Inspiration: Lisa Gerrard concert in Pallas Theater, Athens, Greece, 11 November 2007

The cover of the tour program

Dead Can Dance and Lisa Gerrard have always been an inspiration to me, especially when designing. Listening to some of their music makes me create some of my best work. Their combination of music and voice thrills and inspires me the most.

The stage at Pallas before the start of the concert

I had seen Dead can Dance live back in 1996 here in Greece. Now it was Lisa solo, playing at Pallas Theatre in Athens. Of course I could not miss this for the world. And luckily I did not.


The simple but effective stage was punctuated by two big curtains hanging from the rafters, illuminated with colour-changing light both from above and below. Nothing more was needed. Her voice and music is enough to travel you to the furthest reaches of the world, without the use of gimmicks or tricks. Her majestic presence, once she entered the stage, was even more pronounced from her austere hairdo and regal dresses (a white one for the first part, a dark one for the second part), made by her long-time friend, personal assistant and backing vocalist Andrew Hutton.


Always making weird gestures with her hands as she took her position before each song, whispering strange words to the microphone, she commanded attention from her rapt audience with just one look. Her voice, in impeccable form, swept from the lowest to the highest extremes, grabbing you from the heart and taking you with her inside the abyss of the human psyche.


With her was John Bonnar, on keyboards with Dead can Dance for many of their tours, Michael Edwards on piano and vocals and James Orr on electronic percussion. Their craftsmanship and dedication proved crucial to the excellent performance they gave that night.


She performed most of her well known songs, as well as Dead Can Dance songs. "Now We Are Free", "Dreams Are Made Flesh", "Yulunga", "Sanvean", "Salem's Lot", "In Exile", "Space Weaver", "Wandering Star", and others, including a newly written song (whose lyrics she read from paper), made our hearts overflow with sentiment. Many people were crying when listening to the music. I know my eyes welled up many times during that night. The girl next to me was sobbing during one song.

At the end, she gave a speech about the destruction of the environment and urged each and every one of us to do something about it. She then asked us to pray if we wanted to to this effect, with her final song. or simply enjoy he music. Then she started singing "Host Of Seraphim"...and I think, if this is not what one can listen to in Heaven, than one might as well choose Hell.

The back cover of the tour program

This is the set list as taken from the Avopolis review but I do not remember her singing "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" at all. The order does not feel correct either, for example "Host Of Seraphim" was the last encore. In brackets, songs mentioned in the program notes but not in the set list as published:

Now We Are Free
Dreams Made Flesh
Entry
Black Forest
In Exile
Serpent And The Dove
Yulunga
On An Ocean
[Meltdown]
Sacrifice
Space Weaver
Sleep
Wandering Star
Sanvean
The Host Of Seraphim
Wind That Shakes The Barley
Maharaja

Thank you Lisa for this unforgettable experience.

Photos courtesy of Stratos Bacalis, scans of the program made by Stratos Bacalis.

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