Back in the early 90's I used to buy every dance single that entered the UK Top 40. It was the era of the "dance boom" as I was calling it, mainly headlined by house music, but other genres would soon appear. Now, I won't say that when I bought "Unfinished Sympathy" I witnessed the birth of trip hop (the 7 inch single that I bought contained two mixes of the song, one on each side, one was the original and the other was a more "house-y" remix), but it was one of my favourite songs of that year even though their name had been shortened to "Massive" because of the Gulf War. (The policy of the UK government at that time was that no song on the radio should remind listeners of the war that was taking place at that time. With that same policy they had even banned John Lennon's "Imagine", which didn't mention war but peace. But when the listeners heard the word "peace" they would remember the war. Geddit?). Thankfully I had heard of the band before and knew what their original name was. They went on to become one of the pioneers of trip hop and their later album "Mezzanine" is considered their best, but to my mind, "Unfinished Sympathy" will always be their best song.
And finally Beak were followed by Massive Attack themselves. They presented an impressive stage show with projections translated in Greek. The big surprise for me though was the presence of Elizabeth Frazer from The Cocteau Twins. Not only was she there, but she also performed "Song To The Siren"! That was more or less at the end of the first half of the set. Because all my favourite songs, from "Angel" onwards seemed to have been reserved for the second half, including "Safe From Harm", "Karmacoma" and of course, "Unfinished Sympathy".
A very enjoyable night, by all means, but the fact was that I would have to return to the same venue, the following day for Duran Duran...
SETLISTS: BEAK 01. The Brazilian 02. Brean Down 03. Yatton 04. Allé Sauvage 05. Wulfstan II
It's not common to stage an indoor concert in the summer in Greece, but this is what happened with the Smashing Pumpkins. I was going to see them in the summer of 2007 with the Manic Street Preachers at Terra Vibe. This was the perfect combination for me because in my opinion those were the two most important independent bands of the 90's, the former from the USA and the latter from the UK. Unfortunately, due to the massive forest wildfires of that summer the concert was cancelled. There weren't any wildfires near the venue but since Terra Vibe is in a forest it was decided to cancel it in order to prevent another possible wildfire. The years went by, and I finally saw the Manic Street Preachers in 2019 at the Brussels Summer Festival. And last winter when this concert was announced, I realized it was time for me to finally see the Smashing Pumpkins and bought a FOS ticket on the day they were released.
It was indeed a very hot day as I got there and we were promised that the venue would have ventilation although I'm not so sure if that was true. The opening act was Tom Morello. Now I had seen Tom Morello back in 2012 at the Hard Rock Calling Festival supporting (and later in the day playing with) Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band. But that was a different Tom Morello. It was "Tom Morello The Nightwatchman" a more acoustic version. This one was a full-on electric Tom Morello something that I had yet to experience. And that's how the set started: with a song ("I'm A Soldier (In The Army Of Love)) co-written by his son. What's more, his son was on stage as well playing the guitar. Later on we got something we hoped for but were probably not expecting: Bruce's own "The Ghost Of Tom Joad". After all, Rage Against the Machine had covered that song and Tom himself joined Bruce on stage back in 2012 for that same song (and a few more as well). In the course of the set we got, among other things instrumental parts of several Rage Against The Machine songs culminating with "Killing In The Name" where we, the audience, had to provide the vocals. We duly obliged. It all ended with another cover: John Lennon's "Power To The People".
Afterwards it was of course time for The Smashing Pumpkins. By looking around at the audience it was clear that everyone was feeling the heat by that time. Their set relied heavily on "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness" but there were several songs from their other 90's albums that we love so much and were, after all, what the audience had come to listen to. They even covered a U2 song: "Zoo Station". There was only one problem: The sound was awful. I thought at the time that this was a problem only for us who were at the front of the stage but it was also mentioned by other fans on social media posts and on internet reviews of the gig.
It all went well in the end. They played quite a long set and I went home satisfied now that my dream had come true: After the Manic Street Preachers, I had now also seen the Smashing Pumpkins live.
