Belle And Sebastian live in Athens September 2022

This was my first indoor concert in almost 3 years! I figured that since I was OK wearing a mask at outdoor gigs and since I had also been on a summer holiday a few days before, wearing a mask while on the ship and whenever I was indoors at a public place, I figured I could finally go to such a concert. It was, after all Belle And Sebastian. I had seen them back in the summer of 2015 in Ancona, at what was for me back then, a legendary concert and one of my top 5 live gigs ever, so I would have liked to see them again. In the last few years they had released an album that combined 3 EP's (How To Solve Our Human Problems), a soundtrack album ("Days Of The Bagnold Summer"), a live album during the lockdown ("What To Look For In Summer") and this year a brand new album ("A Bit Of Previous"). I had listened to all of these during the summer (I even watched the movie - The Days Of The Bagnold Summer) and so I was well prepared.

I set off for the venue immediately after work wearing my mask (which I wear during working hours anyway) and I arrived in time to catch a free place at the front and to the left of the stage). Support was provided by Amalia & The Architects, a Greek band and a welcome surprise (They even played a cover of "Blister In The Sun").

 

Then it was time for Stuart and his mates. It wasn't like 2015 and I didn't expect it to be like 2015 with the "special circumstances" under which we went to that gig, but it was, after all, Belle And Sebastian. It's all a matter of taste. In fact, a friend of mine who had seen them the first time they had come to Greece almost 20 years ago refused to come because they don't play the songs he wants to hear anymore. As far as I'm concerned I don't care which ones they play. "The Boy With The Arab Strap" is a sure thing and although there was no "The State I Am In" this time, or even anything from "Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance" which, in my opinion, is the best of their later albums, there were however many others to keep me happy (including "Dear Catastrophe Waitress").

 

 

One final thing I should mention, is that this was one more concert of those that we were promised for the summer of 2020 when everything was cancelled. It wasn't rescheduled for 2021 and wasn't initially announced for the summer of 2022 so I thought we had missed our chance. It was announced much later in the year (during the summer I think), so it turned out alright after all. And thankfully, we didn't have to go all the way to Terra Vibe to see them, where they were supposed to play two years ago...

 

SETLIST:
01. Dog On Wheels
02. I'm A Cuckoo
03. Young And Stupid
04. She's Losing It
05. Unnecessary Drama
06. Reclaim The Night
07. I Want The World To Stop
08. Piazza, New York Catcher
09. The Stars Of Track And Field
10. Chickfactor
11. Another Sunny Day
12. The Boy With The Arab Strap
13. Dear Catastrophe Waitress
14. The Wrong Girl
15. I Didn't See It Coming
16. Wrapped Up In Books
17. Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
Encore:
18. Sleep The Clock Around
19. Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie
20. Judy And The Dream Of Horses

 

Greeks In Debt Crisis Want To Dance

It was a strange journey we embarked upon on the morning of the 11th of July this year. With Greece technically bankrupt, the banks closed, credit cards blocked abroad, we were at least able to begin our trip because we had already paid for most of it beforehand. We had paid for our plane, train and concert tickets by credit card months before. Our accommodation was booked using credit cards to secure them - some of them with a deposit - but not fully paid. Thankfully there was no attempt from our hotels to withdraw money from our credit cards (which wouldn't have worked) so we were able to pay them cash when we got there. Plus, we had enough cash on us for our expenses.

Now Greece (and to be more precise, the city of Patras) is connected directly to Ancona by ferry. However, our journey as we planned it, (plane to Rome, train to Ancona and then back the same way) was cheaper (Italian Train tickets can be especially cheap if booked in advance). Plus, it made for a more interesting trip because it included two nights stay in Rome. However, our small vacation is going to be discussed in another post, here I am going to concentrate on the Belle And Sebastian concert.

