Saturday the 1st of July found us at the second day of Chania Rock Festival, which was warmer in terms of weather conditions, including even more hot performances from: the all-mighty WARLORD, the living legend Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons, our own music heroes Innerwish , the Italian thrashers Eversin and the youth local band from Chania, the Hemingways!
Filled up with much energy from the first day but also burned both literally (by the sun) and metaphorically (from desire), we stood up under the blazing sun - sweating before even the rhythm of music shake us!
Shortly after 17:30, the local teenage band Hemingways entered the stage with appetite for presenting their interesting set, despite the fact that really few people had gathered to enjoy the bands early (obviously they preferred the near by beaches of the island - but it is good to support bands that come out early ...) Anyway, blame it to the heat or the sun that burned all the brave ones to patiently wait for the day to pass by, and mostly lack of experience, we would say affected the guys best efforts to impress us, yet they seem to had a lot of good intentions, since they wanted to play a bit more but due to the strict time schedule that was not possible! Their set included mostly covers from various bands and one song of them titled Back in Time. Well done to Hemingways' who literally took the baptism of fire at the scene of Chania Rock Festival! We wish them the best for the future!
Hemingways Setlist: Glorious Sons - White Noise, Cage The Elephant - Drones in the Valley, Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, Wolfmother - Apple Tree, Hemingways - Back in Time
It was time for the Italian thrashers Eversin to hit the stage! I confess I had never heard them before, and for me it was the pleasant surprise of the festival as they impressed me unexpectedly! Pure-and-aggressive sound, ONLY THRASH with epic power traces that can easily be called in one sentence "The Sound of War"! Really search about them and you wont miss!
Eversins' performance - under such prevailing conditions - was flawless and therefore they deserve a huge RESPECT as they were ripped with the unbearable heat and the sun that hit them steadily! However- their unstoppable force - lasted and so they won us! As a response to the very few crowd that applauded them from downstairs the scene ... their vocalist threw some t-shirts and cd's! Lucky bastards! Deliriant isti Siculi... (Those Sicilians are crazy!)
Their set started off with song Flagellum Dei from their most recent album Trinity : The Annihilation (2015), and continued with Tears on the Face of God from the 2012 homonymous album. The setlist was mainly based on Trinity, with Chaosborn and We Prevail and for closing the Crown of Nails as long as the homonymus Trinity. Very powerful performance for the Italians, who gained the impressions of those paying attention from close or far from the scene and I wish they were playing later so more people could listen them!
My opinion is that we should definitely see them in Greece again !
Eversin Setlist: Flagellum Dei, Tears on The Face of God, Chaosborn, We will Prevail, Crown of Nails, Trinity
Next band, our guys ... Innerwish! Just a day after their show in Athens at Rockwave Festival, they returned after 10+ years at Chania Rock Festival scene, refreshed and in full throttle , followed by their commited hard core fans!
Their set was based on their latest album Innerwish but they also played songs of their glorious past ... such a record-breaking journey shouldn't go un-heard! They started with the classic Silent Faces ... to warm us up (not that it was needed of course!) and continued with the impressive Modern Babylon, Sirens and Broken , accompanied by the crowds' singing along!
Change with the atmospheric Rain of a Thousand Years while ... shortly before the end of their show another two masterpieces Travellers In Time and Needles in My Mind that blew our minds away, to close with something tricky Ready for Attack! If they had played Burning Desires ... I'd miss my voice soon ...
Innerwish always maintain this very familiar good atmosphere and enjoy themselves by communicating with the audience and without hesitating to do their own tricks ... even with the help of barbie dolls ...: p It also worth's mentioning that they didn't missed to refer at their first appearance before many years at Chania and their emotions for people who are no longer with us! This way Innerwish family with their inexhaustible energy, along with cold beers but also cocktails from the outdoor bar inside the bastion arena, wished to enjoy them live again soon!
It was time for what personally gave me an extra incentive to travel to Chania this year, the appearance of Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons for the first time in Greece! How many opportunities will one have to hear and see from closer a living legend as the former Motörhead guitarist? Very few...
Wizzö's band is made up of his three sons and singer Neil Starr, and is exactly what one could expect ... that is, not another Motörhead tribute band but a fresh band with its own repertoire - not much for the present but powerful - moreover with the necessary respect the "descendants" of an original Motörhead member can have! We could not ask for anything else, and that's what we got!
The songs we heard were: Big Mouth and Spiders from their recent EP, which many of the audience especially on the front row knew and sang along, Rock Out and Going to Brazil from Motörhead, their own song Take Aim, and one more NEW and very rhythmic song titled Straight Up, which, as Phil Campbell himself revealed on his interview on RockOverdose.gr , would be the first time they play it live! (And they did!).
