Release Athens Festival 2022 - Pet Shop Boys & Thievery Corporation

My third Release Festival 2022 date, was one that had been announced three years before. In late 2019 we had been promised the Pet Shop Boys for the summer of 2020. That of course was postponed for the summer of 2021. That one too was also postponed, this time for this summer when it finally took place. What's important to note is that the organizers didn't refund those who had already bought their tickets, but kept their money for when the rescheduled dates would take place. Sensing that something like this was going to happen I did not buy a ticket until the very last moment ie this June. And as I have already mentioned in my last post, I combined this as a double ticket with the London Grammar date. This would be my 4th Pet Shop Boys gig, having already seen them in Birmingham in 1991 when the "Performance" video was filmed, in Athens and in Water Square again in 2013 (but this time at the Ejekt Festival, not Release) and finally in 2017 during the Brussels Summer Festival. This would also be my second Thievery Corporation gig whom I had seen at Release Festival 2018.
We arrived in time for the third act in the bill which was Konstantinos Vita. He used to be one half of Stereo Nova who I had seen in 2018 at Nostos Summer Festival. He played some of his own songs but he also treated us to some Stereo Nova tunes and all this while the sun was still shining. 

 

Meanwhile we had already started meeting some of my fellow Pet Shop Boys fans from social media (and we kept meeting more during the course of the night).
During the break between Konstantinos Vita and Thievery Corporation we took more time to explore the festival grounds, meet several of our friends who were also there and stock on food and alcohol. Yes, we once again got the free stuff (like Coca Cola Zero and that special Johnnie Walker cocktail) but we also made sure we got chips and beer. As on the previous date with London Grammar we also had our own alcohol which we managed to smuggle in (Metaxa brandy - maybe not a wise choice for a hot summer day) and we mixed that with the cokes on offer. We were literally our own bartenders! 

Meanwhile, Thievery Corporation came up on stage and having now had the chance to explore their music since the last time they were there in 2018 I was able now to enjoy my favourite songs such as "Voyage Libre". 

 

During their set I made my last foray to the bar (we were somehow close to the stage, but close to the bars as well at the same time) to get more beer. And since three separate beers were selling for the same price as the special four beer set, I got the latter. At the height of the Thievery Corporation set I managed to divide the 4th beer among three people. 

 

After that, it was time to get even closer to the stage because of what we had come for: The Pet Shop Boys! Incredibly, while we were so closely packed together, I managed to phone a fellow Pethead, and by asking her to raise her hand up in the air and wave it, I managed to locate her, get over to where she was, have a conversation and then return to my place and find my friends. Unbelievable!

As their set started the Ukrainian flag was displayed in the matrix. Because it was a festival we got the shortened version of the setlist, meaning, among other things, that we only got one song from Hotspot and that was “Dreamland” the first single. Well, they had to play that since the tour is called “Dreamworld – The Greatest Hits Tour”. But, then again, it was the second part of the tour’s name that made it so enjoyable: “Greatest Hits”. And that’s what we got. However, I do like several tracks off that last album, my favourite two being the melancholic “Burning The Heather” and “I Don’t Wanna Go Out” which became my personal anthem during the lockdown.

 

 

 

All in all, it was simply brilliant! And amazing! Pet Shop Boys do know what we want and keep giving us more and more...

Finally, upon leaving the venue, after a very long time, I succumbed to temptation and bought some of the "dirty" food that was being sold outside. 

SETLIST:
01. Suburbia
02. Can You Forgive Her?
03. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)
04. Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
05. Rent
06. I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More
07. So Hard
08. Left To My Own Devices
09. Domino Dancing
10. Love Comes Quickly
11. Losing My Mind
12. Always On My Mind
13. Dreamland
14. Heart
15. It's Alright
16. Vocal
17. Go West
18. It's A Sin
Encore:
19. West End Girls
20. Being Boring

Performance - Pet Shop Boys live in Birmingham, June 1991

 

