Following Swans performance on Thursday, another veteran of the American scene came on stage at Gagarin Club on Friday night. Greg Dulli is, of course, a frequent visitor to our city - with all his various bands - and after The Gutter Twins period, it was The Twilight Singers turn to climb on stage.
If you have seen an artist play live several times, you have a pretty good idea as to what to expect and this is not necessarily a bad thing. When said artist comes with a great new album in his suitcase, as is the case of 'Dynamite Steps', you have high hope that you will have a pretty good time. And our hopes became a reality on Friday evening as The Twilight Singers delivered a great show.
The evening started very early, contrary to the usual practices, because of the band's early flight to the next stop of their tour and as a result we lost the opportunity to see His Majesty The King Of Spain who opened the show and played in front of a minimal crowd.
We should note that there was insufficient information on the early start time of the concert, so when we entered Gagarin Club around 9:25', what we saw was an half empty club while the support band had already finished their set. The view of the small audience in attendance was pretty disappointing - the numbers improved somewhat by the time The Twilight Singers came on stage - and I don't know if it was fatigue from the oversupply of different concerts in recent days or due to the ticket price, but the band certainly deserved more attention from the crowd.
At exactly 10 o' clock Greg Dulli and company entered Gagarin' s stage and it was obvious, right from the start, that at least the band was in a good mood. What followed was a tight 80minute set with few pauses and even fewer words. With Greg, smiling but less talkative than we're used to, in great form on vocals, shifting from guitar to the piano, while the band accompanied him like a well-oiled machine, the Twilight Singers played a well paced set that included songs from their whole discography (from 'Annie Mae' and 'King Only' of their first album 'Twilight as Played by The Twilight Singers' til this year's 'Dynamite Steps'), as well as the obligatory covers (either as whole songs like Martina Topley-Bird's 'Too Tough To Die' or as parts like 'All you need is love' by the Beatles' or Kanye West's 'All of the lights' or 'Fever').
Around 11:20 the band said their goodnights and off they were to catch their plane and although we had hoped for a longer set - which, with the band in top form, would have certainly resulted in an extraordinary night, we nevertheless left Gagarin satisfied from everything we saw and heard.
Setlist:
Last Night In Town
Fat City
Beginning Of The End
I'm Ready
She Was Stolen
Don't Call (Desire cover)
Too Tough To Die (Martina Topley-Bird cover)
Love
Annie Mae
King Only
Bonnie Brae
Teenage Wristband
Candy Cane Crawl
Never Seen No Devil
On The Corner
Encore:
The Killer
Gunshots
Underneath the Waves
The Twilight Singers - On the corner (live in Athens)
If you have seen an artist play live several times, you have a pretty good idea as to what to expect and this is not necessarily a bad thing. When said artist comes with a great new album in his suitcase, as is the case of 'Dynamite Steps', you have high hope that you will have a pretty good time. And our hopes became a reality on Friday evening as The Twilight Singers delivered a great show.
We should note that there was insufficient information on the early start time of the concert, so when we entered Gagarin Club around 9:25', what we saw was an half empty club while the support band had already finished their set. The view of the small audience in attendance was pretty disappointing - the numbers improved somewhat by the time The Twilight Singers came on stage - and I don't know if it was fatigue from the oversupply of different concerts in recent days or due to the ticket price, but the band certainly deserved more attention from the crowd.
At exactly 10 o' clock Greg Dulli and company entered Gagarin' s stage and it was obvious, right from the start, that at least the band was in a good mood. What followed was a tight 80minute set with few pauses and even fewer words. With Greg, smiling but less talkative than we're used to, in great form on vocals, shifting from guitar to the piano, while the band accompanied him like a well-oiled machine, the Twilight Singers played a well paced set that included songs from their whole discography (from 'Annie Mae' and 'King Only' of their first album 'Twilight as Played by The Twilight Singers' til this year's 'Dynamite Steps'), as well as the obligatory covers (either as whole songs like Martina Topley-Bird's 'Too Tough To Die' or as parts like 'All you need is love' by the Beatles' or Kanye West's 'All of the lights' or 'Fever'). Around 11:20 the band said their goodnights and off they were to catch their plane and although we had hoped for a longer set - which, with the band in top form, would have certainly resulted in an extraordinary night, we nevertheless left Gagarin satisfied from everything we saw and heard.
Setlist:
Last Night In Town
Fat City
Beginning Of The End
I'm Ready
She Was Stolen
Don't Call (Desire cover)
Too Tough To Die (Martina Topley-Bird cover)
Love
Annie Mae
King Only
Bonnie Brae
Teenage Wristband
Candy Cane Crawl
Never Seen No Devil
On The Corner
Encore:
The Killer
Gunshots
Underneath the Waves
The Twilight Singers - On the corner (live in Athens)