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Porcupine Tree - Anathema: Stars die in Fragile Dreams

In Technopolis we went on to enjoy music and that is just what we received a few hours ago. It was certainly one of the concerts of the summer!
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StevenWilson

The photos belong to Anna Evangelopoulos and Vangelis Evangelopoulos.

At Technopolis we went on to enjoy music and it's just what we received a few hours ago. It was definitely one of the concerts of the summer! Crystal clear sound, good organization and people who knew very well why they were there.

All this is written by a man who keeps track of Porcupine Tree and Anathema, but is not a fan of them.

Anathema

But let's take things from the beginning:

Anathema - dreamy melodies in a goddamn good show
(20:30 - 21:47)

Who: The Anathema
Anathema Where : at Technopolis, Gazi, Athens.
Organization: Excellent
Sound : Very good. Of course, if you were at the front on the side and you were close to a speaker, it wasn't so clear.
World : Technopolis was full.
Started : at 9:47 PM
We said goodbye : at 11:52 PM
Some of the songs played :

Thin air
Summernight Horizon
Dreaming Light
Everything
Closer
A Simple Mistake
A Natural Disaster
Deep
Lost control
Empty
Fragile Dreams

I've  followed  Anathema  for some years. Especially after the "Alternative 4". The melody - progressive shift from the more hard sound, initially, I think it was the right choice and eventually offered a lot to the band.

Anathema

At 20:30 the place where the main stage in Technopolis was half full. We were loose with gaps between us. Nevertheless, you saw the reactions of all those found yesterday at Gazi, that they had been there for a reason: listen to music. The main objective was not to "jump" and dance non-stop, just to enjoy music ...

And it was offered to us generously by Anathema and Porcupine Tree, later on.

Anathema

As they do almost in all of their summer concerts, the Anathema began with the first song of this year's album "Thin Air", a very melodic piece, which refers to Sigur Ros, Radiohead, and Anathema ... For 20 years, the British Anathema have created their own unique sound field. They may experiment and sometimes transform, but the essence of their music remains the same.

The first four songs of the set were from their new album "We're Here Because We're Here", as expected anyway. An album I personally think that is pretty good. We knew they would play as many songs as they played the previous day in Thessaloniki. But we all have our wishes ...

Deep? Empty? Fragile Dreams? played them all three in very good performances. I still have not forgotten a solo played by Daniel Cavanagh at the end of Fragile Dreams ... What a song!

Vincent Cavanagh, Lee Douglas the voice was exactly what we expected: ideal and ethereal voices. But generally all the musicians who were on stage for 1 hour and a quarter were absolute professionals! They sounded very good with minor problems to those who were on the side of the stage near a speaker. Their songs have gone a step further and most important: they put us in their own world ...

Dimitris Antonopoulos told me yesterday that after this appearance, he will look for more albums of Anathema ...

21:47 : end and on for Porcupine ...

StevenWilson

Porcupine Tree - The star remains alive (22:15 - 0:08)

Who : the Porcupine Tree
Where : at Technopolis, Gazi, Athens.
Organization : Excellent
Audio : Just flawless.
World : Almost full of Technopolis.
Started : at 10:15 PM
Encore : at 11:46 PM
We said goodbye : at 12:08 PM
Some of the songs played :

PorcupineTree Occam's Razor
The Blind House
Great Expectations
Kneel and Disconnect
Drawing the line
Open Car
Lazarus
Anesthetize
Russia on ice
Time flies
Normal
Way out here
Sleep together

Encore

Stars Die
Blackest eyes
Trains

Most had arrived yesterday in Gazi for the intelligent  Steven Wilson, Richard Barbieri and others of Porcupine Tree. Known the love of the Greek public for them, as is well known their persistence on perfection of Wilson with sound in each concert.

There is therefore no coincidence that this nearly two hour set had perfect and crystal clear sound! It seemed so strange that cymbals were heard so clearly (you could figure out) and the boot of the drums, we had a grin of surprise and satisfaction ...

PorcupineTree

Steven Wilson was quite warm with the world, who apologized for having spent five years since their last appearance in our country. "won't happen again", saying at the end of the concert ...

The whole set might have started with five songs from last year and their last album "The Incident", but ultimately they did not continue with it, as told by Richard Barbieri in an interview with Mix Grill. The "Open Car" came like dynamite to take off the world, already warmed with  hearing the good moments of "Incident" and especially enjoy the pure sound heard.

StevenWilson

The melody and the hardness of "Open Car" gives way to romantic "Lazarus" , after a wonderful performance of the latter part of the "Anesthetize" (17.5 minutes is the whole piece). "Russia on Ice", "Time Flies" and "Normal"  the last two during which we were taken off musically and visually by the video played in the backround.

at 11:45 PM  Porcupine Tree said goodbye so as to play the classic game with applause and come back one minute after. There we had a surprise.



For the first time, Porcupine Tree playing in Greece, one of the most distinctive songs the "Stars Die" (see the video below). One of the highlights of the evening certainly ... The Blackest eyes and in particular the Trains closed the evening, as befits to the band. In fact, during "Trains"  Steven Wilson "played" with the people at the end where he presented the entire band one to one.

In summary, both Porcupine Tree and Anathema 100% responded to the story they have created with their albums for 20 years now. I wish all the concerts we saw were like those enjoyed yesterday ...

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