Summer Nostos Festival 2019 - Neneh Cherry

Summer Nostos Festival is an annual week-long festival organized by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation at its wonderful Cultural Centre which also houses the Greek National Opera and the Greek National Library. There's so much more going on apart from concerts such as dance performances, art exhibitions, theatre, sports events and activities for families and children.

Last year I attended because I wanted to see Stereo Nova, Greece's most famous “techno” band from the 90's. This year I went in order to see the legendary and fabulous Neneh Cherry.

Not only is the festival free, but the center provides its own mini buses taking you to and from the nearest metro stations. We had arrived much earlier, so we had a chance to have a glimpse at Balthazar, the band playing before Neneh Cherry at another area of the festival grounds.

After that we walked straight on to the stage where Neneh Cherry would be appearing. She was right on time and one of the first songs she performed was “Manchild”. She continued both with songs from her latest albums and old favourites. My only complaint lies with “7 Seconds” and it is that the male voice was pre-recorded. She couldn't bring Youssou'N'Dour along with her of course, but I'm sure she could have added a decent backing singer to her band who would be up to the task. Her own performance was nevertheless wonderful. 

And she finished with a wonderful medley of “I've Got You Under My Skin” and “Buffalo Stance”.