But how were Belle And Sebastian chosen as this year's summer concert abroad? First of all, my usual check of all the summer concerts in Italy did not produce anything interesting (well, interesting enough to make a trip worthwhile anyway). And then I remembered that the best album of the year so far for me was "Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance" (I had actually written a review of it in this very blog here), which I suspected (and now that we are in December I can actually confirm) that it was going to be my choice for best album of 2015. So, if they had an album out they should be going on tour, right? Right, but their European tour was scheduled for November if I am not mistaken. Thankfully, they had planned two outdoor dates in Italy for the summer (presumably because their frontman Stuart Murdoch's wife is Italian and he spends a lot of time in the country?) Anyway, the first one was in Ancona and the second one was the following day in Sesto Al Reghena). We were lucky that we chose to go to Italy because November's European tour was eventually cancelled due to Stuart's illness. We were at first interested in the second date at Sesto Al Reghena for which we were going to fly to Milano instead of Rome, but my research showed that it would be very difficult getting there, especially as there seemed to be no train connection). So, we finally settled for Ancona and we did not regret it. Our hotel was directly opposite the train station and the venue was within walking distance from our hotel. Plus, the venue itself, judging from the first photos of it we found on the internet, seemed quite remarkable. A castle in the water!  And that's indeed what it more or less was.

Mole Vanvitelliana, also called the Lazzaretto Of Ancona, is an 18th century building constructed on an artificial island for the purpose of serving as quarantine station and Leprosarium for the town. Now it is used as a site of the museum Tattile Omero, as well as home for various exhibitions. When we arrived in Ancona we immediately went for a walk to check it out.

It was too early, no preparations were made for the concert on the outside, but we sneaked in and managed to find the exact space in the building where the concert was going to take place. We saw the stage and spotted Stuart Murdoch at the side of it.

We went back to our hotel and returned later at a time which was much closer to the one the concert was about to start. We looked around at an exhibition that was taking place and at some point my girlfriend went in search of the restrooms.

Well, what do you know, a few minutes later, she came back with a photo of her and Stuart Murdoch on her iPad! By that time preparations for the concert had started and we went around the building to the place we would all enter from. Not a lot of people were gathered there at the time so, we thought we had a good chance of a front row seat. And suddenly Stuart appeared again, signing our tickets and our special "Greeks In Debt Crisis Want To Dance" banner that we had prepared beforehand. And he posed for photos with us and the Greek flag! After that Stuart left the venue, presumably to go back to his hotel, on foot!

It wasn't a long time after that that we were allowed in and we rushed and of course got our front row seats. The concert would take place at the building's courtyard, but in a corner of it. On another corner were the merchandise stands and a canteen serving food that was cooked on the spot. Plus there were also tables to sit and eat.

While I was waiting at the food queue for something to eat (and a beer of course), the first act, Italian singer Maria Antonietta with just her guitar came on. A short but very nice acoustic set from a very good singer (since then I have discovered several of her videos on YouTube).

The biggest surprise came up next. Matinée are an Italian indie band based in East London. Chris Geddes from Belle And Sebastian described them as "anthemic indie rock with electronic flourishes". They were named after Franz Ferdinand's hit song. Their set was so good that I rushed back to the merchandise stand and bought their CD "These Days"

After a short break the lights went off and Belle And Sebastian came up on stage starting with "Nobody's Empire". The problem was that the lights stayed off so we were listening to the band in darkness until they finally came on 1 minute and a half into the song. 

Then, after "I'm A Cuckoo", they went back to "Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance" with "The Party Line". 

In fact they played 5 songs off their latest album ("Nobody's Empire", "The Party Line", "Perfect Couples", "The Power Of Three" and "Allie") and I certainly am not going to complain about that since, as I have already mentioned it is my favourite album of the year. 

Needless to say, we soon abandoned our seats and went to stand at the front of the stage! At some point between songs Stuart asked "Where are you people from? Is there anybody here from Ancona? Because I've been meeting people all day, and they're all from different Italian cities...". Some people answered "Milano", others "Rome", "Florence" and so on at which point we raised our flag and shouted loudly "Greece". Suddenly we heard a huge roar of applause behind us. The crowd was cheering at us, aware of the situation back home. 

Later at another break between songs Stuart said "You know what I think we should do now? We should take one of these boats that are out there on the port and go to Greece to play a free concert for the people there" which brought another huge roar of applause not just from us but from everybody. Nice thought Stuart, but I don't think any Greek promoters would be bothered about something like that.

And the concert went on with highlights being the attempt to recreate the video for "Jonathan David" which did not go exactly as planned, inviting people to come up on stage to dance on "The Boy With The Arab Strap" and finally, at the end, "The State I Am In" from their first album.

