Release Athens Festival 2023 - Siouxsie, Echo & The Bunnymen, Ladytron

Two days after my first Release Athens Festival 2023 date it was time for the second. The main attraction was Siouxsie, but I was interested in several of the other bands appearing that night.

First up were In Trance 95. I had caught a glimpse of them when they had supported Alan Wilder's Recoil back in 2010. On top of that, I keep bumping into their singer Alex at various gigs all these years (The first one I remember was Still Corners back in 2013) so I thought that this time I had to see them properly.

Next up were Ladytron. I had deeply regretted not going to see them when they played a gig in Athens many years ago. I wasn't going to miss this chance and I wasn't disappointed. As you have probably guessed by now, I love female fronted synth-pop bands!

As Ladytron were finishing their set, it was time to rush to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the SNF Nostos part of the festival where Interpol were appearing. I have managed to see other guitar bands that were popular in the 10's (like The Editors) so I wanted to catch them as well.

I had originally planned to stay there until the end of their set, because I had already seen Echo & The Bunnymen twice (the first time at Hyde Park in 2009 and the second at Terra Vibe in 2014). But my friend had never seen them before, so we rushed back to Water Square arriving just as their set was beginning. One thing is for sure, they never disappoint.

And finally, it was time for Siouxsie! No longer with The Banshees, she also played Creatures songs and some of her solo ones. And yes, she played all my favourites from the 80's (Israel, Dear Prudence, Happy House, Cities In Dust) and the one from the 90's (Kiss Them For Me). Plus I got the chance of hearing The Passenger in Water Square one more time. (The previous time it was by Iggy Pop)

 

 

 

She did complain about the organizers asking her to come on stage later than originally planned, but what had happened was this: Several people had complained that Interpol were clashing with Echo & The Bunnymen and so they shuffled the set times a little bit although that wasn't part of the deal. The original arrangement was that the headliners at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center (Interpol) would not clash with the headliner at Water Square (Siouxsie). Generally the organizers of Release Festival seem to listen to their customers complaints unlike some others who once bought a field at the edge of nowhere and were constantly forcing us to go there back when they were the only ones bringing in the big names...

SETLISTS:
IN TRANCE 95
01. Shapes In A New Geometry
02. Wave (Are We Alone)
03. No Exceptions
04. 21st C.E.T.
05. Brazilia
06. Desire To Desire
07. The Move

LADYTRON
01. Ghosts
02. City of Angels
03. Deadzone
04. True Mathematics
05. The Animals
06. International Dateline
07. The Island
08. Paper Highways
09. Fighting in Built Up Areas
10. Faces
11. Discotraxx
12. Playgirl
13. Seventeen
14. Ace of Hz
15. Destroy Everything You Touch

INTERPOL
01. Toni
02. Obstacle 1
03. If You Really Love Nothing
04. Narc
05. Length of Love
06. Fables
07. Evil
08. Pioneer to the Falls
09. C'mere
10. Rest My Chemistry
11. Not Even Jail
12. Lights
13. Roland
14. No I in Threesome
15. The New
16. PDA
17. Leif Erikson
18. Slow Hands

ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
01. Going Up
02. All that jazz / Show of Strength
03. Rescue
04. Flowers
05. Bring On the Dancing Horses
06. All My Colours (Zimbo)
07. Seven Seas
08. Nothing Lasts Forever / Walk on the Wild Side
09. Over the Wall
10. Bedbugs and Ballyhoo
11. Never Stop
12. The Killing Moon
13. Lips Like Sugar
14. The Cutter

SIOUXSIE
01. Night Shift
02. Arabian Knights
03. Here Comes That Day
04. Kiss Them for Me
05. Dear Prudence
06. Face to Face
07. Loveless
08. Land's End
09. Cities in Dust
10. But Not Them
11. Sin in My Heart
12. Christine
13. Happy House
14. Into a Swan
Encore:
15. Israel
16. The Passenger
Encore 2:
17. Spellbound

