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Live Report Anathema

Bands: Anathema - Demians
City: Lyon (France)
Venue: CCO
Date: 2008-11-01
Audience: 300 people


The three musicians who compose Demians form a line at the front of the stage. On the left, Nicolas Chapel, vocalist and guitarist. In the middle, Gaël Hallier, the new drummer, who is here tonight to show the audience just how talented he really is. On the right, Antoine Pohu plays bass. The songs they’ll perform tonight are taken from their album “Building an Empire” – all but one, an exclusive song composed only recently.


The pre-recorded string orchestration creates a very special atmosphere from the very beginning of the show and the beautiful “Sapphire”. The orchestra replaces the keyboard, that the band has declared absent. The music is precise thanks to a meticulous rhythm section. Gaël seems deeply concentrated on his drums, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given that he joined the band a mere two weeks before going on tour. Antoine seems carried away by his bass lines, and Nicolas, the band’s leader and mentor, presents with strong assurance the songs he has composed and recorded on his own. Leaving the studio to conquer the stage must have been quite a scary and impressive step forward to Nicolas, who has a reputation of being very shy. But the man seems to cope very well with the exercise – to have fun, even. His performance is agreeable, and his songs are a very nice mix of metal riffs, acoustic arpeggios and progressive structures.


The vocals sometimes differ from those on the album – some passages have altogether vanished. But there is only so much a single man can do on stage, and singing the lead vocals and choirs at the same time is just impossible. On the song “Sand”, the catchy voices have disappeared, which noticeably reduces the emotional impact of the song. But apart from these small imperfections, there is no denying the quality of the performance, especially when you consider that the band was still totally unknown only a year ago. Anathema is apparently aware of this quality, and the band has never hesitated to drag the youngsters on tour with them.


Anathema is a band that needs space to commune with its audience. A band that needs time to express what it has to say.

Anathema is like the joy that chases away the tears. The sadness that makes your compassion smile. A mountain of emotions that can make your head spin. An ambiguity that lasts till you finally come back to earth after climbing down.

Tonight, Anthema recited the perfect poem.


When human beings open their hearts the way they did tonight, trying to dissect their show would be like skinning them alive. This kind of experience should not be read. It should be lived.

Let it be said.


Setlist Anathema:

Intro: Parisienne Moonlight
Deep
Closer
Far Away
Angels Walk Among Us (new song)
A Simple Mistake (new song)
Empty
Judgement / Panic
Shroud Of False / Lost Control
Regret
Hope (David Gilmour / Roy Harper cover)
Temporary Peace
Flying
Are You There (Hindsight version)
One Last Goodbye (Hindsight version)
Angelica
Sleepless
Hindsight
Fragile Dreams

Encore:
Inner Silence
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover)

Total time: 2h05

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