Saturday, 14 September 2013 00:00
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By Sarah Hannan
The much anticipated celebrations for Stigmata’s Hollow Dreams 10th year anniversary hit the stage on Saturday 31 August at the British School Auditorium, Colombo.
Many Stigmata fans new and old were anxiously gathered at the venue pretty early to ensure they did not miss any part of the concert. For the ones who were with the band through thick and thin, it was more about revisiting their good old childhood memories and for the new fans it surely must have been an awesome experience.
The audience was allowed access to the auditorium by 7:30 pm but they had to bear up with a delay of almost two hours – not something one would expect from a band such as this. But to be fair on the band’s side I think they were trying to build more anticipation in their fans. Irrespective of the band’s tardiness, the fans patiently hung around the venue exchanging pleasantries.
The auditorium gradually filled and then at about 9 p.m. the MC for the event Madhuka Pieris addressed the audience. One would have expected him to apologise to the fans and the invitees for the delay but he decided to blame it all on the fans and invitees who arrived early thinking that the show would start on time. After quite a few nonsensical utterances, he decided to get on with the event schedule.
Anyone who follows the Stigmata Facebook page must be aware that they had a competition which required fans to compile a video based on what Hollow Dreams meant to them. Three videos were screened – by popular radio personality Yazmin Yousuf, fellow metal head Dananjaya Aloysius and the winning entry which I thought was quite impressive by Rashantha Nanayakkara.
Lucid, My Malice, Spiral Coma, Anger (Independent Square), Children of the Lion, Jazz Theory and March of the Saints were included in their set list apart from the full list of tracks from Hollow Dreams; Thicker than Blood, Hollow Dreams, Andura, Stigmatized, Voices, Harvest of Sin, The Dying Winter Sleeps, Dezra, Inspired, Falling Away and Extinction.
Meanwhile, Suresh De Silva recognised the presence of the father of the local metal/rock movement and founding director of Rock Company Ajith Perera, Independent Square and all his fans who were in the audience.
Among familiar gig goers it was surprising to see some of the old Rock Company fans who had attended this event solely for reminiscences. For some of the younger fans it was their first metal concert.
There were fans from Kandy and Negombo who had solely come to witness this milestone for Stigmata. All in all it was a gig that will be spoken of in days to come and the fans who support the local rock/metal music industry will expect bigger and better events from pioneers like Stigmata.
Pix by Lasantha Kumara
