Puressence live in Athens December 2010

So, what do Scorpions, James, Placebo, Archive and... Puressence have in common? Back in 2010 these bands were considered to have made Greece their second home.

It was said that if Puressence stopped performing live in other countries and only appeared in Greece, they could still make a living. Such was their connection to Greece that their compilation "Sharpen Up The Knives" that was out at that time, featured a Greek model on the cover!

 

Despite all this, I had never been able to see them live before 2010 when they appeared at PassPort in Piraeus on Thursday 2 December.

Well, I had almost seen them. They were playing at Terra Vibe as support on the Depeche Mode gig that never happened the year before, but since it took such a long time to get inside the venue, by the time I settled in, their set had finished.
PassPort was a new venue back then as I had been informed from its site, very nice, but a bit small, if one considered how many fans Puressence had in Greece.  Even Gagarin was bigger. However, when, at that time, the minimum ticket price for a gig was 30 Euros, that particular Puressence gig cost only 20. Two Greek bands appeared as support, Menta and Lexicon Project. And here's a photo of Menta's singer, in a Freddie Mercury t-shirt... Three years later, Puressence split up, so that was indeed my last chance to see them. And two years after that, PassPort would close down...

SETLIST:
01. Near Distance
02. I Suppose
03. It Doesn't Matter Anymore
04. She's Gotten Over You
05. London In The Rain
06. Raise Me To The Ground
07. Don't Know Any Better
08. Standing In Your Shadow
09. Walking Dead
10. In Harm's Way
11. Casting Lazy Shadows
12. India
Encore:
13. Make Time
14. Palisades
15. This Feeling
16. Sharpen Up The Knives
Encore 2:
17. I Suppose