Texas live in London February 2001

So far this year, I've posted about a gig from 1981 (my first ever, with City), one from 1991 (Pet Shop Boys - Performance), so now I'm going to post about a gig from 2001 when I went to see Texas at Wembley Arena in London. The first Texas single I had bought was their very first, "I Don't Want A Lover" back in 1989. They didn't have much luck with their next two albums, but they were back in the charts with their fourth one. This time was different, however because they had just issued their Greatest Hits album and they had embarked on a Greatest Hits tour? What better chance to see them, then, eh?|
I arrived at Wembley (the arena, not the stadium) just in time to see the support act Semisonic which were actually very good. They had already had a hit with "Secret Smile", but their new - at that time - single, "Chemistry" was even better!
Texas came up next, with, as expected a Greatest Hits setlist. This included all three new songs from the compilation album, because, yes, even though it was a Greatest Hits album, it contained three new songs: "In Demand" which had been released as a single before the album, "Inner Smile" which was being released just as their UK tour was taking place, and "Guitar Song" which featured a sample of "Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus)" and was never released as a single, the record company preferring to release a remix of "I Don't Want A Lover" instead. "Inner Smile" in particular featured Sharleen dressed as Elvis in the video, and that's how she appeared on stage for the first encore to perform it. And she kept her Elvis gear on for the next song which was a cover of "Suspicious Minds".
Finally, although the year was 2001, it featured a very 2010's moment. Sharleen invited one fan from the first rows on stage with the band and what was the first thing he did? He took a camera out and took a selfie with her! It wasn't even a digital camera, so he'd probably have to wait until the following day to see if the photo had come out alright.
Meanwhile, while doing my research for this gig, I only managed to find a single tiny photo from Wembley, and even that is from the previous day's gig. However one day while going through things in a drawer I discovered my ticket! And although there aren't any videos from that gig, a few months later they filmed their gig in Paris and along with their music videos they released it as a DVD calling it "Texas Paris" (as in the movie "Paris Texas", get it?). They even released a new album this year, 2021, so it seems that there is actually a future for them. Let's hope so...

SETLIST:
01. In Demand
02. Black Eyed Boy
03. Halo
04. In Our Lifetime
05. Guitar Song
06. Insane
07. Tired Of Being Alone
08. Pull Up To The Bumper
09. Put Your Arms Around Me
10. Prayer For You
11. I Don't Want A Lover
12. When We Are Together
13. Summer Son
Encore 1:
14. Inner Smile
15. Suspicious Mind (Elvis Presley cover, lyrics)
Encore 2:
16. Say What You Want

Performance - Pet Shop Boys live in Birmingham, June 1991

 

In a previous post this year, I had written about my first concert, City in Athens back in 1981, 40 years ago. Today I'm going to remember a concert I attended ten years later, in 1991, 30 years ago...
Back then, I was studying in the UK. When, in late April, I came back from my Easter holidays in Greece (said holidays included a lot of clubbing, but that's another story), I decided that I would go to a gig. My choices were two: Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode. The Depeche Mode gig was sold out, so I bought a ticket to see the Pet Shop Boys at the Birmingham NEC on the 1st of June. Two days later I was in the hospital with an extremely serious condition: I had to have brain surgery.
I had my operation on the 1st of May, I pulled through and three weeks later I was out of the hospital. I had started looking for a fellow student to sell my ticket to, (and my mum insisted I do that), when my doctor (not just any doctor, but the one who had operated on me) came to my rescue: "Let the boy go", he told my mum, "he needs to have some fun and go out a bit after all he's been through".
And so it was that on the evening of June 1 I got on the train to the NEC as it was then known (now I think it's called LG Arena, where I saw Bryan Adams 23 years later). Little did I know that I was about to witness a piece of music history. For that was where the video (a VHS tape back then, a DVD now) of  "Performance" was filmed. And that's exactly what it was: Not a gig, but a performance: Everything was directed and choreographed beforehand. It was something that you could watch while sitting down, and that's exactly what I had to do because of my condition. I also had to wear a patch over the left lens of my glasses, because that particular eye couldn't focus properly yet. But the funny thing about my appearance was something else: They had shaved my head at the hospital in order to facilitate the operation, so I had asked my friends to do me a favour: "Because I will come out of this looking like Sinead O'Connor" (ie bald) "could you buy me a hat with a band's name on it? Any band..." And so they did. Only the band's name was Iron Maiden. I believe that to this day I must be the only person who has ever watched a Pet Shop Boys gig wearing an Iron Maiden hat.
And so the Pet Shop Boys played the songs they had chosen for this particular tour (the same every night as this was a "Performance" (you can see them in the setlist further down the post) while I was enjoying the show feeling lucky and glad to be alive. You can say that this was my reward after what I had been through. And these songs were not always the obvious hits. Sure, the set relied heavily on "Behaviour", but there were also b-sides, like "We All Feel Better In The Dark" with Chris taking his clothes off, and one of the best PSB songs in my opinion "Your Funny Uncle", the very last song of the night, ending the encore on a somewhat sad note, but with a hint of optimism: "Another life begins today" (this certainly applied to me). There were also songs they had written for other artists "So Sorry I Said", "I'm Not Scared".

