Balkon 3 report on Dead Can Dance concert in Thessaloniki.
Can a fan of over 20 years objectively and realistically describe an artist’s performance or event? Is it possible to forget for just one moment how lucky I was to finally get a chance to see Dead Can Dance live in concert? Their music captured my soul the very first time I heard them, and I couldn’t help but wonder, why Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry had to make a 16-year-long break from their work together, after the Spiritchaser album.
Long 16 years during which they did not stop making music. They released solo albums, collaborated with other artists and composed music for films and documentaries. Gerrard and Perry released their ninth album this year, and after such a long pause the only logical title was Anastasis (resurrection – Greek), a title perfectly befitting the power, beauty and unique, fascinating sound and vision of Dead Can Dance.
The band set off on a world tour and came very close to their Macedonian fans. From 19th – 23rd September they had three concerts in Istanbul, Thessaloniki and Athens. A 4000-strong audience filled the Gis Theatre (Theatre of the Earth) on 21st September, with at least a hundred visitors from Macedonia and a lot more from Bulgaria and Serbia.
Gis Theatre is a fantastic venue with excellent acoustics and perfect sound system. Phrases like “out of this world”, “impeccable performance” or “unprecedented experience” may sound exaggerated and subjective, but Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, together with their touring band, can only be described by such words. That windy evening in Thessaloniki they brought the audience to an emotional catharsis and ecstasy by performing only a part of their impressive repertoire. They focused on the eight songs from the latest album, which Perry describes as a meeting point of musical styles from the Middle East and the Mediterranean, North Africa, Turkey and Greece.
They focused on the eight songs from the latest album, which Perry describes as a meeting point of musical styles from the Middle East and the Mediterranean, North Africa, Turkey and Greece.
“I love eastern influences as a result of the position of this region, between the East and the West, the kaleidoscopic mosaic of mixed cultures, and the further you go towards the West you find mono-cultural societies.”, says Perry.
Mediterranean hot air was felt in two songs they perform on this tour and are not part of the Anastasis album. They are adaptations of an Arabic love song “Lamma Bada”, and the song that caused an eruption of excitement in the audience “Ime Prezakias” – a Greek folk song, originally performed by the Queen of Rebetiko Roza Eskenazi, in the 1930s. We were privileged to hear several songs from the impressive opus of Gerrard and Perry: Rakim, The Host of Serafim, Nierika, The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove, Sanvean and Dreams Made Flesh. Fans could probably make a list of songs they did not perform. Ah, if only a concert would last for hours and hours…
In the end, all we can do is hope there won’t be another 16 years of waiting for a new Dead can Dance album. And, maybe, on their next tour we’ll get a chance to see these brilliant artists live in Macedonia.
Nikola Ilievski
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