The main menu included of course some of the incomparable Motörhead anthems which spread panic all around! Born to Raise Hell, R.A.M.O.N.E.S. and one more song from their EP No Turning Back, as well as a Black Sabbath cover, Children of the Grave, personal favorite of Phil Campbell, who dedicated to Lemmy and Phil Taylor (Phil-thy Animal).
Singer Neil Starr's' stage presence was full of energy, along with Campbell's sons who seem to feel very comfortable. Surprisingly for a moment, at the prompt of Neil Starr, we all raised up our middle finger and shout: "F @ ck You Tyla Campbell!" to launch a freakish mosh-pit on Ace of Spades and Eat the Rich that raised AT LAST dust in the arena by the most ... brave ones!
Silver Machine of Hawkwind followed the set, confirming for once again the huge size of the artist we had in front of us, Wizzö is a real rock star - of unique cool style. Only by standing in front of him, we could feel part of his music legacy!
Just before the closing, the band dedicated next song (We Are) The Road Crew to Giorgos Manouselis - one of the festivals' main contributors who passed away suddenly before some years - Respect!
In the end, one of my personal favorite songs Killed By Death, in which our voice screamed so high that even Lemmy up there could hear and be proud of the music heritage he left behind!
Objectively, the appearance of Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons was one of the best highlights of the weekend that everybody enjoyed, proving that ... They know how to do it and they do it REALLY well! I wish we could see them again soon !!! \m/
It took us a few minutes to get back from the previous crash ... and while the night was coming, the audience was welcoming the mighty Warlord amid cheers and screams!
It's been some time since the band of Bill Tsamis and Mark Zonder honored our country, who worships them at religious level ... yet their rare appearances are enough to spread panic, and hard core Warlord fans follow them everywhere !
The first epic melodies flooded the atmosphere with Lucifer's Hammer that finally fall on us ... following the thrilling Winter Tears! It was the first time I watched Warlord with Nicholas Leptos and I actually noticed the enormous change and how much his style fits into their music, in addition Bill Tsamis was more devoted to his guitar and less communicative, probably exhausted by the heat - however he was even more active in his playing, Mark Zonder behind the drum-kit giving the rhythm and the rest of the band in full energy too , the imposing Philip Bynoe on the bass, the charismatic Paolo Viani on the guitar along with the powerful Angelos Vafeadis on keyboards!
The program continued with the epic Achilles Revenge and my favourite Penny for a Poor Man! The night belonged toWarlord and this was confirmed with Night of the Fury, one of the audience favourites, as well as Lost and Lonely Days and Aliens that followed!
A further reference to the 2012 album The Holy Empire, with the epic City Walls Of Troy whose melody drifted us along with Kill Zone and the ultimate Winds of Thor that really stirred up even the most tired!
Journey back in time again with Battle of the Living Dead and the insane rythm of Mrs. Victoria and Black Mass! As if the strokes were not enough, Soliloquy and 70,000 Sorrows followed to wreck us!
For encore, Warlord had kept their two trademark songs Deliver Us and farewell with Child of the Damned in which the former Warlord singer Giles Lavery appeared for a chorus!
It was an awesome show that words cannot describe the feeling, the natural setting within the walls of San Salvatore Bastion by the sea at a warm summer evening of July accompanied by the enchanting epic Warlord music made the atmosphere idyllic, leaving us memories That will last for long! We hope the next time is soon, until then we will continue to breathe in the winds of... Thor!
\\ W // To The Swords, To The Guns \\W//
Warlord setlist: Lucifer's Hammer - Winter Tears - Night of the Fury - Lost and Lonely Days - Aliens - City Walls Of Troy - Kill Zone - Winds of Thor - Battle of the Living Dead - Mrs. Victoria - Black Mass - Soliloquy - 70,000 Sorrows - Encore: Deliver Us - Child of the Damned
Chania Rock Festival 2017 ended gloriously, letting everyone who chose to visit to make plans for next year! Congratulations to the organisers, to those who worked for the festival, to the bands that delivered their best under such conditions withint the hottest - literally - summer days in terms of temperatures but also the warmest moments in terms of musical experiences! Expectations for next year are much higher and we are looking forward for Chania Rock Festival 2018!
Finally, I would like to thank & cheer all the new friends I met but also the old friends that I met again at Chania and we had a great time together ... Chania Rock Festival connecting is definitely people!
Chania Rock Festival 2018 ... Loading!!!
For RockOverdose,
Vivi Zapantiotou (ivi iviv)
Photographs: Dimitris Stratigopoulos
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