Summer Nostos Festival 2019 - Neneh Cherry

Summer Nostos Festival is an annual week-long festival organized by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation at its wonderful Cultural Centre which also houses the Greek National Opera and the Greek National Library. There's so much more going on apart from concerts such as dance performances, art exhibitions, theatre, sports events and activities for families and children.

Last year I attended because I wanted to see Stereo Nova, Greece's most famous “techno” band from the 90's. This year I went in order to see the legendary and fabulous Neneh Cherry.

Not only is the festival free, but the center provides its own mini buses taking you to and from the nearest metro stations. We had arrived much earlier, so we had a chance to have a glimpse at Balthazar, the band playing before Neneh Cherry at another area of the festival grounds.

After that we walked straight on to the stage where Neneh Cherry would be appearing. She was right on time and one of the first songs she performed was “Manchild”. She continued both with songs from her latest albums and old favourites. My only complaint lies with “7 Seconds” and it is that the male voice was pre-recorded. She couldn't bring Youssou'N'Dour along with her of course, but I'm sure she could have added a decent backing singer to her band who would be up to the task. Her own performance was nevertheless wonderful. 

And she finished with a wonderful medley of “I've Got You Under My Skin” and “Buffalo Stance”.

Release Festival 2019 - New Order & Johnny Marr

My second, and final Release Festival date for 2019 was the most anticipated. 8 days after my first with Iggy Pop and James, I went back to Water Square to see New Order and Johnny Marr. I had always wanted to see New Order live. After having seen Peter Hook And The Light not once, but twice, performing the songs of Joy Division and New Order, I now wanted to see the real thing. Plus they are one of the “Girlfriend Bands”, one of her favourites along with Belle And Sebastian, Manic Street Preachers and Blossoms. As for Johnny Marr... well, since I had already seen his other half in The Smiths, Morrissey, I now wanted to see him as well. And it wasn't just Smiths songs that I was expecting to hear. “Easy Money” a single from his previous album was one of my favourites. But before these two I was going to see Morcheeba. It was more than 20 years ago that I first noticed them when “Let Me See” was used on a Bailey's commercial and on the Gwynneth Paltrow movie “Sliding Doors”. 

So, just after arriving at Water Square where the “Yesterday” double decker bus was still in place, their set began. They did play “Let Me See”, understandably towards the end of their set, but not before they had treated us to a wonderful cover version of David Bowie's “Let's Dance”. It was the second David Bowie tribute for me at this year's Release Festival since 8 days before that Iggy Pop had covered “The Jean Genie”.

After Morcheeba, it was time for the customary exploratory walk around the festival grounds, where I bought a t-shirt and by buying a coffee and playing an interactive game I won a bluetooth speaker. (Coffee? It wasn't time for coffee, it was time for a beer!). And moreover, after all these activities we managed to reach the front of the stage where we waited for Johnny Marr. Johnny Marr's set had a little bit of everything. First of all he played songs from his solo career: Quite a few from his latest album, but also my favourite “Easy Money” and even his cover of Depeche Mode's “I Feel You”. There were - of course - songs from the Smiths (his second song of the night was “Bigmouth Strikes Again” but the only song both he and Morrissey in his 2014 Athens gig played was “How Soon Is Now”). 

And finally there were Electronic songs. We were first treated to “Getting Away With It”, but a little bit later we witnessed an actual Electronic reunion when Bernard Sumner of New Order who were going to appear next came up on stage to duet on “Get The Message”. Only Neil Tennant was missing (who had actually appeared at Water Square six years before with the Pet Shop Boys). 

All in all, Johnny Marr live was a wonderful experience and I was so justified for wanting to see him live after having seen Morrissey!

Finally, it was time for New Order. This time it was the real thing and we knew what we would be getting: Hit after hit after hit. Not only New Order hits, but Joy Division as well! I must confess that I am basically a fan of their “Substance” period. That, for me, includes everything up to “Touched By The Hand Of God” and bits of the “Technique” album. “World In Motion” also belongs to that period and I love it but it's a completely different thing. I must confess that I was tempted to request it by shouting, but I thankfully restrained myself in the end. As you have probably deduced by now I am an 80's New Order fan. But then again one of their 90's tracks is, in my opinion, an absolute masterpiece: “Regret”. It's just that I'm not very much into their latest period, the one starting with “Get Ready” (“We're like crystal, we break easy”, I mean seriously?). Well, if you look at the setlist, you'll see that it was mostly suited to my tastes. “Regret' was played, early on, “Subculture” was played, a personal favourite which I first heard on a slightly different version on a 7'' EP given free with Record Mirror magazine in the 80's, and finally, Joy Division songs were played. Bernard was overjoyed that the audience responded so well to the Joy Division songs and as a result the band played two more of them including the obligatory “Love Will Tear Us Apart”.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. New Order and Johnny Marr on the same night plus a bonus Electronic reunion. Unforgettable!

SETLISTS:

MORCHEEBA
01. Never Undo
02. Friction
03. Never An Easy Way
04. Otherwise
05. The Sea
06. Trigger Hippie
07. Blaze Away
08. Let's Dance
09. Blindfold
10. Let Me See
11. Summertime
12. Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

JOHNNY MARR
01. The Tracers
02. Bigmouth Strikes Again
03. Armatopia
04. Day In Day Out
05. New Dominions
06. Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
07. Hi Hello
08. Walk Into The Sea
09. Getting Away With It
10. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
11. Spiral Cities
12. How Soon Is Now?
13. Get the Message (with Bernard Sumner)
14. Easy Money
15. I Feel You
16. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

NEW ORDER
01. Singularity
02. Regret
03. Restless
04. She's Lost Control
05. Shadowplay
06. Transmission
07. Your Silent Face
08. Bizarre Love Triangle
09. Subculture
10. Plastic
11. The Perfect Kiss
12. True Faith
13. Blue Monday
14. Temptation
Encore:
15. Atmosphere
16. Love Will Tear Us Apart