Maneskin are the band famous for winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021 with Zitti E Buoni which was, essentially a hard rock song. Contrary to what people might think, hard rock songs are usually quite popular on Eurovision. What comes to people's minds of course is Eurovision 2006 and the winning song Hard Rock Hallelujah by Lordi from Finland. But the year before that, it was the Norwegian entry which not only was a hard rock song, but it also got a lot of points. In my opinion, it sounded a lot like The Scorpions. Going back to the subject of Maneskin, they didn't just win the contest, but they've also broken what is believed by many to be a cardinal rule of Eurovision: That, apart from ABBA, all artists who have won the contest are one hit wonders and are quickly forgotten a few months after the victory. Maneskin however, not only were they not forgotten they had already had a career in Italy and they became even more popular after Eurovision. And that's not all. They won the acclaim of several international artists from Duran Duran to Tom Morello and Steve Van Zandt. And as far as my relationship with Maneskin goes, I had already bought their "Teatro D'Ira" album shortly after Eurovision, but I later bought another one. Usually,on my frequent trips to Italy for concerts I make it a point of buying an Italian CD and an Italian DVD. So on last year's trip to Milano to see Bruce Springsteen in Monza, I bought Maneskin's latest album "Rush!". And that was the one that convinced me to go and see them live when I learned that they would be appearing in Athens.
As I was entering the venue, which was not the Olympic Stadium itself but in one of its parking lots Alice Merton had already started playing. I had already heart of her, but not her songs and I read somewhere that one of her songs was in fact a hit in Greece. I did enjoy her set, more than the next support act, I must admit.
Then it was time for Palaye Royale. I hadn't heard of them, but I was happy to notice that the frontman was sporting a "Heart Of Glass Blondie" t-shirt.
While Palaye Royale were still playing, I started walking around the venue. After having attended so many different dates of Release Festival, this was something new for me. Some sponsors were the same, some were different, so there were some freebies being offered that were new to me, including, for the first time at a festival, ice creams! And I was glad that one of the sponsors was Jack Daniel's!
It was then time for Maneskin, the main act. You could sense the anticipation in the atmosphere of mostly young people who were there, especially as the band took a bit of time to appear. But when they did, it was explosive. They played both the Italian and the English language songs, as they do on their albums. One of them was "Gossip" their collaboration with Tom Morello, which he himself had performed in Athens a few days earlier when he had supported the Smashing Pumpkins.
On the last song of their main set, "Kool Kids" they even invited members of the audience onto the stage with them, which they thoroughly enjoyed!
They finished the encore by playing "I Wanna Be Your Slave" for the second time.
So, one would think that a concert which attracted young people to listen to a rock band would please the, by now notorious on this blog, "Greek rock fans", right? Wrong! The following day, I read a review on a site by one of them who claimed that Maneskin were not a "serious" band and their music was just for kids and invited his followers to join him on a festival that was going to take place on one of the mountains of Greece where they could listen to Greek "artistic" music! But these are the people who complain that young people don't listen to "quality music" these days. But when they do listen to the music that they themselves approve of they still complain! Go figure! Of course, some of the members of the audience (mostly young girls) were so young that they were accompanied by their mothers. But the mothers themselves seemed to enjoy the show as well. And some of these girls were accused of fancying Damiano, the frontman! So what! I fancy Victoria myself, but I went to the concert to listen to their music!
Oh well! Some people will never be happy... At least we were!
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SETLISTS;
ALICE MERTON
01. Run Away Girl
02. Hit the Ground Running
03. Vertigo
04. Learn To Live
05. Mania
06. Same Team
07. 100 Stories
08. Don't Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts
09. Pick Me Up
10. Lash Out
11. Waste My Life
12. No Roots
13. Why So Serious
14. The Other Side
PALAYE ROYALE
01. Little Bastards
02. Black Sheep
03. You'll Be Fine
04. Fucking With My Head
05. No Love in LA
06. Hang On to Yourself
07. Just My Type
08. Dead to Me
09. Paranoid
10. Showbiz
11. Fever Dream
12. Lonely
13. Mr. Doctor Man
MANESKIN
01. Don't Wanna Sleep
02. Gossip
03. Zitti E Buoni
04. Honey (Are U Coming?)
05. Supermodel
06. Gasoline
07. The Driver
08. Beggin'
09. For Your Love
10. Own My Mind
11. Baby Said
12. I Wanna Be Your Slave
13. MammaMia
14. In Nome Del Padre
15. Bla Bla Bla
16. Off My Face
17. Kool Kids
Encore:
18. The Loneliest
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