Shadow Gallery, Live In Athens, Oct. 10, 2010

On Sunday Shadow Gallery played in Athens, Greece and history was made.

Not knowing what to expect, although a fan for over a decade, I went to this show half curious half anxious. Would they live up to their studio recordings? Could Brian Ashland do a decent job replacing Mike Baker live? Will they be a tight outfit or no touring experience will result in a sloppy show?

Well 5 seconds in, all my questions were answered. I’ve been to numerous shows the last 15 years that I actively follow the rock/metal music scene, and I can safely say that their concert was one of the very best I’ve ever been to, especially regarding musicianship. What was that? Who Theater? :lol:

Not only did they pull off their studio wizardry in a perfect fashion live but they did it with such ease like they this was their 10th or 15th world tour. Multiple vocal harmonies? there, multiple guitar lines? there, multiple keyboard layers? there… all of it playing to a tee. And with such EASE… they made it look like it was a walk in the park.

There were times that 4 guitars were wailing on stage, at other times 3 keyboards playing at the same time, Cadden-James even brought a flute at somepoint. These guys are expert multi-instrumentalists and masters at their game. Gary Wehrkamp was switching from keys to guitars to drums all the time, while singing backup continuously.

Their setlist consisted of mostly songs off Tyranny, Room V and Digital Ghost but they still had a few songs off their other 3 records (the eponymous, Carved In Stone, Legacy), paying tribute to their entire catalogue. Just after an hour in the show, mad drummer Joe Nevolo did a 9 minute insane drum solo, which contained even drumming on the stage supports and a microphone!

When time came for Crystalline Dream to be played the 700-strong crowd almost demolished the building (as you can see from the video below), even crowdsurfing took place! After 1hr 40m they went off stage for a few minutes then returned to the crowd’s loud applause and played 2 more songs for the encore. During the last of which, Gold Dust, singer Brian Ashland ventured into the audience while singing the first couple of verses.

All in all ’twas a great night and certainly one to remember. If they announce a date near you make sure you don’t miss it.

Videos from the Show:









Setlist:

Stiletto In The Sand
War For Sale
Mystery
Deeper Than Life
Pain
Destination Unknown
Questions At Hand
Ghost of a Chance
Digital Ghost (Intro/teaser)
Brian's Solo Piece
Strong
Joe's Drum Solo
Strong Part II
Keyboard Segue
Andromeda Strain
Crystalline Dream
Haunted

Encore:
Room V
Gold Dust