In a previous post this year, I had written about my first concert, City in Athens back in 1981, 40 years ago. Today I'm going to remember a concert I attended ten years later, in 1991, 30 years ago...
Back then, I was studying in the UK. When, in late April, I came back from my Easter holidays in Greece (said holidays included a lot of clubbing, but that's another story), I decided that I would go to a gig. My choices were two: Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode. The Depeche Mode gig was sold out, so I bought a ticket to see the Pet Shop Boys at the Birmingham NEC on the 1st of June. Two days later I was in the hospital with an extremely serious condition: I had to have brain surgery.
I had my operation on the 1st of May, I pulled through and three weeks later I was out of the hospital. I had started looking for a fellow student to sell my ticket to, (and my mum insisted I do that), when my doctor (not just any doctor, but the one who had operated on me) came to my rescue: "Let the boy go", he told my mum, "he needs to have some fun and go out a bit after all he's been through".
And so it was that on the evening of June 1 I got on the train to the NEC as it was then known (now I think it's called LG Arena, where I saw Bryan Adams 23 years later). Little did I know that I was about to witness a piece of music history. For that was where the video (a VHS tape back then, a DVD now) of  "Performance" was filmed. And that's exactly what it was: Not a gig, but a performance: Everything was directed and choreographed beforehand. It was something that you could watch while sitting down, and that's exactly what I had to do because of my condition. I also had to wear a patch over the left lens of my glasses, because that particular eye couldn't focus properly yet. But the funny thing about my appearance was something else: They had shaved my head at the hospital in order to facilitate the operation, so I had asked my friends to do me a favour: "Because I will come out of this looking like Sinead O'Connor" (ie bald) "could you buy me a hat with a band's name on it? Any band..." And so they did. Only the band's name was Iron Maiden. I believe that to this day I must be the only person who has ever watched a Pet Shop Boys gig wearing an Iron Maiden hat.
And so the Pet Shop Boys played the songs they had chosen for this particular tour (the same every night as this was a "Performance" (you can see them in the setlist further down the post) while I was enjoying the show feeling lucky and glad to be alive. You can say that this was my reward after what I had been through. And these songs were not always the obvious hits. Sure, the set relied heavily on "Behaviour", but there were also b-sides, like "We All Feel Better In The Dark" with Chris taking his clothes off, and one of the best PSB songs in my opinion "Your Funny Uncle", the very last song of the night, ending the encore on a somewhat sad note, but with a hint of optimism: "Another life begins today" (this certainly applied to me). There were also songs they had written for other artists "So Sorry I Said", "I'm Not Scared".

But the absolute highlight for me was "Jealousy", the last song of the normal set, before the encore. It was my favourite track from "Behaviour", an album which, believe it or not, I didn't much like at first (Most of the songs were "too slow" I thought at first. Not surprising if you knew me back then, since I used to indulge in a lot of nightclubbing in those days). On top of that, "Jealousy" actually came out as a single that very week. It was the last CD I bought before I went back to Athens for what would now be my summer holiday...

SETLIST:
01. This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave
02. It's a Sin
03. Losing My Mind
04. What Have I Done to Deserve This?
05. My October Symphony
06. I'm Not Scared
07. We All Feel Better in the Dark
08. So Sorry, I Said
09. Suburbia
10. So Hard
11. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
12. How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?
13. Rent
14. Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
15. West End Girls
16. Jealousy
Encore:
17. Always on My Mind
18. Your Funny Uncle

 

2017 was brought to you by...

Well I'm not going to say by Sony, but there's been a change of camera as of late last year because  as you can see from the photo above which had to be taken with the old camera (the new one cannot take selfies of itself!) dust had crept inside the lens and nothing could be done about it.

So, I finally said goodbye to the old one which had been with me to all the concerts since 2009.

I had of course a new mobile since late 2015 (which was joined by a similar tablet earlier this year), and the pictures they can take are clearer and sharper than the old camera, but they are not of much use in a concert unless you are close to the stage because of the lack of a significant zoom.

Nevertheless they were both used on the first gig of the year which was in a small venue. Now, I don't normally bring my tablet to gigs, but I went to that one straught after work, so I was carrying it with me and I had the opportunity to test it.

Finally, hoping for more gigs in 2018, I leave you with memories from the two main ones of 2017; this...

...and this!

