The Beatles and The Stones - What year are we in again?

  

This was supposed to be 2023, but the fact that my favourite single of the year was by The Beatles and my favourite album was by The Rolling Stones is a bit confusing...

Happy New Year everyone!

UEFA Super Cup 2023

My blog consists mainly of concert posts, but I've only written a sports post once and that had to do with the London 2012 Olympic Games. I do attend sports events every once in a while, though, most notably Basketball European and World Championships (with a Final Four thrown in the mix) and a Euro 2008 match in Salzburg. But the football match I attended in August was definitely an important one, worth writing a blog post about: The 2023 UEFA Super Cup final. This is a match between the Champions League winner and the Europa League winner. Every year I go into a lot of trouble in order to find a TV channel or a web site to see it. This year, as I was searching for the channel that would show it, I realized that I didn't need one. It would be held here in Greece. So, I applied for a ticket, didn't get one, but when some of the successful applicants did not pick up theirs, I finally got one. I was supporting Manchester City that night, because even though I am an Arsenal fan, I usually support the English teams (apart from Tot****am) on international games. I had actually been to the Manchester City store on my last visit to Manchester back in 2016 when I went to see The Stone Roses at Manchester City's stadium! And since I had already been to matches where Arsenal and Manchester United had played, City was one team that I had never seen "live".

As with every major international sports tournament, this was a celebration and a chance to meet people from other countries in one's city. My first stop on that day was Thissio where a big replica of the cup was on display.

My next stop was Piraeus, close to Karaiskaki Stadium where the final was taking place in order to visit the Fan Festival. This was an area where fans from both teams and local people as well could get together, eat and drink, play 5-a-side football and listen to music.

 

 

On top of that, across the street from the Fan Festival, the Champions League, Europa League and Super Cup trophies were on display (along with Manchester City's domestic trophies).

Then it was on to the stadium where we watched a football match with both teams scoring one goal each. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As it ended in a 1-1 draw, the winner was to be decided on penalties, but without extra time played beforehand, which means that the match never had the chance to go into "boring" status. I recorded the penalty shoot-out on video.

 

One thing that hasn't changed since the 90's is that Gala's "Freed From Desire" is played in all major sporting events

 

 

 

After the match and the award ceremony we set off on our way home where the local organizers had told us the metro would be running extra services to all destinations. However, in typical Greek fashion, mine stopped halfway through and we found ourselves stranded somewhere in Athens in the early hours of the morning until we were saved by a night bus.

 

Bruce Springsteen live in Monza July 2023

Well, I had to see Bruce Springsteen for a third time for my final concert in 2023. And I had to see him in the country where I usually see him. And what's more, this time I would have good company.

However, everything that could go wrong had already started to go wrong. First of all, I didn't know until almost the last minute if one of my two friends would manage to come. As a result, by the time she confirmed, there was no accommodation left in Monza, plus my usual hotel in Milan was full. I managed to find something on the outskirts of Milan. And then, when I arrived there, there was a severe thunderstorm over Milan (which we experienced while eating at Naviglio Grande) and that meant that flights were suspended so that my other friend was stuck in an airport in Skopje. 

Eventually, she did manage to arrive early the next morning (the day of the concert). When we arrived at the venue which was the area that included the Monza Grand Prix Circuit. we realized that there was a long walk ahead of us in order to reach the particular area where the concert was taking place. 

Somehow we managed that, but even though we had set off early-ish we didn't manage to be there for the support set by Tash Sultana. On top of that the area was huge and I don't think that anyone, apart from those at Pit A had a clear view of the stage. As a result I didn't manage to meet any of my friends that I knew were there, but on different pits.

None of all these things mattered when Bruce came on stage. We had somehow managed to find a place where we could see the stage quite well(ish). After all, as far as I was concerned this was an added extra as a Bruce concert for 2023. For my friend though, it was her only Bruce concert of the year. One look at her face though convinced me that she was nevertheless happy.

 

 

Well, I won't get into many details, I've said everything in my posts for the two Hyde Park dates. It was a setlist closer to the first night at Hyde Park. Plus, during the last song and after the end there was a thank you message projected on the trees! This was after all the climax of my summer concerts season this year, the first with concerts abroad since 2019 and the first with Bruce concerts since 2016.