And that was it for our best concert of the year at a wonderful location. After grabbing a copy of the setlist from the stage, we slowly started walking back with the Italian friends we met there for a bite to eat and a drink before going back to our hotels.

Get well soon, Stuart... 

Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance

Why wouldn't they? However, this is in fact the title of the latest album by Belle And Sebastian. It is truly a 2015 album, since it was released in January. And it was actually released in 2 different editions. The standard edition, available on CD and double vinyl LP contains 12 songs. The deluxe edition however, available on a quadruple vinyl LP box set contains 16 songs. It contains the 12 songs of the standard edition, however one in an "extended version" and another one in an "extended mix" (more about these definitions later), plus 4 songs that are exclusive to this edition. On top of that, the running order of the songs in the deluxe edition is completely different to that on the standard one. Confused? You will be!
It was this, the deluxe edition that I listened to first, before listening to the standard. Not from the vinyl though. When you buy the box set (and its price is quite reasonable for a quadruple vinyl), you also get a "download code" inside the box which you can use to download these 16 tracks. I fit these songs into two CD-R's (I'm an old-fashioned "physical product" junkie myself) and listened to it from there.
Now, usually, on a Belle And Sebastian album, the opening track is usually the most important track, or maybe the best one (but that is of course, a matter of taste). Now, I know I have listened to the deluxe version first, but I still can't imagine a better opening than "The Party Line", which is exactly what it says on the tin: A great, almost disco, dance song. There are other up-tempo songs you can dance to, possibly better songs, like "Enter Sylvia Plath" and "The Book Of You" which in my opinion is the best song on the album (there's hardly a bad song on this album as we will see later), but I think "The Party Line" is the perfect opener.
On the other hand, listening to the standard version, one realizes that "Nobody's Empire" is an equally strong track to open the album, even if it is less danceable. And it features the second best lyric of the album in "If I had a camera I'd snap you now, cos there's beauty in every stumble". If dancing is what you're after though, then look no further than "Enter Sylvia Plath". It's not so much disco,  it's more the synth-pop track of the album. Maybe a little bit Hi-NRG at some points (for those who remember the definition from the 80's). There's more synth-pop on "Play For Today" another of my favourite songs. Then there's "The Everlasting Muse" with its jazzy bassline, which suddenly turns into a waltz right in the middle. In short, this album is a celebration of pop music, the kind of pop music with the kind of lyrics that are typically Belle & Sebastian ever since they were formed. A perfect example of this is "Ever Had A Little Faith?". This song is one of two that get a special treatment on the deluxe edition. "Ever Had A Little Faith?" is featured in an "extended version" and "Perfect Couples" in an "extended mix". Belle & Sebastian have used in each of these cases, the correct definition those of us who were buying 12inch singles in the 80's are familiar with. "Ever Had A Little Faith?" has an extended ending and "Perfect Couples" is longer as a result of several additions in the mix in various parts of the song (but not a "remix"). The song that would benefit from an extended or "dance" mix in my opinion is of course "The Party Line".
So, while we're talking about the differences between the two editions what about the four bonus songs that feature only in the deluxe one?. One surely tends to think that they were probably not that good so Stuart decided to keep them off the standard and chuck them in the deluxe for die-hard fans and completists only, right? Well, wrong! In my opinion leaving "Two Birds" off the standard edition is a crime! This is just a great song! Especially considering that "Today (This Army's For Peace)" the album's only weak track is in both editions. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just sort of... boring. Although one must admit placing it as the album's closing track is a good choice. A slow song, and if one switches off the album out of boredom let's say, they won't miss anything since it's the last song. (The closing track in the deluxe edition, by the way, is "The Cat With The Cream"). The other 3 bonus tracks are also good, especially "Piggy In The Middle with an amazing bassline.
Finally, I know we're only two months into 2015, but I can honestly say, "Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance" is the best album I've listened to this year so far. Non-stop pure pop as MTV used to say.

A subtle gift to modern rock
She says "be popular, play pop"
And you will win my love

If it was up to me though, I would take "Today" off and I would replace it with "Two Birds". But then, I'd probably move "The Book Of You" as the last track so that the album would end with its most beautiful (and most romantic) lyric:

We're always walking in the rain
And you're just trouble so I claim
But then the world can see
That I'm the one for you
And you're the one for me