The Onassis Foundation was set up by Business Magnate Aristotle Onassis in memory of his son Alexander to promote culture, education, health and social solidarity, and they have put their collective muscle behind supporting the live music/creative scene in Greece due to its cultural importance to the country. A well connected organisation active showing support to creative industries with the support of the government? What a novel idea!
Well the Onassis Foundation has set about supporting the creative/musical industries in Greece by staging a number of live concert films, the Stage A/Live project on their YouTube Channel to give the bands, stage hands, videographers, editors, assistants, engineers etc etc a chance to use/showcase their skills in the wake of the global pandemic. The band chosen as the first concert film was psychedelic stoner rock troubadours Nightstalker, one of the bands who I'd say are in the top echelon of Greek rock/metal act. These veterans of the scene (30 years and counting) had their hour long set recorded at Athens' Gagarin 205 Live Space with a comprehensive stage set up, full back line and a film crew capturing every single fuzz drenched note Nightstalker crank out.
Led by irrepressible figure of Argy behind the mic, the maelstrom of Nightstalker kicks off the throbbing Zombie Hour the huge light wall behind Argy pulsating to the thick riffage of Tolis Motsios (guitar) and Andreas Lagios (bass) as drummer Dinos Roulos thunders the band organised in a practice square all facing each other to work off each others vibes. As the blistering twosome of Forever Stoned and Just A Burn got the show going properly the production team managed to add a cinematic style to the show, documentary style camera work was giving it a guerrilla feel while the slo-mos and the visual effects brought the show some flourishes you never normally get from a concert film. After the killer cut of Baby, God Is Dead, The Dog That No-One Wanted brought some additional vocals by Tonia Antoniou and Nina Foskolou who stick around for the haunting Sad Side Of The City. At 55 minutes the show was a perfect introduction to anyone watching the bands for the first time but also one that treated the band with the sort of stage show they deserve filmed by a professional crew. I'm looking forward the future shows they have planned as this show was a real showcase of not just of the band but of the Greek creative industries in general.
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