Wayne Hussey, frontman of The Mission,
visited Greece once again, this time promoting his autobiography entitled
"Salad Daze" that was published by Omnibus Press in May. After a UK
tour he was now on the road of a full European acoustic tour making a stop here
in Athens at Second Skin club. Wayne, alone on stage gave a really great
acoustic show, performing a wide range of songs from his career.
Opening act was Phoebus Water, a new
Greek duo that consists of Tatiana Stavroulaki and Apostolos Lagarias. Tatiana
is known to the local scene since she was the singer of the 90’s alternative
band Common Sense. With Tatiana on vocals and acoustic guitar and Apostolo on
electric guitar they performed a small set, introducing us to their fragile
acoustic and atmospheric songs, topped with Tatiana’s melodic and emotional
voice.
Seated on a low stool, wearing his
shades at legendary hat, Wayne Hussey took his acoustic guitar and played us many Mission
songs such as "That Tears Shall Drown The Wind", "Garden Of
Delight", "Severina" and "Like A Child Again". He was
very talkative with crowd, in good humor and also told us a small story of how
as a young kid he wanted to play football for Liverpool but after seeing Marc
Bolan on Top Of The Pops he found what he really wanted to do. Having said
that, he played us his first song he had ever written.
Then he switched position and seated at
the piano he played us some more Mission songs like "Dragonfly", "Naked
And Savage" and the covers "Mr. Pleasant" by the Kinks and the
Nine Inch Nails classic "Hurt". He performed really well all the
songs, his voice sounded great and in general he delivered with passion and in
a very intimate way. We bared witness to his songwriting skills that have
penned down some of the most iconic compositions of the last decades.
When he took to center stage again, this
time taking an electric guitar he performed some more dynamic takes of songs
such as "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan and "Jade"
from the Mission last album "Another Fall From Grace". At this point
we got to hear his slow version of The Sisters Of Mercy track
"Marian". He made a lot of loops with his pedals and also he was
backed on some tracks with drum machine.
Towards the end he also played the
Liverpool football anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone" with some of the
crowd joining in. For a finale he changed again to acoustic guitar and played a
medley of songs consisted of "Beyond The Pale", "Never
Again", "Tower Of Strength", the Depeche Mode cover "Personal
Jesus" and "Wasteland". In this way he ended an extraordinary
set that lasted for about two and a half hours!
Review and photos by Nick Drivas
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