The last act of this great Hard Rock band was a farewell tour where Talisman would give the fans the last chance to watch them live. Luckily, Greece was found in the tour program for the first and the last time. The band gave two shows (Thessalonica and Athens) on the 24th and 25th of May, 2007. Metal Express Radio had the opportunity to be present at the Athenian show where Pretty Maids made a guest appearance to top things off.
The show was held in probably the most adequate club in Athens, named Gagarin 205. The ventilation was pretty good, the stage was big, and the light show was satisfactory. Additionally, you can have a good view of the stage from almost any place in the club.
Pretty Maids took over the stage and surprised everyone performing the old time classic “Back To Back,” making the whole club sing along. The audience welcomed the band with great enthusiasm, underlining the fact that the band should have visited Greece earlier. It was almost a shock to watch a band after all these years looking pretty old compared to the album pictures. Despite their looks, the band’s performance was top notch with great energy and a party mood.
As a guest appearance, the Maids had only one hour to play, so they wisely chose to perform classic tunes with four additions from the latest (and very good) release Wake Up To The Real World. Atkins was in a very good mood and his voice was in very good shape, though it sounded a little bit low. The show ended with the classic encore featuring “Future World” and, of course, the groovy Hard Rock hymn “Red Hot And Heavy.”
After the show, during the preparations for Talisman, everyone was saying that the Maids should return with a headline show because one hour was surely not enough.
Setlist:
Back To Back * Rock The House * Wake Up To The Real World * Such A Rush * Yellow Rain * Another Shot Of Your Love * Wouldn’t Miss You * Brave Young New Breed * Please Don’t Leave Me * Love Games * Future World * Red Hot And Heavy
The stage for Talisman was ready pretty quick (by Greek standards), so after a recorded intro, another classic Hard Rock band was upon the stage, even though there were two last minute lineup changes in the lead guitar (Brian Young) and behind the drum kit (Jamie Borger). Jeff Scott Soto’s successful gig in September of 2005 in Athens has created a pretty solid fan base for Talisman’s frontman, who was enthusiastically welcomed as soon as he appeared on stage with the track “Falling.” He actually met the audience’s anticipation with his restless performance and the a la Michael Jackson dancing figures. His vocal performance was really great, showing everyone that he was enjoying the last Talisman tour. “Back To The Feeling” was performed in two parts, implementing a rather long piano medley that was followed by the perfect cover version of Madonna’s “Frozen,” where everybody was singing, and the groovy “I’ll Be Waiting.”
The audience wanted some more, so the band spiced things up with some jamming on Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper,” Black Sabbath’s “Heaven And Hell,” Bon Jovi’s “Living On Prayer” and “You Give Love A Bad Name,” and even Kiss’s “I Was Made For Loving You.” After the encore, “Standing On Fire” and the cover version of Seal’s “Crazy,” Talisman was “forced” to play some more, so they did another cover song on Ozzy’s “I Don’t Know.”
The sound quality was poor at the beginning, but got better somewhere in the middle of the setlist. After almost two hours, the end of the show found everyone with a smile on their face, despite the fact that it would definitely be better to watch the original lineup.
Setlist:
Falling * Colour My XTC * Mysterious * Coming Home/U4ia * Chains * A Life/DOAPS * Day By Day * Hear 2day Gone 2day * Give Me A Sign * Tears In The Sky * Bass Solo * All Or Nothing * Outta My Way * All Or Nothing (Pt2) * In Make Believe * Back To The Feeling * Piano Medley * Frozen * I’ll Be Waiting * Back To The Feeling (Pt 2) * Standing On Fire * Crazy * I Don’t Know
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