Camera Obscura, Live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, Oct. 30, 2010)

Camera Obscura's first visit to Athens was certainly long overdue. Greek indie fans have a soft spot for Scottish bittersweet guitar pop in the spirit of Belle And Sebastian and the appearance of the Glasgow band at the Gagarin 205 club gathered a sizable crowd despite the day's big football match (the Athens equivalent of the Old Firm) that had just finished across town. Tracyanne Campbell was actually curious to know our reaction to the result and after noticing the mixed feelings of the audience, pointed out that at least the music had brought us all together. 

Tracyanne was not only on the ball about the day's current soccer events but was also well-informed about the venue's seedy past as a porn cinema and wanted to know if anyone had visited the place in its former capacity. After that, she introduced "Honey In The Sun" as a song about porn, making us all see the lyrics "I wish my heart was as cold as the morning dew but it's as warm as saxophones and honey in the sun for you" in a whole new light!

Camera Obscura's set was based almost entirely on the band's last couple of albums, the recent "My Maudlin Career" and 2006's "Let's Get Out Of This Country", their best work to date. It was actually the title track from the latter that fittingly ended their highly entertaining 70-minute performance, a song we are lately seriously considering to adopt as our new national anthem. Other highlights of the night included "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken", "The Sweetest Thing", "Swans", "If Looks Could Kill" and, of course, "French Navy", my favorite Camera Obscura single. The complete set list is here.

 

 

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country (Live@Gagarin 205, Athens, Oct. 30, 2010)