
and Tombstone
Proudly Present:
HAMMERFALL & GAMMA
RAY
ATHENS, RODON CLUB Oct.13, 1997
The Rodon club was packed early before the
show containing two of the world's top Heavy Metal bands. It would soon be proven that it
was worth the wait, since the bands gave their best to satisfy the 1500 fans. It was the
second show in Athens and also the last of the tour, and it proved to be an unforgettable
one. The show started at 8:30PM with Hammerfall on stage. They started with "Children
of the Damned", and continued for 45 more minutes, playing pure Power Metal. When I
heard their album I was impressed but I had never expected such a "mind blowing"
show from them. Well now I can say it without hesitation. Yes sir they are the most
promising band around. They played "Glory to the Brave","Unchained",
"The Dragon Lies Bleeding", "Steel Meets Steel", and of course
"Hammerfall".They really kicked some ass, with Joacim running around the stage
and entertaining the audience, making them sing as loud as possible several times. Joacim
is certainly one of the best frontmen around.
After a short brake it was time for Kai Hansen
and Gamma Ray to hit the stage at Rodon Club. Kai was in a very funny mood, and drove the
crowd crazy (I really mean it). He jumped from the balcony to the crowd (!!!), he was
playing with the audience all the time, he was pumping up the volume of his guitar with
every song he was playing. They played for almost 150(!!!) minutes, giving us an
unforgettable show. During the show Hammerfall went up the stage dressed in black trash
bugs, looking like mini skirts on them, wearing wigs on their head, and holding a sign
writing RAMMAGAY (!!!) on it. It
was pretty funny to see the guys acting like... well you know like
what! During the encores Joacim from
Hammerfall sang "Future World", and the rest of the band were doing stagedive all
the time. Gamma Ray gave us one hell of a show playing songs from their new album, and
also older songs. They also played a song that they hadn't played for a longtime. They
gave us the pleasure to hear "Ride the Sky." During "Future World" Kai
Hansen was walking around the audience, singing with them, giving handshakes, and having
the time of his life. Or at least he seemed to have the time of his life.
After the show ended we all were fucking exhausted. I was
feeling more tired than Kai Hansen should be, but I would of stayed there the whole night,
if that was what Kai wanted. I can't wait for the next time they will play Athens. I'm
going to be there without even thinking twice about it.