Ejekt Festival 2017 - Day 2 - Kasabian & The Jesus And Mary Chain

So it was finally time for the 2nd day of Ejekt Festival. And all this on a night before a flight abroad for another concert (This was not the first time I was attending Ejekt Festival on a day before a trip abroad. The previous one was ten years ago under rather disastrous circumstances)

But it would all start with Peter Hook And The Light who I had already seen at the same festival at the same venue 4 years ago back in 2013. This time they were playing "Unknown Pleasures". I wasn't sure if I could make it on time to see them but I finally did. They had just started playing when I arrived at the venue. I saw most of their set and I was there for "She's Lost Control" and that would have been enough for me. 

The set ended of course with "Love Will Tear Us Apart".

 

I managed to find my friends and after their set I ventured around the venue for the usual freebies. These included the usual cokes, (I went around the entrance several times to get more of them), but this time I tried a different flavour of the noodle product. The added extra this time was that someone in the company of our friends was there with an invitation from Heineken, one of the sponsors, so we got free beers as well!

The time for The Jesus And Mary Chain set was approaching and we managed to get well up front. They were the main reason I attended this second day of the festival after all. And they didn't disappoint. Their set sounded like a "Greatest Hits" package most of the time. What did disappoint was the sound, something we had already noticed during the Peter Hook And The light set.

 

We stayed at the front for Kasabian, although they were almost half an hour late in appearing. I had already started worrying about my flight the following day.

When they did appear though, we were rewarded with a set that spanned most of their career, not just their latest album (which is pretty good by the way). They still played "Empire" which I had first heard at Wembley back in 2009. Plus they also played 3 songs from my favourite album "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum". It's my favourite, because it was during that tour that I had first seen them.

 One of the songs from that album, "Fire" was the last of the night. I had started to withdraw towards the exit (grabbing another free Coke in the process) in order to catch the last tram and that's when I realized something I could not see while I was upfront. The crowd was not a huge one. Not as huge as you would expect to find at a Kasabian gig in Greece anyway. It's a pity because Kasabian are one of the few bands that play here on each one of the tours like Depeche Mode.

All's well that ends well. The festival was completed, I caught the tram and this time, as opposed to 10 years ago, it didn't crash. So the Ejekt curse has been lifted! In fact, when I saw that the tram was 15 minutes away I caught the one going in the opposite direction. A couple of stops later I got off, and then got on the right one. In this way, I managed to avoid the congestion at the tram stop and get a seat for the long ride to the centre of Athens. From there I had another night bus ride and a short taxi ride to my house. I didn't get any sleep because in a couple of hours I had to leave for the airport and my flight to Rome to see U2. But that's another story, coming up on my next blog post...

SETLISTS:

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
01. Amputation
02. April Skies
03. Head On
04. Far Gone and Out
05. Between Planets
06. Blues From a Gun
07. Always Sad
08. Mood Rider
09. All Things Pass
10. Some Candy Talking
11. Halfway to Crazy
12. Nine Million Rainy Days
13. Just Like Honey
14. You Trip Me Up
15. The Living End
16. War on Peace
17. I Hate Rock 'n' Roll
18. Reverence

KASABIAN
01. Ill Ray (The King)
02. Bumblebeee
03. Eez-Eh
04. Underdog
05. Shoot the Runner
06. You're in Love With a Psycho
07. I.D.
08. Club Foot
09. Re‐Wired
10. Treat
11. Empire
12. Bless This Acid House
13. Stevie
14. Put Your Life on It
15. L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)
Encore:
16. Comeback Kid
17. Vlad the Impaler
18. Fire