around etc. Definitely a horror-teria in the tradition of Alice Cooper and Slipknot. “The American Nightmare” and “Savages” stood out from a 3-minute flawless set. Great band!
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At 20:00 Hollywood Undead appeared on stage under a deafening roar of the crowd! Truth being told here; I didn’t expect that this American outfit would have so many crazy, hardcore fans here in Greece as they were singing along to almost every single lyric of the songs. Amazing! Hollywood Undead was definitely quite a sight as they were constantly changing instruments while at the same time they were sharing lead vocals. At a certain point, they invite a lucky fan on stage to play guitar with them and it was plain obvious that they were having a great time. If you haven’t listened to them, just check out the songs “Day of the Dead”, “Bullet”, “Undead” and trust me…you will be in for a great (pleasant) surprise. Nu metal at its very best!
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But the time has come for the main act of the evening. Papa Roach was the basic reason for going to the show that night. After all, this was a band that I always admired and their two albums, “Infest” and “Lovehatetragedy” are really important for me and a whole generation of fans. “Dead Cell” is the opening song and three songs are immediately evident: a) Jacoby Shaddix is one of the best frontmen in the industry, b) the sound is crystal clear and c) this will be a night to remember as the band was clearly in high spirits and the crowd below…absolutely crazy! The thing that really impressed me was the fact that all the youngsters were really into the new songs (especially from the last couple of albums which are great, by the way) while the old school fans like myself were having the time of our lives during the early stuff. Al in all, a well-balanced set list with the emphasis given of course to the latest album “Who Do You Trust”. Especially the title track, “Elevate” and “I Suffer Well” went down amazingly well. Needless to say that the fan response during the old school numbers like “Dead Cell”, “Broken Home”, “Blood Brothers”, “Between Angels and Insects” and the timeless classic “Last Resort” was absolutely incredible. Of notice was a great rendition of “Firestarter” dedicated to the late Keith Flint.
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All in all, it was a fantastic show, the time schedule was kept, the crowd was amazing, the three bands energetic and flawless, the sound was crystal clear and the overall atmosphere exceptional! Let’s just hope that we will be treated with many such shows in the years to come. It felt like we were in Los Angeles…holy shit!!!
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Sakis Nikas
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