OVER THE RAINBOW @ Gagarin 205
\r\nIt was 9 am when I got off the Attica train station and gone rushing to 205 number of Liosion avenue in order to report for Over The Rainbow’s concert in Athens. At first, without wearing my glasses, I didn’t see the hundreds of people who were waiting patiently outside the venue in order to enter a concert that two hours later would be characterised as "an unforgettable experience" by many of the people who attended the concert at Monday night. But what was the surprise to all of these facts?\r\n
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\r\nI am, surely, not talking about the delay of the door opening or the concert itself which would begin at 9 am and 9:30 according to the schedule. The first surprise of the night was the number of the people who attended the concert, which had been characterized with many offending words during the days before it took place and it was a number of people NOBODY expected to see, truly a SOLD OUT concert. The surprises of that night were many to follow...\r\n
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\r\nAfter trying so hard to reach the front rows in order to have the best possible view of the stage, at 10 am Over The Rainbow, after a short intro, hit the stage with "Tarot Woman" with J.L. Turner giving a tremendous performance and the rest of the band seeming well organized. Without any break O.T.R. continued with All-time classic "Kill The King" and that was the time when the venue was set on fire with Turner inviting the second floor to be a part of the show. OTR went on with "Can’t Let You Go" where 57 year old Turner had the exact poser attitude, that we all love to hate and hate to love at the same time, and a performance (both in moves and in voice) of a teenager. The crowd begun to rest during "Death Alley Driver", "Eyes Of The World", "Ariel" and "Wolf To The Moon" where also the sound wasn’t the best possible. J.L. Turner and the rest of the band especially Greg Smith seemed to enjoy themselves with the crowd’s reaction with J.L. admitting that Athens was the best crowd of the whole tour and repeatedly shaking hands with the front rows. "I Surrender" and "Man On The Silver Mountain" seemed enough to drive the 800-900 people crowd even wilder and then there was a moment of sheer talent exhibition when Turner sang "Jealous Lover" a capela before the rest of the band followed him. Rondinelli (and J.R. Blackmore earlier) was applauded by the crowd during his drum solo which leaded to the wonderfully played "Stargazer". OTR wished us goodnight after "Long Live Rock n Roll" and then three (!!!) encores followed including "Gates Of Babylon", "Since You’ve been Gone" and "Can’t Happen Here" and at the end OTR performed "Spotlight Kid" (it wasn’t on the setlist) as a "thank you" to the people who attended the show. Some people say that best things happen when they’re unexpected and this saying was fully confirmed on Monday night.\r\n
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\r\nReport: Christos Zarkadakis\r\n
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\r\nPhotos: Jim Hatzimoisis \r\n
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