ANTIMATTER

SUPPORT : NATIONAL PORNOGRAPHIC
”Mesogeios Live Stage” Thessaloniki,Greece 

June 1^st 2003

PICS BY:   © Dimitris "Heartcollector83" Theodoropoulos   -    

REVIEW BY  Dimitris "Heartcollector83" Theodoropoulos 

The public use of these fotos   

is strictly prohibited without written permission.

             Duncan Patterson is famous among all Anathema fans and not only.The man who is 70% responsible for the all time classic Anathema’s ‘Alternative 4’ and for many other songs from the very start of the band’s history.On June 1^st we had the honour to see him live not with Anathema but with his new band,Antimatter.It was a concert very different from the usual metal gigs.Everyone was sitting on chairs and the band that consisted of 3 members played on the small stage.
            National Pornographic,from Thessaloniki,were the support act of this gig.Judging from their name I must say I didn’t expect much from this band but I was wrong…they presented a 30 minute set of their own songs which can be described complicated and a bit strange,their influences ranged from hard rock,blues and jazz.They managed to play in some kind of a unique style.On the vocals it was a young lady with a pretty good voice and nice presence on stage.For encore they played a really cool and strange instrumental song with the lead guitar playing some tricky parts while the singer accompanied the song with an acoustic guitar playing chords.They received the crowd’s applause and I think they deserved it.

            The headliner act appeared on stage consisting of Duncan Patterson on electro-acoustic bass, Mick Moss on vocals and acoustic guitar and Mehdi on keyboards.The concert started with the self titles song of the band’s first album called Saviour.The show was based on this album which was performed live almost on it’s entirety.Mick’s voice was very good and warm while Duncan from his side was playing his bass parts with accuracy and feeling.Somewhere in the middle of the show Mick announced that there was going to be a five minute break so he could get his 12 string guitar in tune.During the show the band played 3 new songs from the forthcoming album called Lights Out and it will be released end of June according to Mick.At the band’s merchandise stand there were some promo copies of the album available with bonus tracks and they costed 17 euros.There were also some pretty nice t-shirts.
            Of course it would be impossible not to hear some Anathema songs in this gig,songs that Duncan had written while he was in the band.The seven Anathema songs that were performed that night are : Shroud Of False, Empty, Far Away, Feel, Lost Control, Eternity Part 3 and Destiny.The crowd responded in excitement during the Anathema songs and maybe most of the people that were present there might have come for the Anathema songs mainly(but I am sure they enjoyed the Antimatter material a lot judging from their responses).To be honest I never expected the band to play Empty mainly because this song is based a lot on electric guitar but I was happy to hear the intro of the song and then the guys playing this great song complete keeping it on the same high standards of the original studio version.If I had to chose the best moments of this concert I’d say it was Lost Control,Destiny and of course Empty with the crowd singing every single word of all these songs creating a beautiful atmosphere in the club.The show finished with a cover version of an 80’s pop song as Mick said.The cover was 'mad world' from tears for fears.But this song seemed similar with the Antimatter songs or maybe the band made it into their own style,either way it was a success.

            Everyone who was present in this acoustic gig must have had a great time,the whole thing reminded me of some friends who gathered to play music.The band members were among the crowd before the show exchanging some words with their fans and signing autographs.Duncan must have signed tons of Anathema booklets that night!

Dimitris Theodoropoulos