Ciccada @ Music Works, 13-02-2016

 by Paris Gravouniotis

The sweet Saturday evening on February 13^th had prepared us for a magical night with the sounds of Ciccada at Music Works record shop at Petroupolis, a place I had visited five years ago for the presentation of A Child in the Mirror. After the previous day’s live of Agusa / Methexis had rocked (link), our expectations of a very rare prog weekend were already very high. With an excellent album released the previous year in their catalogue, which had been already presented once at LE.F.KA. without Evangelia Kozoni on vocals, the fullness of time had come to enjoy The Finest of Miracles live.

At 20:30 at the extremely “warm” Music Works, more than enough people for such a small venue had already gathered. After a few greetings with some friends, the time showed 21:10, which was when Ciccada went on the specially-designed stage for the live, with Nikos Nikolopoulos, Giorgos Mouchos and their new singer Dimitra Spela welcoming us, and bringing us at once into their magical world. Starting with the opening track of their second album, A Night Ride, a fantastic symphonic prog / folk instrumental, with the band actually performing at full throttle, they managed at some points to play even better than their studio performances. After a very warm applause, they went on to Around the Fire which, as Nikos Nikolopoulos prefaced, was based on a melody from Epirus, inspired by George Muchos. The incomparable folk melodies captivated us in one of the highlights of the evening. The melancholic At the Death of Winter that followed was a very logical continuation of the setlist, while Eternal (one of the most representative and sophisticated pieces of theirs) closed the first part of the concert in a unique way.

After about 45 minutes, the ten-minute break before the second part, because of a technical problem became a 25-minute one. However, Ciccada more than compensated us. The small instrumental Lemnos, written by Nikolopoulos during a voyage, was a unique introduction to the six- part epic. The 4 keyboards (the Mellotron being one of them) and the flute played by Nikolopoulos, the guitar by Giorgos Mouchos, the drums and Yiannis Iliakis’ keyboards, the bass of the newish member, Angelos Ma,l and the sweet voice of Demetra Spela were uniquely combined so as for the audience to enjoy a prog rock epic. Special mention should be made to the unique Wandering which stands out from the other parts.

With the always cheerful and jovial Giorgos Mouchos thanking and telling us that all that we had heard was one track, Ciccada closed the presentation of The Finest of Miracles and went on to Epirus – A Mountain Song, one of the top songs of their beloved debut A Child in the Mirror. When the band started talking about a huge loss in music at the threshold of 2016, everyone understood whom they were alluding to. With an indescribable performance of Space Oddity, Ciccada more than competently paid tribute to the heavy legacy of David Bowie making us shudder. For the finale and after Giorgos Mouchos’ rhetorical question of whether we like Camel or not, Nimrodel-The Procession-The White Rider from the masterpiece Mirage triumphantly closed a sensational live. However, after popular demand for another piece, Ciccada played again Around the Fire, collecting our warmest applause.

It was already 23:15, and a smile was etched on the face of all those who had gone to enjoy one of the best Greek bands of all time. Personally, as a Petroupolis resident, I felt an extra joy for the fact that this concert was held around my parts of the city. The proverb of “one good turn deserving another” will be verified in the next meeting with Ciccada at Underflow Record Store & Art Gallery in Athens (link), in a reprise of the presentation of The Finest of Miracles.