Tuesday, December 16, 2014

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX live in Athens (12/12/2014) A review and the full setlist.

Crippled Black Phoenix has been to Greece many times in the last years in order to play live, but this was the first time I went to see them. Reading reviews from their previous appearances I knew more or less what to expect, so I was prepared let's say.
 I went in the concert area with a small delay, so I wasn't able to see the Greek support band 'Afformance' from the start. From the few songs I was able to see , I believe they are good. They play a classic Post-Rock, with a heavy and tight sound. Everybody seemed to enjoy their music, but let's face it, all of us were waiting for the next band to come on the stage. And that happened after a while.
 The stage seemed really small for Crippled Black Phoenix, as the band were 7 people, and filled the stage completely with their organs. The band had 3 guitars, bass, drums, and 2 keyboard players.
 They started with their classic 'opening' song 'Rise up and fight' and the people looked like they are "warming up" for what was about to follow. After the first song, Justin Reaves who is the mastermind behind the band, informed us that a few days before the concert 2 of the band's members quit. (The bass and the guitar player). So he had two options: or to cancel the concerts, or to find two new members to replace them.
He chose the second option, because he didn't want to cancel, but the problem was that these 2 new members didn't have the time to learn all the songs (especially the more complicated ones). That's why their show this time would be smaller in length. Reading reviews from their older concerts I knew that they usually play 2.5 hours at least. Well, this time they didn't. The whole concert lasted for almost 2 hours, which is not bad at all.
  During the first 4-5 songs it was obvious that they were trying to "find their steps", especially the 2 new members, but after a while everything went fine. The seventh song in the setlist was 'Of a Lifetime' on which the keyboard player Daisy Chapman took over the vocals, and that was the point where the band started to play really well. After that, everything was great! The sound became better, the band gained their confidence back, and they gave a really good show.
 They played 13 songs in total, having only one song as encore, which was another cover version.
My opinion is that with all the problems the band was facing they performed preety well. They tried to do the best they could in order to please their audience. Maybe their performance didn't reach the standards of their previous ones, but I don't think it was bad. I enjoyed it at least! And when they will visit Athens again, I will be there! :-)
Here you can check the concert's playlist:
Rise up and fight
Black light generator
Jonestown Martin
NO!
Born in a hurricane
Song for the loved
Of a lifetime
Fantastic justice
Troublemaker
444
We forgotten who we are
Burnt Reynolds
Encore:
Let the day begin
In the following video you can see what happened at the end of the concert in the song Burnt Reynolds, with the crowd singing along.
Thank you for reading! :-)

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