Alison Moyet live in Athens March 2010

The first concert covered by The PAP DX Blog wasn't properly covered. That's because it was taking place at the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron). It is almost impossible to take a photo or record a video there, because if you do the staff will be on you in an instant. However, when I went there in March 2010 to see Alison Moyet, I managed to take a couple of photos and record 20 seconds of video. And when I originally wrote about it in the blog (in Greek) I combined my post with a review of the Yazoo concert in Manchester which had taken place two years before and which has already been covered here in English.
The first thing I noticed when Alison came on stage was how much weight she had lost compared to 2008. That didn't matter at all to me because I had considered her beautiful since her Yazoo days in the 80's no matter what her weight was.
Thankfully she didn't follow the "program" mentioned in the press release (which was probably the tracklist of the new compilation her record company insisted on releasing as she mentioned in one of her interviews) and as a result we got an extra Yazoo track and more from her first two albums which were her most successful. Most of the songs were presented in a different arrangement to the ones we were use to from her albums. You could say they were more "jazzy" in some cases. 

 

Some of the songs we heard that night (not in the order in which they were performed but in a chronological one) were these: Only You, Situation, Don't Go from Yazoo. We could add Ode To Boy II here, a song she had also recorded with Yazoo as Ode To Boy. Love Resurrection (her first solo single), All Cried Out (the second one, which I didn't care much for, but the audience loved it), That Ole Devil Called Love, Is This Love (one of my favourites from her second album), Weak In The Presence Of Beauty ("This song is like old boyfriends. You know you loved them once...") Ordinary Girl (in an arrangement "without the kitchen sink" as she said which made even me like it although it was never one of my favourites), Love Letters (she brought the house down on this one) This House, Ne Me Quitte Pas, It Won't Be Long, The Windmills Of Your Mind (which most people know from "The Thomas Crown Affair"). These were all that I could remember but I left one as an honorary mention: The last song (before the encore): When in 1994 I had almost forgotten about Alison Moyet she released this incredible track : Whispering Your Name. I thought it was strange that the Greek audience remembered that. After the end of the concert I headed straight to the stand with the CD's so that I could buy those that were missing from my collection...

Dustbowl - Johnny Cash : The Tribute Show

 [Before we begin, here is some info from www.dustbowl.gr]
"Dust Bowl" were those whirlwinds and hurricanes of dust that infested the South-West States of America from 1930 to 1938. A term born in those hard times from the people who lived in the drought-stricken region during the Great Depression. The "Dust Bowl Days", also known as the "Dirty Thirties", took its toll on Cimarron County. The decade was full of extremes: blizzards, tornadoes, floods, droughts, and dirt storms.

The Dust Bowl did not cause the Great Depression, although it did contribute to some of the economic problems. The dust storms began years after the arrival of the Great Depression, leaving them only to further hinder the economy. When farmers in the Midwest started having problems with their crops because of "black blizzards", they found it difficult to make profit and eventually lost their land to banks and the government. With their land barren and homes seized in foreclosure, many farm families were forced to leave. Migrants left farms in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, and New Mexico. The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history within a short period of time.

Dustbowl (the band) were formed in Athens Greece [May 2006] and built their own flavor of Americana & Alt. Country-Rock. “Dusty Rock - Earth-Elegy” music which reveals their own inner lament and sentiments.
They weren’t concerned about fitting in or being a part of what anybody else was doing but the rebellious and deviant chain gang & the "dust bowl" refugees! 

 I went to see them when they did "Johnny Cash: The Tribute Show" at Athens Concert Hall (Megaro Mousikis Athinon) last March. I heard about them from the internet and a Johnny Cash tribute was not something I was going to miss. They had done this sort of thing before, back in 2012 I think, but this was the first time on a venue of such a scale. And they managed to rock the usually "serious" Athens Concert Hall with a 35 song set lasting for 2 1/2 hours. Several guests were brought on stage, including Makis from The Western Ramblers

SETLIST:
01. Folsom Prison Blues
02. I Walk The Line
03. Man In Black
04. So Doggone Lonesome
05. Big River
06. I'm Free From The Chain Gang Now
07. Get Rhythm
08. Cry! Cry! Cry!
09. Rusty Cage
10. Hey Porter
11. Busted
12. Cocaine Blues
13. Blue Train
14. Home Of The Blues
15. Wreck Of The Old '97
16. San Quentin
17. Sam Hall 
18. God's Gonna Cut You Down
19. Orange Blossom Special
20. Jackson
21. Long Black Veil
22. Ring Of Fire
23. It Ain't Me Babe
24. Green Green Grass Of Home
25. Sunday Morning Comin' Down
26. Don't Think Twice It's Alright
27. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
28. One Piece At A Time
29. I Still Miss Someone
30. I Won't Back Down
31. This Train Is Bound For Glory
32. Wanted Man
33. I Got Stripes
34. I've Been Everywhere
35. Ghost Riders In The Sky

 

Marietta Fafouti

In recent years there has been a surge of Greek artists singing in English, whether they play rock, pop or dance music, with varying degrees of success. One of these is Marietta Fafouti which would probably be classified in the pop category although she is supported by a full band. Her steady, day job at an ad agency allows her to pursuit her interest in music without being worried about her income. (Plus she uses her talent at work by composing jingles). She is quite successful in Greece although I had never seen her perform before. I had the chance to do that this summer after being invited by a friend. It was a series of different gigs that were organized by the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron) in its garden with a low admission price.

Even this concert had one thing in common with the Bruce Springsteen one I attended earlier in the summer: They both played "Twist & Shout"!