Pet Shop Boys and Goldfrapp @ Brussels Summer Festival

For the whole of last winter, I was on guard for announcements of summer appearances by the Pet Shop Boys. I knew the Super tour was going to be underway and I definitely wanted to catch them somewhere in Europe during the summer. The reason was simple: I had met my girlfriend at their Athens gig in 2013 during their previous ("Electric") tour. But the fact is, I didn't actually meet her at the gig. We were both there, but we didn't know each other. However, on the following day I posted on a Pet Shop Boys fan page and quoted one of their lyrics. She contacted me because of that very post, me met, and the rest is, as they say, history. The only problem was that until this summer, we had never actually seen the Pet Shop Boys together! As luck had it, one of the first summer appearances that they announced was at Brussels Summer Festival and I immediately booked tickets.

The situation might have been a lot more different, if they had announced their appearance in Lucca first. Seeing as most of the gigs I attend are in Italy we might have gone there. But we loved the idea of going to a concert in a different country for a change. Plus, the festival was taking place right there in the capital, so no further travelling apart from our plane journeys would be required. As an added extra, a few days after the Pet Shop Boys appearance was announced, Goldfrapp, who I had also wanted to see live for several years,  were also added to the bill, on the very same day.

What was also great about this festival were the ticket prices. 30 Euros only for a one-day pass giving access to all stages of the festival on any given day. Moreover, if you double that amount and pay 60 Euros instead of 30, you don't get a 2-day pass, but a 10-day pass. Access to all stages for all days of the festival! And the various stages are located at squares and other locations in the city centre.

All we had to do one the day, was to exchange the passes we had bought and printed off the internet with wristbands that would give us immediate access to the stages. Now, one has to be careful with that because entrance is "subject to availability". This means that if a lot of people have one-day passes for a particular day, and they all go to a certain stage, they will not be allowed to enter if that stage is full.

Nevertheless, we arrived just in time for Goldfrapp and we realized we could get very near the front. And then, we realized we could get further to the front and so we did! The band entered the stage right on time and Alison looked fabulous dressed all in red. Wow! I mean, WOW! (I think I'd better continue with the review of the gig because my girlfriend is also reading this...:LOL:). She launched immediately into "Anymore" the lead single of her latest album "Silver Eye" (one of the best of the year so far) and continued with songs old and new.

"Systemagic", "Ride On A White Horse" and "Strict Machine" were particularly enjoyable although she didn't play "Happiness" no matter how loudly someone in the audience kept asking for it!

In fact, "Strict Machine" was announced as "our last song for tonight. I bet you can't wait". I hope she didn't mean that we were bored and we couldn't wait for them to finish because we were waiting for the Pet Shop Boys. 

At least, as far as we're concerned, we went there early because we wanted to see them as well! ("We're going to see Goldfrapp! WOW!" was my reaction back in March when they were added to the bill). All in all, they played just a few minutes short of an hour. Having looked at the day's schedule, I thought they were going to play for much longer, but then the time needed to prepare the stage for the Pet Shop Boys must be taken into account.

Although we were at the front of the stage, it was easy for me to walk towards the back during the break to get a beer (which came with a souvenir plastic glass!) and then walk my way back to the front and find our place.

Now, the festival website strongly advised that drink tickets should be bought in advance from the internet, however, the queues, both for the tickets and the drinks themselves were negligible. (Totally unlike Terra Vibe! :LOL:)

At 22:30 the stage was set for the Pet Shop Boys. I had not looked at the internet for setlists or videos from the Super tour. And I did that on purpose. I wanted  to be surprised on the night.

But their set started just I imagined it would. While on the Electric tour the mostly instrumental "Axis" served as an opener, here on the Super tour the again mostly instrumental "Inner Sanctum" served the same purpose as Neil and Chris appeared on stage from behind  a couple of circular props.

"Inner Sanctum" segued into "Opportunities" and that was followed by "The Pop Kids" segued with "In The Night" and "Burn" our first big surprise of the night. I had noticed the song on the "Super" album, but I had ever imagined that it would work so well live.

And then came "Love Is A Bourgeois Construct". This was my favourite song from the "Electric" album, but they did not play it on the Electric tour. They are playing it however on the Super tour and of course they played it on the night with one of their accompanying musicians on electric violin. It's like they owed it to us.

They did not, once again, forget "Love Etc.", but I did not expect its follow up "The Dictator Decides" to be one of the highlights of the evening. This slow song from "Super" is more important for its lyrics rather than its melody, but it worked so well live (and with another costume change from Neil).

