Mikro live in Athens October 2010

We had a wonderful night out on a Thursday night, courtesy of Mikro, back in 2010 at Jasmin Rock Club which, by the end of the night, had turned into Jasmin "Electro" Club.  Although not a lot of people had come at first, Jasmin was gradually filled to capacity (amazing considering it was a weeknight) and Mikro came on the stage at around 10 to midnight and played for almost two and a half hours. They played some songs that were new at the time from Upload/Download (depends on which version you have) and several older favourites. On top of that, there were three amazing covers, Enjoy The Silence by Depeche Mode with Nik on vocals, plus I Feel Love by Donna Summer and Sexy Boy by Air with Ria. And there was also an amazing electro medley. 

 

Nik's inexhaustible energy moved the crowd who were dancing non-stop during the second part of the night. At some point we got confused when we thought that he was texting through his mobile while he was singing. What he was in fact doing was programming his vocoder. They finished their set with "My Friends" the end of which was mashed up with samples from Prodigy, Killers, Fatboy Slim and Underworld among others...

I had been aware of Mikro for a long time, and had in fact seen them live in 2007 at Fly Beeyond Festival where they appeared purely by chance at the last minute, since another band had withdrawn from the line-up. I had already discovered Marsheaux, an electro-pop duo, who come, as do Mikro, from Salonica and were also part of the roster of independent record company UNDO Records. Mikro and Marsheaux had appeared together in November of the previous year (2009) at London's La Scala club as part of an electro-pop night, with other British electro bands. 

Ozzy Osbourne live in Athens September 2010

Back in 1987 I had seen Black Sabbath live. Well, it was a kind of Black Sabbath. I think the only original member was Tony Iommi. And they didn't play Paranoid. So, I thought that by seeing Ozzy Osbourne solo in 2010 the situation would be rectified.  As he came up on stage, an (almost) full moon appeared through the clouds and the set (naturally) began with Bark At The Moon (from my favourite solo album of his from the 80's).

 

 

He also played Shot In The Dark from the following album which had a different sound since the synthesizers were more prominent but nobody seemed to mind. But what I really liked is that he didn't just play a couple of Sabbath songs, he played quite a lot and some of them were not what the crowd expected (eg "Fairies Wear Boots"). War Pigs was magnificent and at the end of it he declared "A very good friend of mine has recently passed away. His name was Ronnie James Dio". However, I seem to remember that he felt a lot differently  back in the 80's when Dio replaced him as lead singer of Sabbath...

 

On top of that VIP ticket holders who were at the front of the stage were awarded with several showers courtesy of Ozzy who was constantly throwing water at them. (He was also throwing water at himself, so I guess that was fair). The hero of the night must have been the roadie whose task was to refill the water bucket. And he gave a standing ovation to his Greek lead guitarist Gus G.

 

There were two tracks that I wanted to hear and he saved them for the end: Crazy Fuckin' Train and of course Paranoid. I had to wait 23 years for that last one...

 

 

 

SETLIST:   
INTRO: Carmina Burana

01. Bark at the Moon
02. Let Me Hear You Scream
03. Mr. Crowley
04. I Don't Know
05. Fairies Wear Boots
06. Suicide Solution
07. War Pigs
08. Road to Nowhere
09. Fire in the Sky
10. Into the Void
11. Shot in the Dark
12. Rat Salad (with guitar and drum solos)
13. Iron Man
14. Killer of Giants
15. Flying High Again
16. I Don't Want to Change the World
17. Crazy Train
ENCORE:
18. Mama, I'm Coming Home
19. No More Tears
20. Paranoid

Kadebostany live in Athens July 2021

 

In 2020 I only went to one concert. In 2021 I went to only one as well, at least so far. And it was at the same venue, Gazarte Roof Stage. Since I felt safe in it last year, I thought I'd do it again. The truth is that I thought it was a bit more crowded this year, but there weren't any problems later so, I guess it was OK. And this time it was an international artist: Kadebostany from Switzerland. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to get into their music...
The support act was Vassilina with whom I was familiar since she had released a digital album on UNDO Records (home of Marsheaux) and now has a physical release on Inner Ear Records. She played mostly stuff from the latest album and it was good to finally hear her live.

After her set, and after we had listened to more music from the Gazarte speakers including David Bowie's "Starman", Kadebostany came on stage.

 

They got the crowd excited even though one of the restrictions being imposed was that we all had to remain seated, people could not stand up and dance. At least we were allowed to clap. 

Nevertheless, the gig was highly entertaining and it proved to be a refreshing night out since it was my first gig after September of last year. And on top of that, it was also successful, since not only was it sold out, but the band were also due to appear on the following day at the same venue.