It was the night before the general election in Greece that Blues Pills appeared in Athens. Normally, this wouldn't have a lot of significance but several people were facing a journey the next day, because they choose to vote in their hometown. Oh, and lawyers usually have to work at polling stations from early in the morning, so I guess there were not many lawyers attending this gig...
Now the decision to see Blues Pills was a strange one. I didn't know them but I was keen to discover a new band. I mean... a band playing blues... with members from... Sweden? Intriguing! However, what actually made my mind up to go and see them was the fact that they were supported by two of my favourite Greek bands, SoundtrucK and The Big Nose Attack (Once again The Big Nose Attack featured at my first gig of the year as they did last year. In fact they were featured in the last gig of last year only a month before this one!).
Anyway, we were off to a good start with SoundtrucK and the sound was good (You will understand why I'm mentioning this later). They treated us to a 6 song set including a cover of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion".
Then it was time for The Big Nose Attack. Six songs from them as well, and yes, "That Girl" was included. What I noticed was how strong and clear the bass sounded and then of course I remembered that there's no bass in The Big Nose Attack. This is probably the point where the sound problems began. I asked a few other people and they confirmed that the sound was getting "annoying" as they put it. And it was a pity, for it was here in Gagarin that The Big Nose Attack had such a crystal clear sound a year ago when they supported Blue Oyster Cult.
And then the Blues Bills came on. This was the first time I ever saw them and their stage presence was amazing. The song most people knew was "Devil Man" and they played 9 more songs (plus one more for the encore). But, there were still problems with the sound and people were beginning to get tired (although I suspect they must have their own sound engineer). It's such a shame when a band's performance is let down by the sound.
Oh and the funny part was that the singer knew there was a general election the next day and mentioned it to the crowd. And as it turned out, there were other bands that knew about our elections as we're going to find out on my next post...
...And another thing: There was a guy in the audience who filmed the whole concert. And this guy is a regular concertgoer in Athens. And we are also going to meet him in other concerts this year. So, for now, enjoy the full concert!
SETLISTS:
SOUNDTRUCK
01. Ride On
02. Sweet Little Babe
03. Take It Easy
04. Six Round Weapon
05. Sweet Emotion(Aerosmith cover)
06. Straight to Hell
THE BIG NOSE ATTACK
01. Yeah! (That Girl)
02. Left Alone
03. Stop Breakin' Down Blues (Robert Johnson cover)
04. Wild Cherry
05. All by Myself
06. Down With Me
BLUES PILLS
01. High Class Woman
02. Ain't No Change
03. Dig In
04. No Hope Left For Me
05. The Time Is Now
06. Astralplane
07. Bliss
08. Elements and Things (Tony Joe White cover)
09. Devil Man
10. Little Sun
Encore:
11. Black Smoke