But the absolute highlight for me was "Jealousy", the last song of the normal set, before the encore. It was my favourite track from "Behaviour", an album which, believe it or not, I didn't much like at first (Most of the songs were "too slow" I thought at first. Not surprising if you knew me back then, since I used to indulge in a lot of nightclubbing in those days). On top of that, "Jealousy" actually came out as a single that very week. It was the last CD I bought before I went back to Athens for what would now be my summer holiday...

SETLIST:
01. This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave
02. It's a Sin
03. Losing My Mind
04. What Have I Done to Deserve This?
05. My October Symphony
06. I'm Not Scared
07. We All Feel Better in the Dark
08. So Sorry, I Said
09. Suburbia
10. So Hard
11. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
12. How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?
13. Rent
14. Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
15. West End Girls
16. Jealousy
Encore:
17. Always on My Mind
18. Your Funny Uncle

 

Pavlov's Dog live in Athens November 2010

Pavlov's Dog were popular in Greece back in the late 70's and most people believe that was due to the presence of an "unusual" (by rock'n'roll standards) instrument in their line up: The violin. (The same thing that had happened with City). That's when I first heard of them, their most popular song back then being "Julia" and they had only released two albums.  Anyway, Pavlov's Dog reformed at some point and they started coming to Greece. In November 2010 they appeared at Zygos in the Plaka district and this was, if I am not mistaken, their 3rd appearance in this country (but the first I had attended). I learned about that gig while waiting outside the Peace And Friendship Stadium for the Scorpions concert a few days earlier. There were older (like the singer's wife), and also newer members in their line-up (like the bass player and the obligatory... violin player). They had finally released a new album, plus a live one that was only available at their gigs. They played old, new, and even older but unreleased songs (because, as their singer told us, they could only fit 36 minutes of music on a vinyl record. I thought it was 45, but never mind).

They finished their set with "Julia" and then came out again to sign tickets, CD's, posters and books. That's how I managed to have a chat with them where they told me that although they might want to come every year, this was not up to them but up to the promoters. And the promoters of their previous gig in Greece had cheated them out of their earnings as they claimed, and that's why they had chosen Zygos this time around. Meanwhile, the two girls (violin and bass player) grabbed the chance to wear souvenir t-shirts for tourists with "Hellas" inscriptions. The gig was opened by "Rock & Lace" from the town of Trikala who also played "Because The Night", a song written by Bruce Springsteen and made famous by Patti Smith.

SETLIST:
01. Natchez Trace
02. Late November
03. Angeline
04. I Don't Need Magic Anymore
05. Fast Gun
06. Episode

07. Lost In America
08. I Love You Still
09. I Don't Do So Good Without You
10. Suzanne, I Love You
11. Don't Rain On Me
12. Ava Gardner's Bust
13. Only You
14. Brown Eyes
15. Theme From Subway Sue
16. Standing Here With You (Megan's Song)
17. Angel's Twilight Jump
18. Valkerie
19. Song Dance
Encore:
20. Breaking Ice
21. Julia

Scorpions live in Athens October 2010

Back in 2010 Scorpions announced that they were finally disbanding (yeah, right) and that they would come to Athens for one final concert. I had already seen them back in 2006 but some friends wanted to go and I was hoping that this time they would play some songs from their early years, so I went along with them. To my disappointment they did not play anything from the Uli Jon Roth era.

It was raining cats and dogs while we were waiting in line to get in the venue, and that's when I was handed a flyer announcing that Uli Jon Roth was coming with his own band, so I went to that one as well and finally got to hear those older songs.

