Beth Hart @ Technopolis on default day

Let's turn back the clock about 15 years. I used to make a lot of compilations using my CD recorder (like I did with my tape recorder before that). Having just visited the States I had already compiled one CD called "The New York Collection". Now I was compiling "The LA Collection". I had already picked several songs from my collection that had some connection to Los Angeles and Southern California in general. But there was space on the CD for one more song. So I searched the internet with the keywords LA + Song and it brought up Beth Hart's "LA Song". When I listened to it while paying attention to the lyrics I knew that it was the perfect closing track for my CD.

15 years later Beth Hart was coming to Athens. And she was not playing on just any day, but on that particular day that Greece was going to default on its payment to the IMF. Having come to the conclusion that I could not keep worrying about something the outcome of which I could not control, I chose to enjoy that "last day" with something which would make me feel good, lift my spirits and make my life worthwhile: music. Faced with a choice between Christine Lagarde or Beth Hart, I chose the latter.
It already was an overcast day when I arrived at Technopolis and it soon started raining while we were waiting for Beth to come on stage. It was also raining at Technopolis last year but unlike En Lefko Festival where it rained between Hooverphonic and Simple Minds (and then again after Simple Minds) this time it was raining during the gig and we had nowhere to go. Thankfully, the couple standing next to me gave me an extra umbrella and I managed to get through Beth's set without getting (too) wet.

Needless to say, Beth compensated us for all our troubles. And even though she didn't play "LA Song" (which was apparently scheduled to be the last song in the setlist according to the photo posted on her Facebook page two days later) I did not care one little bit. In fact I choose "Better Than Home" as my personal compensation for not playing "LA Song" which is also a ballad, but other songs in the setlist prove that she "rocks" as well (Especially the cover of "Whole Lotta Love".

The rain had already stopped by the time the gig was over and I went home feeling good and not caring one little bit about politics or economics on a day which for most Greek people was full of stress and worry for precisely those things. Because I, in the end, will always choose music.
We did manage to highlight Greece's problem in a gig abroad two weeks later. And the results exceeded even our wildest expectations. But that's coming up on my next post.
To paraphrase Beth: "Man, I gotta get out of this country..."

SETLIST:
01. Tell Her You Belong to Me
02. Can't Let Go (Randy Weeks cover)
03. Prisoner of Love
04. Bang Bang Boom Boom
05. One Eyed Chicken
06. I'll Take Care of You (Bobby “Blue” Bland cover)
07. Something's Got a Hold on Me (Etta James cover)
08. Delicious Surprise
09. Might As Well Smile
10. Leave the Light On
11. Better Than Home
12. Hiding Under Water
13. Trouble
14. Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)
Encore:
15. The Mood That I'm In
16. Sister Heroine
17. I'd Rather Go Blind (Etta James cover)
Encore 2:
18. As Long as I Have a Song
19. Spirit of God