Hard Rock Calling 2009 - Day 1 - The Killers

10 years ago, I attended the Hard Rock Calling festival. All of it. And it all happened by chance. I had already booked my Bruce Springsteen concerts in Italy for July of that year (Rome, Torino, Udine) when I noticed that the Bruce Springsteen concert at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park was on the anniversary of my previous and first one in Paris (Well, almost. The Paris concert was on the 27th of June 2008 and the London one on the 28th of June 2009. The following day of the anniversary actually). I thought that it would be nice if my second Bruce concert was one year (and a day) after the first, so I decided to go. The problem was that there weren't any tickets left. So, I paid some extra money and got a VIP ticket. Problem solved. A few days later another Hard Rock Calling date was announced, the day before the Bruce concert with Neil Young headlining and The Pretenders also appearing. "Since I am going to be there" I thought, "why not go to that one as well?". So I did and I was able to find a ticket quite easily. And much much later a third date was announced on the day before Neil Young, with The Killers headlining. "Now there's a new, a 00's band that I like" I thought, "why not go and see them as well?" However, this had quickly sold out as well and so I got another VIP ticket for this one. So I ended up having booked all three dates of the festival in reverse order.

So, on Thursday the 25th of June, we left from Athens airport with an Easyjet flight to Luton. When the plane landed and passengers started turning on their moblie phones we learnt that Michael Jackson was gone. And that happened at a moment in time when he had decided to make a comeback with a long residency at the O2 Arena in London that very summer. 

We got off the plane and after a what seemed like an endless bus ride from Luton we arrived in central London. From there we took a taxi to Earl's Court where our hotels were and the driver informed me that EasyHotel Earl's Court where I was staying was behind Freddie Mercury's house. (I had gone to see Freddie's house in 1996 but back then there was no EasyHotel nearby. In fact there was no EasyJet either.)

The next morning after breakfast, and a stroll through Earl's Court, it was time to go to Hyde Park. I meant to get there early because one of the bands playing at the second stage (the one inside a huge tent) was Air Traffic. Two years before I had bought one of their CD singles from Amazon by accident. I thought I was buying a single from Air who I had seen at the Fly Beeyond Festival of that year in Athens. It was because of this "accident" that I had found out about them and now that I had the chance to see them, I meant to do so. I made it just in time using the London Underground and the changes it required while spotting an advertising poster with a significant meaning for me in one of the stations. 

Upon arriving at the park all I had to do was follow the crowd. My VIP ticket meant that I could enter the park through a separate entrance so at least I didn't have to wait while entering, while in the meantime I could observe the people who weren't going to the festival nut where enjoying their day at the park.

Once inside, I spotted the main stage, where people were already gathering and then looking at the map I found and headed towards the second stage (the one inside a tent) which was called "The Pepsi Max Stage"

I was on time and Air Traffic were inside and performing. So the first part of my mission for that day was successful!

After the Air Traffic set was over, I started walking around on the festival grounds admiring the facilities.

But my aim was to reach the VIP section where I could relax away from the crowds and enjoy the special dinner that went with it. Now, there were two different VIP tickets, the first one, which I had bought provided a special dinner but you had to pay for the drinks. If you bought the second one which was £100 more expensive, the drinks were free. The idea was tempting but in order to make it worthwhile I would have to consume £100 worth of alcoholic drinks. If I had done that, I don't think I would remember what had happened at the festival the following day!

My friends started arriving then and while we were walking around the main stage and they secured their places there, I had to make my way back to the Pepsi Max stage. It was time for Echo & The Bunnymen!

Ian McCullough was there with all the favourites like "Seven Seas" and "Bring On The Dancing Horses". And then the moment we were waiting for finally came: "The Killing Moon"! But no, it wasn't to be. Ian changed his mind, stopped halfway through the song and played "The Cutter" instead. Afterwards he played "The Killing Moon" in its entirety!

They even managed to insert a snippet of "Walk On The Wild Side" while they were playing "Nothing Lasts Forever"

After that was over it was straight back to the main stage for the main course of the day! The Killers launched straight into "Human" one of my all-time favourite songs.

The rest of the set was magnificent, after all in 2009 the band were at their peak form. I had lost my friends by that time and couldn't find them but I somehow ended up with some British guys dancing in a circle and chanting "I got soul but I'm not a soldier"!!! "Did you enjoy yourself?" they asked me. "Yes" I replied, all the while thinking "who are you people?"

