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.
Review +
photos by Nick Drivas.
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