The day after my return from my summer holiday in Santorini, I went to see The Chemical Brothers in Athens. One could say that this was the first concert of Autumn 2018, although the 8th of September officially belongs to the summer. This was going to be the second electronic gig with graphics of 2018 for me (The first was Kraftwerk back in March) and the second dance gig ever in that particular area since Tiesto's appearance in the summer of 2009 (which was of course outdoors as opposed to The Chemicals indoors one).
Anyway, this was billed as a festival (the "Autumn Edition" of Release Festival which took place back in May and June and of which I had attended Day 1 and Day 2) and it did indeed look like a festival with all the kiosks but few people paid attention to the DJ sets before The Chemical Brothers appearance.
As I arrived and went inside a James Holroyd DJ set was in progress but I took that time to wander and to look around the venue and also to find the perfect spot from where I would watch the main event. It was not surprising that there were quite a few people in their forties among the crowd since those must have been the ones that were listening to The Chemical Brothers in the 90's.
When I did find that spot, next to the bar, I stood my ground and at promptly 11pm The Chemical Brothers came on stage. It felt like a huge party and that's the way a dance gig should be. On top of that, the graphics added to that experience, usually different images for different tracks. And the tracks themselves where all those that we expected including some new ones.
The highlights, for me, were New Order's "Temptation" mixed with "Star Guitar", "Hey Boy Hey Girl" and "Galvanize". The only notable absence was "Setting Sun" their breakthrough #1 hit with Noel Gallagher.
They even came back for an encore! The whole thing lasted for about two hours (OK, it could not be compared with Tiesto who stayed until 3am 9 years before), but it was great. A Saturday night out clubbing. Dance music is suited to late summer nights.
SETLIST:
01. Go
02. Do It Again / Get Yourself High
03. Free Yourself
04. Mad as Hell
05. Believe
06. EML Ritual
07. Chemical Beats
08. Swoon
10. Got to Keep On
11. Hey Boy Hey Girl
12. Saturate
13. Elektrobank
14. Piku Playground / Music:Response
15. Escape Velocity / The Golden Path
16. Electronic Battle Weapon 7 / Eve of Destruction / Under the Influence / The Test / It Doesn't Matter
17. Snow / Surface to Air
18. Galvanize
19. C-H-E-M-I-C-A-L / Leave Home / Song to the Siren
20. Block Rockin' Beats
Encore:
21. Got Glint?
22. Hold Tight London
23. Wide Open
24. The Private Psychedelic Reel
