Coldplay live in Athens June 2024

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

Guns N' Roses live in Athens July 2023

Years ago, before Release Athens Festival became so huge (and we're glad that it did because it has offered us variety within the city of Athens) there used to be "The Big Summer Concert". It was one concert, usually during the summer, and usually at the Olympic Stadium, that was the biggest event of that year. In 1998 it was The Rolling Stones (of course). In 2007 it was George Michael. In 2008 it was Madonna. In 2009 it was AC/DC. In 2010 it was U2. In 2011 it was Bon Jovi. Well, in 2023 it was definitely Guns N' Roses!

Well, Axl Rose had already played in Greece with what he called "Guns N' Roses", but we all know that that wasn't the real GNR. What we wanted to see was the original line-up and when that reformed a few years ago, I knew that I had to see them. I had already been thinking of planning a trip abroad, but sometime during last winter I got lucky. They announced that they would be coming to Greece. I secured my ticket early enough (making sure they didn't clash with Bruce) and sat back and waited for the summer to come.

 

 

 

When the time came, which was the day following yet another Release Athens Festival date, I was ready even though it was the hottest day of the year. I went there quite early, but what I didn't expect was that I would get to the very front and also that I would find my friends there. I also found a guy I didn't know wearing a Billy Joel t-shirt and when I talked to him he confirmed that yes, he had also been at Hyde Park a few days earlier.

 

The Last Internationale, the support band were a pleasant surprise, with their very outstanding singer who managed to get us in the mood even though the sun was still shining and it was still, as a result, very hot.

 

 

 

What was to follow was three hours of Guns N' Roses. Yes, they do a Bruce Springsteen and play a 3 hour set on this tour. And as they don't have so many albums as Bruce you'd think they would manage to fit in everything during those three hours. Well, not so, because they wanted to include songs from Velvet Revolver, Chinese Democracy and other solo projects. Still, there were only a handful of classics left out, the most notable being "Don't Cry" (although personally I would prefer "Get In The Ring"). There were a few rumours that they would not be that good, however Axl had lost a lot of weight, his voice was a lot better than some people thought it would be and even though Slash was showing his age, the energy was still there. The hottest day of the year was just that: The hottest! Now all I had to do was pack my bags and go to Monza for another three hour concert : Bruce Springsteen!

SETLISTS:
THE LAST INTERNATIONALE
01. Killing Fields
02. Wanted Man
03. Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Indian Blood
04. 1984
05. Freedom Town
06. Soul On Fire

GUNS N' ROSES
01. It's So Easy
02. Bad Obsession
03. Chinese Democracy
04. Slither
05. Pretty Tied Up
06. Mr. Brownstone
07. Welcome To The Jungle
08. Double Talkin' Jive
09. Hard Skool
10. Absurd
11. Estranged
12. Live And Let Die
13. Rocket Queen
14. Down On The Farm
15. You Could Be Mine
16. T.V. Eye
17. Anything Goes
18. Civil War
19. Slash Guitar Solo
20. Sweet Child O' Mine
21. November Rain
22. Reckless Life
23. Wichita Lineman
24. Locomotive
25. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
26. Nightrain
27. Patience
28. Happy Birthday to You
29. Paradise City

Santana in Athens 2009

This was going to be a very busy and long week. And then some. After having seen Tiesto the previous Saturday, I was going to see Santana on Wednesday, then fly to London on Saturday to see Oasis, then fly back to Athens again to see Paul Weller, for the second time that year, in Athens. And the weekend after that I would be departing for my tour of Italy with Bruce Springsteen!

It all started according to plan, so on Wednesday evening I went to the Athens Olympic Stadium to see Santana. They weren't expected to fill the stadium so the stage was placed horizontally, at its side, so that the tickets that were put up for sale were for the opposite side of the stadium, approximately one half of it. 

However, it turned out that the organizers had grossly underestimated the number of people who wanted to see Santana and as a result the concert was quickly sold out and people were begging for tickets. That reminded me of the time when I was working in Tampa, FL in the USA back in 2000. The only major band to play in Tampa during that summer were Santana and that was sold out as well.

Anyway, most of the old classics we expected were played (with the exception of Europa), but some people felt that they overdid it with the latin section and were bored. 

There was a nice surprise in store however when they paid tribute to the recently departed Michael Jackson with an instrumental version of "She's Out Of My Life"

All in all it was a great. latin-flavored, summer night!

SETLIST:
01. Soul Sacrifice
02. Into The Night
03. Life Is For Living
04. Incident At Neshabur
05. Maria Maria
06. Foo Foo
07. Love Of My Life
08. Batuka
09. No One To Depend On
10. She's Not There
11. Evil Ways
12. A Love Supreme
13. Hot Pants
14. She's Out Of My Life
15. Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
16. Oye Como Va
17. Smooth / Dame Tu Amor
Encore:
18. Corazón Espinado
19. Jingo