When it was all over, we were faced with a different task : Getting back. There was more walking this time. The upside of this was that that we walked through the Formula 1 circuit. We actually stepped on the holy ground where, to paraphrase Bruce, "Ferrari play their games".

It was difficult to find the spot where the buses were departing from (some fans called it a disaster in organizational terms the following day), but we did find them and they took us to the train station where trains to Milano were running until 3 o' clock as promised. The next day we took a train to Rome and from there another one to Terni for a few days well-earned relaxation somewhere in the heart of Italy...

SETLIST:
01. No Surrender
02. Ghosts
03. Prove It All Night
04. Letter To You
05. The Promised Land
06. Out In The Street
07. Darlington County
08. Kitty's Back
09. Nightshift
10. Mary's Place
11. Johnny 99
12. The River
13. Last Man Standing
14. Backstreets
15. Because The Night
16. She's The One
17. Wrecking Ball
18. The Rising
19. Badlands
Encore:
20. Born To Run
21. Bobby Jean
22. Glory Days
23. Dancing In The Dark
24. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
25. Twist And Shout
Encore 2:
26. I'll See You In My Dreams

Guns N' Roses live in Athens July 2023

Years ago, before Release Athens Festival became so huge (and we're glad that it did because it has offered us variety within the city of Athens) there used to be "The Big Summer Concert". It was one concert, usually during the summer, and usually at the Olympic Stadium, that was the biggest event of that year. In 1998 it was The Rolling Stones (of course). In 2007 it was George Michael. In 2008 it was Madonna. In 2009 it was AC/DC. In 2010 it was U2. In 2011 it was Bon Jovi. Well, in 2023 it was definitely Guns N' Roses!

Well, Axl Rose had already played in Greece with what he called "Guns N' Roses", but we all know that that wasn't the real GNR. What we wanted to see was the original line-up and when that reformed a few years ago, I knew that I had to see them. I had already been thinking of planning a trip abroad, but sometime during last winter I got lucky. They announced that they would be coming to Greece. I secured my ticket early enough (making sure they didn't clash with Bruce) and sat back and waited for the summer to come.

 

 

 

When the time came, which was the day following yet another Release Athens Festival date, I was ready even though it was the hottest day of the year. I went there quite early, but what I didn't expect was that I would get to the very front and also that I would find my friends there. I also found a guy I didn't know wearing a Billy Joel t-shirt and when I talked to him he confirmed that yes, he had also been at Hyde Park a few days earlier.

 

The Last Internationale, the support band were a pleasant surprise, with their very outstanding singer who managed to get us in the mood even though the sun was still shining and it was still, as a result, very hot.

 

 

 

What was to follow was three hours of Guns N' Roses. Yes, they do a Bruce Springsteen and play a 3 hour set on this tour. And as they don't have so many albums as Bruce you'd think they would manage to fit in everything during those three hours. Well, not so, because they wanted to include songs from Velvet Revolver, Chinese Democracy and other solo projects. Still, there were only a handful of classics left out, the most notable being "Don't Cry" (although personally I would prefer "Get In The Ring"). There were a few rumours that they would not be that good, however Axl had lost a lot of weight, his voice was a lot better than some people thought it would be and even though Slash was showing his age, the energy was still there. The hottest day of the year was just that: The hottest! Now all I had to do was pack my bags and go to Monza for another three hour concert : Bruce Springsteen!

SETLISTS:
THE LAST INTERNATIONALE
01. Killing Fields
02. Wanted Man
03. Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Indian Blood
04. 1984
05. Freedom Town
06. Soul On Fire

GUNS N' ROSES
01. It's So Easy
02. Bad Obsession
03. Chinese Democracy
04. Slither
05. Pretty Tied Up
06. Mr. Brownstone
07. Welcome To The Jungle
08. Double Talkin' Jive
09. Hard Skool
10. Absurd
11. Estranged
12. Live And Let Die
13. Rocket Queen
14. Down On The Farm
15. You Could Be Mine
16. T.V. Eye
17. Anything Goes
18. Civil War
19. Slash Guitar Solo
20. Sweet Child O' Mine
21. November Rain
22. Reckless Life
23. Wichita Lineman
24. Locomotive
25. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
26. Nightrain
27. Patience
28. Happy Birthday to You
29. Paradise City