To tell you the truth, I don't have any Offspring albums. I have plenty of singles, though. It was back in the 90's when MTV Europe as well as clubs in Greece started playing "Come Out To Play" (which we knew at the time as "Keep' Em Separated"). "Self Esteem" was also popular at the time. And then came 1999 with "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)". I first heard it at Camel Club in Athens, Greece and noticed that immediately everyone went wild: From the bartenders and the DJ to the clubbers themselves. A few days later, I saw the video on MTV Europe. And there was more to it, another great song and another great video "Why Don't You Get A Job". And when in the fall of that year I moved back to London for my Master's Degree, I bought the enhanced CD single of "The Kids Aren't Alright" because it featured the video of "Pretty Fly" (there was no YouTube back then, and even if there was I prefer to own my favourite media). All that was enough for me to want to go and see them live if I ever got the chance. And that chance came on the 9th of June this year. And this was why I arranged to see Coldplay on the 8th, so that I could see Offspring on the 9th.
I set off from home quite early in the afternoon because that was the day of the European Elections and I had to vote in the city centre. After the food feast that traditionally follows all elections, I headed to the south of the city to attend the festival.
As I arrived Danko Jones were playing. I heard some praise for them from some of my friends, but another friend, whom I met there at the gig wasn't that much impressed. Moreover, I was surprised to hear the singer saying "we might not play your favourite song tonight, but because most of our songs sound the same, wait for the next song, close your eyes and it will sound like your favourite". Danko Jones : The frank band!
Finally, it was time fot the main attraction. The Offspring. Back to the 90's we went and even though I heard some criticism from others that they are not as good these days and "uncle Noodles" keeps on talking a lot between songs in order to make their sets last longer (he does), to my mind they were brilliant. And yes, they played all my favourite songs, "Come Out To Play", "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)", "Why Don't You Get A Job", even "The Kids Aren't Alright", ending with "Self Esteem". They even threw in a cover medley mixing classical music and punk rock: Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" coupled with The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop"!
As far as the festival was concerned there were all the same attractions again this year, the free Cokes, Johnnie Walker with Ginger Ale (which thankfully is made with the Black Label version of the whisky), more official merchandise compared to what these used to be in the past, but the only thing that was missing was the free Amstel Free lemon "beer" at the exit.
And as usual, there was lots of "unhealthy" (or "dirty" as we call it in Greece) food, after the exit, outside the festival grounds...
SETLISTS: DANKO JONES 01. Guess Who's Back 02. Get High? 03. I'm In A Band 04. I Gotta Rock 05. Lipstick City 06. First Date 07. Code Of The Road 08. The Twisting Knife 09. Good Time 10. You Are My Woman 11. Flaunt It 12. Full Of Regret 13. Had Enough 14. Lovercall 15. My Little RnR
THE SUBWAYS 01. Oh Yeah 02. Black Wax 03. We Don't Need Money To Have a Good Time 04. Taking All the Blame 05. Kalifornia 06. Alright 07. Turnaround 08. I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say 09. Influencer Killed The Rock Star 10. At 1 AM 11. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 12. It's A Party 13. Girls & Boys 14. With You 15. Rock & Roll Queen
I'm not really a big fan of Coldplay. "Yellow" is one of my favourite songs, but in my humble opinion they've never managed to write another song as great as that one. Most people like their later songs though, that's why they have become a supergroup. And not many supergroups come to Greece to play live, at least if they're not of the hard rock / heavy metal type and certainly not in their prime. On top of that they put on a great show; for me, with this band, it's more about the show than about the music. And this was promised to be the show of the year here in Greece, the big summer concert of the year. (You know the type, Madonna in 2008, AC/DC in 2009, U2 in 2010, Bon Jovi in 2011). So how come I was left without a ticket?