The Scorpions concert was originally scheduled for the 6th of October of 2010 but it was postponed because singer Klaus Meine was suffering from pharyngitis. It was rescheduled for the 24th of the same month. When we did manage to get in, we were just in time to see the second support act, Firewind, whose guitarist is Gus G, who is also the Greek guitarist of Ozzy whom we had seen a month before at Terra Vibe. We were positively surprised by the cover of Michael Sembello's Maniac which was originally featured in the soundtrack of Flashdance back in the 80's!  

 

At around 21:45 Scorpions were on stage! We heard everything that we expected to hear (such as Wind Of Change, Rock You Like A Hurricane, Still Loving You, Holiday, Blackout, Big City Nights), but, as I have already mentioned, nothing from the Uli Roth era, that is before 1978 such as In Trance and Pictured Life. We heard some of the new - at that time - songs. I had had a chance to listen to what was then their current album and, in my opinion, the best song was "The Best Is Yet To Come". They played it and it was the one song from that album that was best received by the audience. So maybe their fans agreed with me.

 

We were, however, treated to a rather long drum solo from James Kottak who was their drummer at that time...

We all know what happened next. They decided not to disband and they came for 3(!) MTV Unplugged dates (And all 3 were sold out). And, as this time they were "acoustic" I decided to go and see them again. And that's when they finally played "Pictured Life" and "In Trance" in my presence...

 

SETLISTS:

 

FIREWIND
01. Head Up High
02. Destination Forever
03. Angels Forgive Me
04. World On Fire
05. Guitar Solo
06. The Fire And The Fury
07. Till The End Of Time
08. My Loneliness
09. Mercenary Man
10. Maniac
11. I Am The Anger
12. Falling To Pieces

 

SCORPIONS

01. Sting In The Tail
02. Make It Real
03. Bad Boys Running Wild
04. The Zoo
05. Coast To Coast
06. Loving You Sunday Morning
07. The Best Is Yet to Come
08. Send Me An Angel
09. Holiday
10. Wind Of Change
11. Raised On Rock
12. Tease Me Please Me
13. Dynamite
14. Kottak Attack (Drum Solo)
15. Blackout
16. Six String Sting (Guitar Solo)
17. Big City Nights
Encore:
18. Still Loving You
19. Rock You Like A Hurricane

 

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.

The Blues Brothers Band live in Athens July 2010

I am sure that you are all familiar with the Blues Brothers from the 1980 movie with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. They had however begun in 1978 as a sketch on Saturday Night Live and had already released an album before making the movie (and later released another one, apart from the soundtrack). The two brothers were John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and their band consisted of well-established musicians (Steve Cropper, Lou Marini, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Matt "Guitar" Murphy among others). John Belushi sadly left us early in 1982. Nevertheless, the band reformed in 1988 and have been on the road since then, with different lineups, without of course John Belushi but neither with Dan Aykroyd who had already had a successful acting career. A sequel to the film was released in 1998, Blues Brothers 2000 with Dan Aykroyd reprising his role and John Goodman replacing John Belushi. They came back to Greece once again and on Wednesday 21, July 2010 they performed at the Lycabettus Theatre. (They were also due to appear in Salonica two days before that, but unfortunately their gig was cancelled because it was raining). In Athens the opening act was Matt O'Ree with a very good set. We love him because he's from New Jersey like The Boss. He even contacted me on my YouTube page where I had posted a video from that night to make sure that I made it clear that they were playing in Athens, Greece and not in Athens, Georgia! 

 

One hour later The Blues Brothers Band came on stage. From the original lineup Steve Cropper, Lou Marini and Alan Rubin were there. They started with a couple of instrumentals (Green Onions, Peter Gunn Theme) until the two singers (Jonny Rosch and Bobby Garden) gradually appeared. Highlights included my personal favourite She Caught The Katy (the song playing on the opening titles of the movie), Minnie The Moocher and of course Sweet Home Chicago.

They even brought a couple of kids onto the stage whom they awarded the honorary title of "Little Blues Brothers"! The best songs were left for the encore: 634-5789, Soul Man, I Can't Turn You Loose, and even Knock On Wood!

Setlist:
01. Green Onions
02. Peter Gunn Theme
03. Soulfinger
04. Going Back To Miami
05. Groove Me
06. She Caught The Katy
07. Messin' With The Kid
08. Shotgun Blues
09. Hey Bartender
10. Flip, Flop & Fly
11. Minnie The Moocher
12. (I Got Everything I Need) Almost
13. Sweet Home Chicago / I Can't Turn You Loose
Encore:
14. "B" Movie Boxcar Blues
15. 634-5789
16. Knock On Wood
17. Soul Man / I Can't Turn You Loose