Tuesday 28 August 2018

Release Festival 2018 - Day 2 - Thievery Corporation & UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro And Mickey




For the second consecutive day I headed to Water Square for Release Festival. I went straight after work with the intention of catching UB40 which was the main reason that I was attending Day 2. My goal was to reach the venue by 9pm, when UB40 were set to appear. And I made it! I got in just as UB40 were launching into "Here I Am (Come And Take Me)". 


Now before I talk any further about the gig I have to explain what I mean by "UB40". There are actually 2 bands going by the name of UB40 at the moment. One of them is called just "UB40" and features Robin Campbell, one of the original members. However, original lead singer Ali Campbell (Robin's brother) has been replaced by Duncan Campbell (his other brother). Confused? You will be! The other band goes by the name of "UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey" and it's this one that features original singer Ali Campbell (hence the name). As you can understand there has been a falling-out between the two brothers in the original band. 

All in all I can say that I'm glad that it was this, the latter version of UB40 I got to see live, because it features the original voices I have associated with UB40 all these years, Ali & Astro.

I planned this to be a more relaxing day compared to the first one, so I sat further back from, but in full view of the stage.

And the hits not only kept on coming, but we were also treated to songs from this band's new album "A Real Labour Of Love" which proved to be quite successful!


Next up, were the headliners of Day 2, Thievery Corporation. They are popular among the Greek concert going crowd since they have already played live in Greece a few times.

They are known for mixing together different styles of music and that's exactly what they did singing in different languages and using several singers. In fact, while listening to their latest album I discovered that they have sampled "Enola Gay" by OMD on one of its tracks ("Voyage Libre").


By this time however, the tiredness of the last couple of days was beginning to creep in (which I suspect was augmented a bit by the thoughts of the gigs coming up within the next couple of months) so I had to sit down for a few songs, but at least I was always in view of the screen.


As I was leaving the festival, I was thinking that I would be coming back to this general area, but at a different venue for my next gig, which was going to be a free one...

SETLISTS:
UB40 FEATURING ALI, ASTRO & MICKEY
01. Here I Am (Come And take Me)
02. Wear You To The Ball
03. Homely Girl
04. Version Girl
05. One In Ten
06. Cherry Oh Baby
07. Just Another Girl
08. Rat In Mi Kitchen
09. She Loves Me Now
10. Silhouette
11. Kingston Town
12. Many Rivers to Cross
Encore:
13. Food For Thought
14. How Could I Leave
15. (I Can't Help) Falling In Love
16. Red Red Wine

THIEVERY CORPORATION
01. Marching The Hate Machines (Into the Sun)
02. True Sons Of Zion
03. Voyage Libre
04. Letter To The Editor
05. Culture Of Fear
06. Illumination
07. Until The Morning
08. Take My Soul
09. Ghetto Matrix
10. Le Monde
11. Amerimacka
12. History
13. The Heart's A Lonely Hunter
14. Fight To Survive
15. Warning Shots
Encore:
16. Road Block
17. Sweet Tides
18. Lebanese Blonde
19. Waiting Too Long
20. The Richest Man In Babylon


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