Anneke Van Giersbergen, Danny Cavanagh
Eightball Club, Thessaloniki, Greece
07/01/11.
It was not the first time, nor it will be the last that we will be able to see two musicians we have loved very much in our country. The always beloved and smiling Anneke from The Gathering and Danny from Anathema visited our country one more time to give a fully acoustic show, comprised of compositions they have written in the past glorious times, plus some covers in their own interpretations. For more than two hours we had the chance to see them offer us their most personal moments and it was with great joy that I saw Danny leaving the flashes and lights to the Dutch godess and her brilliant smile. It seems like they could play for four hours, but still they gave us the biggest set of this tour, as a sample of their love for their Greek fans.
First it was Danny that came to the stage. Showing a little stress in the beginning, he managed to be very direct in his singing and playing. With the help of a special machine, he produced most of the songs only with singing, and in some cases he was able to accompany either with guitar or piano. So he played in a row ”Deep, ”Fragile Dreams”, ”Inner Silence”, ”One Last Goodbye”, ”Are You There?”, a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ”Big Love”, a cover of a song by The Killers called ”Smile Like You Mean It” and an amazing cover of Iron Maiden’s ”Wasted Years”. He closed his set with ”Flying” and straight after that he left the stage for the blond smiling girl from Holland.
Anneke started her set with two songs from her personal albums with Agua Di Annique, but of course didn’t forget her past with The Gathering and played ”Shrink” and ”My Electricity” at first. She couldn’t hide her joy at any moment she was singing, showing us one more time that above all, she remains a source of inspiration for many of us. It’s great to see people you admire for a lot of years be that shining and always a source of positive energy. Among some of her songs, she closed her set with another song by The Gathering called ”Locked Away” and then it was time for Danny to come to the stage and accompany her for the next 45 minutes of the show.
They both showed us that they have a great chemistry on the stage, and also didn’t hide their mood for jokes, when a fan asked to kiss Anneke, then Danny said ”you can kiss me if you want” with Anneke stating ”I’m glad you two found a way between you” with all of us laughing our hearts out. Among some Anneke songs, and some covers even from Kate Bush, it was a great joy to see her singing some Anathema classics such as ”Parisienne Moonlight” or ”A Natural Disaster” plus some classics by The Gathering such as ”Leaves” (the best moment of the night) and ”You Learn About It” which closed a magical night. The two stars of the night embraced each other and invited us to sign some stuff.
Last but not least, I have to state their good mood after the show as well. It’s seldom to find artists be so acceptive of their crowd, talk to them, analyze the vibe of the night and sign cd’s, take pictures and generally show 100% that they do this from their heart. Also, we must also refer to the fact that they thanked everybody involved in this event. The crowd, the owner of Eightball club, their tour manager, the promoter for taking care of them and they promised us to come back as soon as possible. The year of 2011 started with a good gig and I hope that we will have the same in the months to come, be it whatever kind you all like. Happy live year to all of you!
* Check out more live photos of the show here.
Report: Aggelos “Redneck” Katsouras.
Photo: Louis Konstantinou photography.