Nightstalker: Electric Haze Concert

It was Friday 17 January 2020 when Nightstalker were presenting at Gagarin 205 their new record titled Great Hallucinations. The opening act was the excellent Big Nose Attack. The formidable stoner boys got up on stage and tore the place apart! From the first track to the last. That day I left in a state of ecstasy, holding in my hands the vinyl I bought right after the concert.

As a guitarist, I watch every concert from the musician's side too. So after I left, I kept notes on lots of things. The sound. The energy. And naturally I left determined to figure out as many riffs as I liked from the record.

What happened next is well known… A little while later, Greece entered the map of the pandemic. All activities stopped abruptly and for a long time nobody knew if we'd ever come back.

An oasis in the desert

Amid the whirlwind of endless lockdowns and bans, an announcement made me long for that concert. The Onassis Foundation declared the start of Stages Alive. A series of online concerts streamed live on YouTube. The concert that served as the opening kick-off was, once again, Nightstalker! As if not a day had passed. Again from Gagarin. Again with the same energy. Again with the same fantastic sound.

That Sunday (10 January 2021) was just procedural. All day I waited for the evening to come. And when it came… I had my ritual ready. Beers lined up in front of me ready to be consumed! A pleasant change in the use of alcohol, which up until then we'd been using as antiseptic. I cranked the sound all the way up and set off on the journey into the world of Ψευδαίσθησης (Hallucination!). The Zombie Hourhad arrived! And I was now one of them!

Turns out the third time really was the charm!

Somehow this brings us to last Friday (02-07-2021). Summer has begun and everything points to us finally coming out of the darkness of the bans. And what better way to kick off the season?! Naturally, a concert by Nightstalker!

The Electric Haze was the first concert I attended after the endless lockdowns. And of course it was worth it. Yes, it wasn't a concert in the strict sense of the word. Yes, we were seated and distanced. Yes, we wore masks.

All of that was there to remind us of the period we'd just come out of. But Argy and his crew had no lockdown! They had no restrictions. And they made us have a fantastic time.

What struck me was the fact that the crowd actually stayed put for most of the concert! (For most of it! It's not easy to stay seated when all those killer riffs are blasting out of the speakers!)

A few words about Screaming Fly

They were a pleasant surprise for me! Melodies with which the artists conjured up powerful emotions. Psychedelic riffs and atmospheric vocals. Though I didn't expect anything less. That's what happens when rock n' roll meets the musical layers of psychedelia. That's what the members of Last Drive when they're not recording albums or playing gigs. The answers can be found on the new album by The Screaming Fly, "Trip To Venus".

The Στέφανος Φλώτσιος, guitarist of the Last Drive backs the mix of garage rock and rock ‘n’ roll with his voice and guitar. The band's story starts in 1992 and after countless live shows and D.I.Y recordings, in 2011 they release their album, "Super Zero". With this they present their dirty and psychedelic take on rock ‘n’ roll. In fact, the "Super Zero" was released through the independent record label of Last Drive, Happy Crasher.

My first experience with their music was absolutely positive! I'll definitely be following them, looking forward to hearing new work from them.

The universe sends signs!

Yes! Now I believe it! 3 gigs over a period of 1.5 years, which actually marked the beginning, the continuation and the end (hopefully, that is!) of a very difficult period.

They weren't the only gigs by Nighstalker that I've been to. They definitely won't be the last either. But they were the ones I consider to be among the most important in my life so far. I'm someone who believes in things that happen 'randomly', but seem to have something metaphysical about them. Obviously, it depends on how each person interprets them individually. That's how I saw it. For someone else, it might mean something else.

Still, it was a series of gigs that kept me grounded and alive in my musical principles. Devoted to my guitar. And at the end of the day, mentally sane, since they were moments when I relaxed and unloaded my thoughts.

Thank you so much Argy!

Thank you so much Τόλη!

Thank you so much Ανδρέα!

Thank you so much Ντίνο!

Thank you so much Nightstalker!

Till we meet again!

We are the Children of the Sun…