Dead Can Dance @ Odeon Herodes Atticus 03.07.2019

Dead Can Dance finished their European "A Celebration - Life & Works 1980-2019 Tour" in Athens Greece, performing live at the ancient theatre Odeon Herodes Atticus under the Acropolis. Despite the heatwave, the setting was perfect, the hot evening was eventually cooler than expected and the crowd that sold out the concert was in joyful mood.

Dead Can Dance took to the stage at exactly 9:20 as scheduled. Lisa Gerrard, dressed in an impressive long white gown, and Brendan Perry were backed by six more musicians, one being Brendan’s brother, Robert Perry. They started in the best of ways with "Anywhere Out of the World" the opener from the 1987 album "Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun". They continued with "Mesmerism", "Labour of Love" and one of my favorites "Avatar". The setlist for this tour in general was a fans dream, with Lisa and Branden taking turns on vocals. On "In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated", Brendan’s voice was captivating and majestic, sounding even better than the studio recordings. Then they played "Bylar" and "Xavier", after which all left the stage except Lisa and Robert who stayed to perform the thrilling "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" on which Lisa’s voice gave us shivers down our spines. Straight after we were once again mesmerized by Lisa’s heavenly vocals with "Sanvean". Their performance continued with "Indoctrination (A Design for Living) " the spiritual "Yulunga (Spirit Dance)", "The Carnival Is Over", the otherworldly "The Host of Seraphim", "Amnesia" and the Deleyaman cover "Autumn Sun", the only track where we heard Lisa sing in a conventional way. They ended their set with a powerful ritualistic take of "Dance of the Bacchantes", the only track from their latest album "Dionysus".

For the first encore, Brendan delivered us a great version of the Tim Buckley song "Song to the Siren" followed by one of their most loved songs "Cantara". After an enthusiastic applause from the filled theater they returned for a second captivating encore with the songs "The Promised Womb" and "Severance". The whole band returned to the stage and bowed before the audience who showed their appreciation for the magical night and unique experience, applauding franticly.