Everybody's talking about this new decade

This is actually a line from "Waiting For That Day" by George Michael. In fact, that whole verse goes like this:

Now everybody's talking about this new decade

Like you say the magic number

Then just say goodbye to

The stupid mistakes you made

That was 30 years ago. So what's the point of this post? Well, although most people, media and websites are now talking about the "best songs of the last decade", "the best films of the last decade" or, as George Michael did back in 1990, "the new decade", there are a few who complain. They say that the new decade doesn't start in 2020, but next year, in 2021. These are the same people who were complaining 20 years ago that the millennium did not start in 2000 but in 2001.

Let's focus on the decade thing for the time being, These people say that a decade starts with the number 1 and ends with the number 10. Well, that shouldn't be a problem because we are talking about the decade of 2010 or "the 10's". This means the 10 years from 2010 to 2019. To make it easier to understand let's talk about a more important decade for popular culture: The 80's! When we talk about the 80's, we mean the years from 1980 to 1989. Nobody would dream of including 1980 in the 70's! It's the number that counts, the number that's referenced in the name. That's why it is called "the 80's". And after all, what "decade" means is ten years. I could for example talk to you about the decade from 1987 to 1996 which was an important one for my personal life. So, I think that's settled.

But, since we're on the subject, what about the millennium, or the 21st century for that matter? The problem began with the Romans who had no concept of the number 0 so they started their calendar with year 1. With the mathematical knowledge we have now we can say that this was wrong. On top of that in 1582 we skipped 11 days in the calendar since by then it had been discovered that the earth's rotation around the sun wasn't exactly 365 1/4 days and we somehow had to make up for the difference. (The Gregorian calendar). All this is explained in more detail on this link 

So, for those of you who still insist that the new decade begins on January 1 2021, I've got new for you: According to your logic, it doesn't. It would start at around January 12 2021. Case closed! And now please let the rest of us start celebrating the twenties...

George Michael in Athens 10 years ago

Continuing on the series of concerts that I attended 10 years ago, the biggest name to come that summer to Greece was George Michael. It was the first time that he would play in Greece and the rumour that was going around back then was that this tour which was his first major one in 23 years was also going to be his last. He had already announced that after his 2004 album "Patience" he was not going to release any more records and he would distribute any new music he might make through the Internet. So this concert was an opportunity not to be missed. I had already seen Duran Duran, so why not see one half of Wham! as well? We had seen him arrive in Athens on TV the previous day (and my only remark was that "had put on some weight" - but otherwise he looked terrific.). Extended highlights of his visit are to be found on his "Live In London" double DVD.
So, as usual, on the day of the concert we made our way towards the Olympic Stadium.

My seat was not that close to the stage I'm afraid; after my summer trip to France combining holidays and The Rolling Stones, I bought my George Michael ticket at the last minute.

Still George, did not disappoint. He went through some of his old Wham! and solo favourites, including several recent (at that time) songs from "Patience". 

His most impressive performance was "Shoot The Dog". 

He even spoke some Greek AND his father was in the audience. 

I found a setlist on setlist.fm but it seems to be a copy-paste job of his early "25 Live Tour setlists. Howevver, by the time George arrived in Athens , he had changed the setlist considerably, a fact I was able to confirm from the videos I had taken that night. So, I am not going to post it here.
I wish that could have been one more regular feature on the "concerts I've been to 10 years ago". Sadly, George is no longer with us (he was one of the many that left us in 2016), so this was the last time we saw him...