Devon Graves, Live @ The Drugstore, Athens, Greece, 8/12/2012

Devon Graves, Live @ The Drugstore, Athens, Greece, 8/12/2012

The first time that I heard Devon Graves (AKA Buddy Lackey) in a record was a little more than 15 years ago. The record was “A Social Grace” by Psychotic Waltz, a real masterpiece of music. The band was not active at the moment so, it would be a wild dream to think that in 15 years from then I’d have seen Devon not one, but three times live, with Deadsoul Tribe, Psychotic Waltz and as a solo artist.

The 8^th of December is really a sad day for music. Two great musicians were shot to death on that day, John Lennon and Dimebag Darell. The whole day in Athens was cloudy and gloomy with lots of rain as well, which combined with the traffic made it from hard to impossible for many people to attend tonight’s gig.

I arrived at the bar were the gig was about to take place a little earlier, to grab a beer and chat with friends and Devon. The bar was really small but the 60-70 people who attended the gig were very comfortable inside. At about 1,5 hour after the doors opened Devon went “on stage”, which wasn’t actually a stage, more like a small opening near the bar, but spacious enough. I had already asked him if he was going to play songs from his great album with the band “The Shadow Theory” but I got a negative answer. I also got the same negative answer when I asked him if he was planning to come for a gig with them. Oh well, we can’t have everything.

The place was packed and Devon started with some classic Deadsoul Tribe tunes. The sound was really good (I think that Devon was working on the sound a little earlier). One or two covers came along, aw well as some songs from the album “The Strange Mind Of Buddy Lackey”. A small speech from Devon followed and the first break of the show. Devon is well informed about the way the music industry works nowadays as well as the fact that the companies do not support musicians the way they used to so, he is planning to start his personal website, from which he will be distributing his music in the form of free downloads. He is also planning to record a new album with Psychotic Waltz. And that’s more than enough for now; I wouldn’t want to get into any more details about what he shared with us for the future.

After the break he came back with a couple of more Deadsoul Tribe songs for us and… the first Psychotic Waltz tunes! Such hymns as “Drift” and “Hanging On A String” played with only an acoustic guitar and Devon’s voice are magic beyond words. I can’t really describe the sentiment, but I’m sure that everyone could feel it at that moment. A fantastic cover of Rainbow’s song with DIO came along, another real blast of the night. “Catch The Rainbow” might be a classic and catchy ballad, but Devon gave his best to play it like it should be played, by putting all your soul to it. Two more hymns from Psychotic Waltz, “I Remember” and “My Grave”, three more covers, and that was the end of a very special show, that only few people enjoyed. However, some things are better to be left for the “few” and not the “many”. I couldn’t leave unmentioned though, the “hot sweet stuff”as Devon called it, known to us as “rakomelo” a combination of raki and honey, which Devon seemed to enjoy, a lot!

After the end of the show, we started yelling one of the most known to the fans of Devon Graves motto, which combined our desire for one more songs, as well as the old name of Devon Graves, Buddy Lackey. Devon just smiled and played a couple of more songs for us. One of them was a cover to “Tribute”, with lyrics inspired from Psychotic Waltz.

Devon Graves setlist:

Toy Rockets

Time

Windsong

Some Sane Advice

Space Oddity (David Bowie cover)

Lady Of Rain

Goodbye City Life

Regret

Some Day

-Break-

Into The Spiral Cathedral

Just Like A Timepiece

Cry For Tomorrow/Spiders And Flies

Black Smoke And Mirrors

UTWOMS

Empty

Drift

Hanging On A String

-Break-

Fear

Catch The Rainbow (Rainbow cover)

I Remember

My Grave

Imagine (John Lennon cover)

Hotel California (Eagles cover)

Tribute (AKA “The Greatest Song In The World”, Tenacious D cover)

Also on Burst.gr - http://www.burst.gr/live/reports/item/2381-devon-graves-live-the-drugstore-athens-greece-8-12-2012