And on that note the first day of Hard Rock Calling Festival 2009 ended for me. What I didn't know at that time was how lucky I was to be there in London seeing them live. They were due to play at Terra Vibe in Athens around that time but because it had rained the organizers pulled the plug. Yes, the very same organizers that kept making us go all the way to Terra Vibe each time we wanted to see one of our favourite bands. They would finally play in Greece in 2017!

I found my friends at the exit and some new arrivals who had come for the second day of the festival and started trying to find somewhere to eat. Not an easy task when you're in London around midnight. We did finally find a place somewhere near Piccadilly Circus and then it was back to our hotels. Neil Young (and the Pretenders) would be waiting for us the following day...

KILLERS SETLIST:
01. Human
02. This Is Your Life
03. Somebody Told Me
04. For Reasons Unknown
05. The World We Live In
06. Joy Ride
07. Bling (Confession Of A King)
08. Shadowplay
09. Smile Like You Mean It
10. Spaceman
11. A Dustland Fairytale
12. Read My Mind
13. Mr. Brightside
14. All These Things That I've Done
Encore:
15. Bones
16. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
17. When You Were Young

Lana Del Rey with Echo & The Bunnymen @ Rockwave Festival

By now, Rockwave Festival is the longest running festival in Greece. It started in the 90's and it's still going on every summer. However, the last time I attended was back in 1999 when Patti Smith and Garbage were playing on the same day. What I still remember though is what happened after the concert. Next to the place were the festival was taking place was a night club. A young couple, after leaving the festival thought it was a good idea to go to the club for a drink. However the Greek bouncers didn't think that "rockers" were worthy enough to be allowed inside. They didn't think that "rock concert people" were worthy to mix with their own crowd, the "club going trendy people" (the life-style mentality that was going strong in Greece in the 90's fuelled by the respective magazines). The guy complained,  a fight started with the bouncers and they beat him up so bad he ended up in hospital. Word got around to the people who were leaving the gig, they started throwing things (among them, chairs) at the bouncers, and the bouncers were throwing them back. And then the police intervened and started throwing tear-gas. You get the picture.

Anyway, nothing like that can happen at Terra Vibe, it's far away from the nearest night club, in fact it's so far away from everything, it's difficult to get there as I have mentioned before.

The main reason I wanted to see Lana Del Rey was that we don't often have pop concerts in Greece. And especially from artists being at the peak of their popularity. And when we do have them they sometimes turn out to be disasters. Like the Fly Beeeyond festival in 2007 with very poor attendance for Avril Lavigne and Pink's non-appearance. Having said that, it's important for the organizers to determine beforehand what the target audience for such a concert is. In the case of Lana Del Rey, it's teenage girls. And for teenage girls, it's not easy to go to Terra Vibe. Most of them don't drive. And if they do, they usually don't have a car. So they have to ask mum and dad to get them there, to a place 40km outside Athens. Plus, it's not a good idea to mix this audience with the target audience for Suicidal Tendencies and Iced Earth even if these two were scheduled to play on a different stage. Thankfully it was peaceful and all went well.

When I arrived, Suicidal Tendencies were playing on the Vibe stage. I am not a fan, but I really enjoyed them.

Next, on the Terra Stage, it was the other reason I decided to go on that day. My beloved Echo & The Bunnymen, who I had already seen in Hyde Park at the 2009 Hard Rock Calling Festival.

I had a Golden Circle ticket (which us Greeks with our megalomania like to call V.I.P.), but there just weren't enough people in there. 

Most of them (and still not enough) were outside it, prompting Ian McCullough to declare that "You are all V.I.P.'s to us". Still, it was a great set featuring of course "The Killing Moon"

Next, on the Vibe Stage it was time for Iced Earth. Now, I listen to a few thrash metal bands (even Slayer), however, these were not to my taste. Just my personal opinion though. The crowd enjoyed them.

And then after a short walk around the grounds of Terra Vibe, it was back to the Terra Stage for Lana Del Rey

Now, I wasn't expecting any miracles, she has only released one (and a half) album, but it was good enough, even though there were some problems with the sound (Mainly her voice wasn't high enough in the mix).

She sang most of her songs, the lyrics of which her audience (the aforementioned teenage girls) knew by heart. Still it was an enjoyable night. And if it was held at a venue in the city of Athens it would have probably attracted a bigger audience.