Well, the concert was announced while I was in Italy for the Bruce Springsteen concert in Monza. It quickly sold out and then I thought "It's OK, I'll get tickets for the second one". The second one was announced while I was in Terni on my vacation after the Monza concert. And it sold out while I was still there! And there wasn't going to be a third one. Later in the year, the Athens Olympic Stadium was found to have some problems which made it doubtful that the concerts would even take place. When these were fixed, I thought that I would try to find one at the last moment from someone who didn't want theirs. And that's exactly what I did, looking specifically for one from the first date on the 8th of June, since on the 9th I had already bought a ticket to see Offspring at Release Athens Festival. I searched on the Facebook event page and found somebody who seemed like a real person willing to sell his. I arranged to meet him outside the stadium to buy it there. (No paper was exchanged, he transferred the PDF to me using Viber).
So how come did Coldplay manage to sell out two consecutive nights in Greece (they do that regularly in other countries) when, as I have mentioned before Greeks do not usually go to pop concerts? Has something changed? Well, yes and no. A lot of Greek people decided to attend and most of them were of a young age (and that can only be a good thing), but the truth is that a lot of the tickets were bought by people from other countries. Quite a lot of them from Israel, I also saw some Italians, French and Germans to name but a few and the ever present lately (and always welcome to our continent) Americans who have flooded European concerts this year hitting two birds with one stone: Tourism in Europe, while at the same time avoiding dynamic pricing of concert tickets in the States. All in all, it's cheaper for them to buy concert and plane tickets to Europe while at the same time paying for accommodation, rather that attending concerts in their own country.
Well, with my newly-bought ticket on my phone I got in, received my special wristband (nothing to do with the seating section; it was one with LED lights that is activated during the performance), found my seat and got ready to enjoy the show.
First up was Antonia Kaouri, a local artist, who, if I'm not mistaken, became known through a TV talent show. On the prjection screens she was presented with her Instagram username (@kaouraki). Pretty impressive, she sang in both Greek and English.
Then it was time for Maisie Peters, a 24 year old Englsh singer. Her own songs were exceptionally good and she also performed a cover version of "Mr Brightside" by The Killers.
The sun had by now gone down, it was fully dark and that meant that it was finally time for Coldplay. And what a show it was! They played across three different stages, the wristbands came into operation depending on the song being performed, the projection screens were a big part of the whole experience (along with the wristbands of course) and there were a lot of added extras like the "jumbotrons" where the dancing done by the audience would power some of the energy needed for the show. They even invited two members of the audience to sing with them at some point and they also sang personally adapted songs to random people displayed on the screens. Somewhere among all these was "Yellow" and you can guess with which colour the LED's on the wristbands were blinking while it was played. It wasn't only about "Yellow" though. Most Coldplay fans like their later songs better that's why the concert didn't disappoint the audience at any moment. "A Sky Full Of Stars" was even performed in two parts, (or twice if you like) the second one "without mobiles". And if you thought it would be quite dark without the mobiles you'd be wrong as the wristbands provided ample illumination. As far as I'm concerned, the only weak spot was the song with the puppet, but then again that's just my humble opinion.
In the end while exiting the stadium we were supposed to return the wristbands in order for them to be recycled, but I must confess that I held on to mine, partly as a memento and partly because I want to take it apart at home, see how it works and maybe reactivate it.
All in all, it was a wonderful and certainly memorable experience and its success could perhaps pave the way for more concerts by big names who are still in their prime to come to Greece (fingers crossed). Think about this: If you went to see Coldplay, you may have paid not just for Coldplay, but for these other acts to (hopefully) come in the future...
SETLISTS: MAISIE PETERS 01. Coming Of Age 02. Body Better 03. Love Him I Don't 04. You're Just A Boy (And I'm Kinda The Man) 05. Yoko 06. Mr. Brightside 07. Holy Revival 08. Not Another Rockstar 09. There It Goes 10. History Of Man 11. Lost The Breakup
COLDPLAY 01. Higher Power 02. Adventure Of A Lifetime 03. Paradise 04. The Scientist 05. Viva La Vida 06. Hymn For The Weekend 07. Everyday Life 08. Charlie Brown 09. Yellow 10. Human Heart 11. People Of The Pride 12. Clocks 13. Infinity Sign 14. Something Just Like This 15. Midnight 16. My Universe 17. A Sky Full Of Stars 18. Sparks 19. The Jumbotron Song 20. Fix You 21. Biutyful
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