Live Report: Wayfarer, Aetherian, Manos Six & The Muddy Devil
Place: An Club, Athens, Greece
Date: June 4th, 2024
Live Correspondent: Kostas Boudoukos
There are concerts you know what to expect. Concerts that you know will be sold out and others that you expect fail for different reasons. The first live show of WAYFARER in Greece was a mystery for me. WAYFARER do not have a big fan base in Greece (at least that’s what I thought!) so I wouldn’t be surprised if they had to play in a half empty venue. Despite the fact that AETHERIAN could gather quite a crowd by themselves. At the historic An Club we gathered on a Tuesday night about 300 metalheads to headbang with no mercy to the rhythms of American atmospheric black metal.
First on stage were MANOS SIX & THE MUDDY DEVIL who prepared us for the journey to Far West. I found out about Manos Six only recently with his participation on “Vysodomontas”, the last album of THE MAGUS and indeed on a song that I described as the best of the album so I was curious to see him play live with his band. With his amazing and very special voice, he managed to turn An into a saloon somewhere in the wild plains of the American West. Slow-tempo, heavy and somewhat depressing melodies with the dominating banjo setting the tone and in general a particularly theatrical appearance from the band both due to the setlist and the musicians’ appearance. To be honest it is a difficult music genre especially for a live show but they were the perfect fit for this particular show and the audience responded enthusiastically.
Setlist
- Evil is the Law
- Lucifer
- The Devil will Take me by the Hand
- Old Time Religion
- Sound of the Dead
- Willow Tree
- Fire
- Ain’t no Grave
At around 09:40 the stage turned into a battlefield with AETHERIAN leading the battle and the rest of us following. I knew that they are one of the best bands of their genre in Greece, but I think their performance on stage exceeded my expectations. Their excellent last album, “At Storm’s Edge” was one of the reasons that I really enjoyed AETHERIAN and judging by the voting in our Christmas event, many of you liked it too. Their singer, Panos, is an unstoppable beast on stage. He even left the stage to join the audience during ‘Primordial Woods’, my favorite song by the band. Overall, a flawless performance that really warmed up the audience.
A little earlier than planned, at around 10:40, WAYFARER stepped onto a Greek stage for the first time. I don’t know if it’s my idea but they seemed a bit surprised by what our reactions and they clearly told us that as an audience we lived up to their expectations. Another thing Shane mentioned both in the interview and during the show was their love for the Greek extreme metal music scene referring to VARATHRON and DEAD CONGREGATION. Shane McCarthy is excellent on vocals, bassist Jamie Hansen is also very good on backing vocals, the guitarist Truscelli is an imposing figure but for me the drummer Isaac Faulk was the biggest attraction. Incredibly fast and technical drumming with the energy overflowing and the sweat dripping from the first five minutes. After all, I have a sweet tooth for drums, so Isaac easily impressed me. From the beginning, with the beloved “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise” to the end with “Animal Crown” from the album “World’s Blood”, the pace did not drop for a moment and dark Americana and Western American folk music alternated with classic atmospheric black. In front of the stage you could see a small sea of heads that were going up and down rhythmically and some small but vibrant death pits in the center of the venue.
Setlist
- The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise
- The Cattle Thief
- To Enter My House Justified
- The Crimson River (Gallows Frontier, Act I)
- 1934
- Black Plumes Over God’s Country
- The Iron Horse (Gallows Frontier, Act II)
- False Constellation
- Animal Crown
I can’t imagine that WAYFARER will not come to Greece again on their next European tour, especially since the leader of the tour is also Greek. The audience response was enthusiastic, the attendance given the circumstsnces (Tuesday night, band relatively unknown to many people, plenty of other big live shows to come) was excellent and people left with big smiles on their faces. So their return in our country is a one-way street…
PS 1: Excellent prices for the merch (15€ for the t-shirt, 10€ for the cd, 20€ for the LP) since probably An Club does not follow the policy of other venues with the extravagant charges for merch sales .
PS 2: Ideal conditions for a live show especially in terms of sound and ventilation.
PS 3: The bad habit of smoking indoors has back again. Let’s fix this…
Live Correspondent: Kostas Boudoukos
Design & Editing: Kostas Boudoukos
Photographs/Video: Kostas Boudoukos
External Links: WAYFARER – Facebook Page
AETHERIAN – Facebook Page
MANOS SIX & THE MUDDY DEVIL – Facebook Page
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