Live: The Black Heart Procession @ Fuzz Club (Athens, March 31st, 2017)

It's been six years already since the last time we saw The Black Heart Procession in Athens, in one of their last tours before they decided to take a break. Back then Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel, the creative core of the group, had played as a duo, presenting a stripped down acoustic show with only the bare essentials: a keyboard, a guitar and Pall’s signature instrument, the musical saw.

The reunion of the band came about as we've reached the 20th anniversary of its formation and to mark the occasion, Pall and Tobias decided to revisit the songs of "1", their debut album recorded in 1997. Enlisting the help of two musicians from Serbia, this new version of The Black Heart Procession presented "1" in its entirety, giving the opportunity to their fans, old and new, to listen live the eleven songs that started their story.

Although personally I am more fond of their work during the next decade and especially of "Amore Del Tropico", their fourth album from 2002, the songs from "1" have certainly retained their melancholic charm and represent the romantic, "black" heart of the group as good as any of their subsequent albums.

If you’re looking for the highlights of the hour-long main set, I would say that for each member of the audience these would have to coincide with their favorite songs off the album, as its live presentation was quite faithful to the recorded version. So for me the stand-out moment was "Release My Heart", the most electrifying song of a mainly acoustic record, followed by "Blue Water Black Heart' and "Square Heart" (as you can understand, the matters of the heart are ubiquitous on "1").

The show closed with a three song encore, during which Pall Jenkins addressed the audience for the first time, not only to thank us for being there at the last show of this tour, but also to explain the reasons for choosing these particular songs for the finale. So, for "A Cry for Love" the choice was down to the popularity of this track on YouTube (and I’m guessing from the enthusiastic reception of the crowd that a lot of the "likes" came from Greece). Regarding "The War Is Over" (from the album "Three"), it was the anti-war subject matter the deciding factor, while "Borders", the new song that closed the evening, was chosen as it speaks about the refugee and immigration issues, currently at the forefront of the news. As Pall pointed out, San Diego, the band's hometown which is located near the borders with Mexico, is strongly influence by Latin culture and no wall can break the strong ties that exist between people, regardless where they are coming from.

With these three songs The Black Heart Procession waved goodbye and renewed our rendezvous for their next tour. Let's see where this reunion will lead, beyond this first rate opportunity to retrace the band's first steps.

The Black Heart Procession - A Cry for Love (live in Athens)

The Black Heart Procession - Square Heart (live in Athens)

The Black Heart Procession, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, May 21, 2011)

After last year's reunion with his old Three Miles Pilot buddies for the release of the rather excellent “The Inevitable Past is the Future Forgotten”, their first album in more than a decade, Pall Jenkins is back to his main job, leading The Black Heart Procession down the dark alleys of heartbreak and romantic despair.

For its latest tour the band is down to its two main members, the creative core of Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel, and is presenting a stripped down show, playing tracks from their impressive back catalog that work best with just the bare essentials.

Without the aid of a rhythm section to give a rock pulse to the music, Black Heart Procession’s main men relied just to Nathaniel’s piano, Jenkins’ musical saw and the occasional use of electric guitar to bring their dark songs to life. With this spartan orchestration the music sounded even more ghostly and haunting than before, a séance to communicate with the spirits of lost loves and broken dreams, while the weight of each song was carried solely by Jenkins’ voice and sorrowful lyrics, making their gothic universe seem an even darker shade of black.

For 75 minutes this bare to the bones incarnation of Black Heart Procession’s music accompanied damaged love stories about hearts that bleed raindrops, blue tears, drugs, thieves who cannot lie and letters that you carry with you without finding the courage to open. The highlight of the night came right at the end of the second and final encore with a spirited rendition of “It's a Crime I Never Told You about the Diamonds in Your Eyes”, one of the classics off their second album “2”.

Although in a few occasions I found myself missing the electricity that would come with a full band line-up, it was certainly intriguing to witness this stripped down and more intimate aspect of Black Heart Procession’s sound, even if sometimes the mood became much heavier than usual. A concert for piano and saw perfectly suited for a night of drinking your sorrows away.

The Black Heart Procession - It's A Crime I Never Told You About The Diamonds In Your Eyes (live @ Gagarin 205, Athens)