The PAP DX Blog

Thursday, 27 August 2026

Release Athens Festival 2026 - Pet Shop Boys

It is a rare occasion for a band who has just played in Greece to be invited again on their next tour. What is even rarer is for such a band to be invited back on the same tour. And that's what happened with the Pet Shop Boys this year. Having played Athens on the Dreamworld Greatest Hits Tour four years ago they were invited to play again this year on the same tour. Which raised a most important question: Is it worth going to see the exact same show I watched 4 years ago? Thankfully, that wasn't an issue, for more than one reason as we'll see later.

Until a few weeks before the gig no support acts had been announced. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when it was announced that one of them was going to be Saint Etienne. I had seen them a few times in the past the first time as far back as 1999. However, they had announced that this was going to be their farewell tour so it was a good chance to see them for one last time. They were going to be the first support act so it was a rare occasion when I arrived at the festival area before fhe gates had opened. There, at the queue I met several of my friends. You see i had made several pethead friends over the years, most of whom are still here on this earth, while some are missing as the song goes.

As a result I was there at the front when Saint Etienne took the stage. Since they were the opening act, their set was quite short, but they still managed to fit in several of my favourite tunes.

After their set was over, i embarked on my usual exploration of the area, ending up, as usual at Jackaroo for a snack.

By that time Gramatik were on stage. i didn't know them and the promoters had advertised them as "an act with stunning visuals". I didn't see any of those aforementioned visuals, probably because it was still daytime and their music didn't seem to interest me in my own humble opinion. I prefer London Grammar. So I just waited for the main act.

I had already seen their Dreamworld Blu-Ray to remind me of my own experience of the tour four years ago. Our main complaint from that gig was that we got the shortened "Festival Setlist" of the tour instead of the full one. I mean, how can you fully experience the "Dreamworld" tour without hearing "Dreamland"? Because that was one of the songs that I think was cut from the festival setlist four years ago. Would we hear it this time? One could only hope...

Before they came on stage, the Ukranian flag appeared on the big screen just as it had four years ago. And then the music started with "Suburbia" again just as it had four years ago. As the show progressed I realized that this time it was different. First of all, we got the songs from the latest album "Nonetheless", like "Dancing Star" and "A New Bohemia" tracks that weren't even on the Dreamworld Blu-Ray. And we also got "Dreamland". And of course we got "Go West" which wasn't featured on the Blu-Ray for legal reasons. And just before the end Neil confirmed it, that just as we had asked, we got the full setlist this time, not the festival one. How did he know?

So, was it worth it? (As another one of their songs goes). Yes, it was worth buying the ticket. For the full setlist, the new songs and the farewell to Saint Etienne. After all how often are you able to attend a gig from a tour called "The Greatest Hits Tour' because every song played has been a hit?

SETLISTS:

SAINT ETIENNE

01. Nothing Can Stop Us

02. Who Do You Think You Are

03. Pale Movie

04. Like A Motorway

05. Spring

06. Glad

07. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

08. Shower Scene

09. Sylvie

10. Tonight

11. He's On The Phone

12. 7 Ways To Love

PET SHOP BOYS

01. Suburbia

02. Can You Forgive Her?

03. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)

04. Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)

05. Rent

06. I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More

07. So Hard

08. Left To My Own Devices

09. Single-Bilingual

10. Se A Vida E (That's The Way Life Is)

11. Domino Dancing

12. Dancing Star

13. New York City Boy

14. The Pop Kids

15. A New Bohemia

16. Jealousy

17. Love Comes Quickly

18. Paninaro

19. Always On My Mind

20. Dreamland

21. Heart

22. What Have I Done To Deserve This?

23. It's Alright

24. Vocal

25. Go West

26. It's A Sin

27. West End Girls

28. Being Boring

Tuesday, 28 July 2026

Release Athens Festival X SNF Nostos 2026 - Jean Michel Jarre

I had already seen Jean Michel Jarre live 16 years ago at an indoor venue very near this year's which was an outdoor one. What I had neglected to do back then though, was to inform a very close friend of mine that I was going there. I thought he would be "too electronic" for her. You see, she is one of those rock fans who accuse me of listening to too much of "that electronic stuff". As it turned out though, she really liked him and wished she had come with me. We had to wait 16 years to rectify the situation.

Playing support was Sebastian Tellier and artist who I had first heard of through one of the first blogs I started following on Blogger, That Girl Needs Therapy. He then went on to represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest.

When his set was over, I rushed out for a brief snack (no Jackaroo at the SNFCC I'm afraid) and headed back up for the main event.

We had to wait quite a while for Jean Michel Jarre to come on stage. It seemed that he was quite late. It was worth the wait though.

Now, one of the reasons I wanted to see Jean Michel Jarre again, was that contrary to the indoor concert of 2010 this was going to be an outdoor one and I felt that this was going to be a spectacular show. Of course I didn't expect the displays he was doing at Houston and Lyon back in the 80's, but I did at least expect the lazer harp of the 2010 concert. It was nowhere to be seen however, instead there were the usual lazer displays almost everyone does these days. This didn't mean I was disappointed though, because it turned out to be a completely different show. As someone from the audience commented, comparec to the first show, this was more like a DJ set. Indeed he was playing dancier, remixed versions of some of his songs. And between tracks, his explanatory comments on the music were also translated in Greek on the screens.