Live At Gagarin 205, Athens, Greece Live Review

Talisman with Pretty Maids Live At Gagarin 205

Country: Athens, Greece

Date: May 25, 2007

by: Dr. Dimitris Kontogeorgakos from Metal Express Radio
Line Up: Jeff Scott Soto - Vocals , Marcel Jacob - Bass , Brian Young - Guitars, Magnus Ulfstedt - Drums

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.

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 line-up 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 line-up.

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