After Athens and Thessaloniki, Larissa was the next stop of the Warlord Greek tour and also the final one. I know that Wednesday is in the middle of the week, people have jobs etc.etc… That doesn’t justify the fact that the venue wasn’t at least 70% full. The opportunities to host such concerts in cities like Larissa are incredibly rare. Αren’t there enough metalheads in Thessaly, to fill a live club like Bareladiko?
Anyway, back to the topic. Τhe band that had the difficult task to open for Warlord, was the Greek band Reload. I wasn’t familiar, at all, with their work and the only recognizable face for me on stage was Kostas Tokas, who also sings for Power Crue, but from what I saw and heard, we are dealing with a professional band, very energetic on stage and with faith in what they play. The band delivered melodic heavy rock of the highest quality and even though I am not a fan of the genre, I have to admit that i enjoyed their time on stage. Their first album will be released soon so anyone who digs this kind of music should check them out now!
After Reload, it was Warlord’s time to command the stage. Well, I had the pleasure to witness the first sold out concert in Athens in 2013 and seeing them live for the first time was a divine experience and I was sure that this time it would be even better especially with the current line-up! They proved me right.
First of all, having Giles Lavery replaced by Nicholas Leptos was the right move, that launched the live experience of the band sky high. It only took the first couple of seconds of ‘Lucifer’s Hammer’ for the crowd to go crazy. The set list was the pretty much the same as last year’s, with the exception of ‘Penny For The Poor Man’, ‘Father’ and ‘Soliloquy’ that were replaced with ‘Battle Of The Living Dead’, ‘Night Of The Fury’ and ’70.000 Sorrows’. The crowd sung along the lyrics to the songs and even the sultry heat could not stop the band and fans from having a great time.
Bill Tsamis was an imperious figure on stage, fully concentrated, playing exactly as in the albums. Mark Zonder, the silent force, pounding the drums and giving a seminar on stage! Paolo Viani with his unmistakable playing and the incredible guitar duels with Tsamis. Incredible performance from Angelo Vafeiadis giving it all as always, playing with passion and completing the songs, after all keyboards play a primary role in Warlord’s music. Gary Wehrkamp of Shadow Gallery, a masterful bass player, never stopped smiling during the concert .His backing vocals blended perfectly with Nicholas Leptos’ voice, for whom let’s just say he is the Damien King that Bill Tsamis was searching all these years! After the show, Bill and Mark signed autographs and took pictures with the fans!
The band stood victorious on Greek soil once again! The fans now wait eagerly for a new album that will probably be ready sometime in 2015. Until the next time the cannons of destruction resound, we will wait.
Setlist:
Lucifer’s Hammer
Mrs. Victoria
Battle Of The Living Dead
Winter Tears
Black Mass
War In Heaven
Glory
Aliens
Night Of The Fury
Lost And Lonely Days
City Walls Of Troy
Kill Zone
Winds Of Thor
Child Of The Damned
Achilles Revenge
Encore:
Deliver Us From Evil
70,000 Sorrows
Photos and videos can be found here!