 

"West End Girls" was sung in its extended version form (with the extra verse) and the surprises continued with "Home And Dry" a song I had never expected to see live. Then they proved to us that they don't forget their immediately previous album like a lot of bands who usually play only tracks from their latest album combined with their "early stuff". So they played "Vocal" again on this tour. But the biggest surprise came after that with one of my favourite songs from the "Fundamental" album: "The Sodom And Gomorrah Show".

I was starting to wonder whether they wanted to promote their recent "Further Listening" reissues, but when I looked at the setlist again, I realized they played nothing from "Nightlife", nothing from "Elysium" (understandable, probably) and, here comes the big surprise, nothing from "Behaviour"!

After "It's A Sin", the version of "Left To My Own Devices" that followed was expected and already familiar from the 12 inch of "Undertow". 

For the end of their set they announced "an old song in a new version" and although Neil started singing "Heart" he immediately moved into "Go West"

They returned for an encore of course, treating us to "Domino Dancing", the obligatory "Always On My Mind" (the following day was, after all the 40th anniversary of Elvis leaving us) and they wrapped up the proceedings with an extra dose of "The Pop Kids"

And that was it! The balloons were deflated, the square was slowly emptied and we started walking back to our hotel. You see, that's the beauty of a festival like this which takes place in a city centre: No need to worry about public transport or taxis, your accommodation is probably within walking distance. All we had to do now was go to sleep and dream of our next Pet Shop Boys gig...

 

 

SETLISTS

GOLDFRAPP
01. Anymore
02. Train
03. Ocean
04. You Never Know
05. Slide In
06. Everything Is Never Enough
07. Become The One
08. Systemagic
09. Number 1
10. Ride A White Horse
11. Strict Machine

PET SHOP BOYS
01. Inner Sanctum
02. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
03. The Pop Kids
04. In The Night
05. Burn
06. Love Is A Bourgeois Construct
07. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)
08. Love Etc.
09. The Dictator Decides
10. Inside A Dream
11. West End Girls
12. Home And Dry
13. Vocal
14. The Sodom And Gomorrah Show
15. It's A Sin
16. Left To My Own Devices
17. Heart / Go West
Encore:
18. Domino Dancing
19. Always On My Mind
20. The Pop Kids (Reprise)

Get ready to Ejekt with Peter Hook and the Pet Shop Boys

My previous experience with Ejekt Festival was not a good one. This was back in 2007 and one the bill were Madness, The Beastie Boys and Underworld (in that order, with Underworld headlining). I went to see mainly Madness and the Beatie Boys were an added extra for me. I didn't much care for Underworld, not having ventured past "Born Slippy" (that "lager, lager" thing from "Trainspotting"). So, I had to get there early. And so I did, and enjoyed the full set from Madness

Then it was time for The Beasties, who played quite a few of the instrumentals from their new - at the time - album "The Mix-Up"

At some point, during their set a huge black smoke column was noticed, coming from the back of the venue. What we learnt afterwards was that some people invaded the venue throwing petrol bombs setting on fire several cars in the parking lot in the process. The Beastie Boys had to leave the stage mid-set (thankfully they had been playing for quite some time), Madness managed to hide in their dressing room, while a member of Underworld was injured by a brick thrown at him.

And to top that off, while I was returning home the tram I was riding in collided with a passing car. Nobody was injured.

I did not claim compensation for my ticket (it was not given anyway) because I had seen what I wanted: Madness and The Beastie Boys...
...Fast forward to 2013 and I was ready for my second Ejekt. This was unexpected, but the Pet Shop Boys were announced as headliners. I had last seen them back in 1991 at Birmingham NEC (where "Performance" was filmed). Happy Mondays were also announced and that was an added bonus.

Other names were also announced, but the day before the festival the cancellations started. Happy Mondays cancelled (but Peter Hook & The Light who replaced them playing Joy Division and New Order tracks were a nice reward). A few hours later Palma Violets cancelled and were replaced by The Wedding Singers.
The Wedding Singers are a Greek band that do exactly what it says on the tin. They play 80's and 90's well known pop hits and they are the perfect band to hire to perform on someone's wedding. In fact they could have come straight out of The wedding Singer movie with Adam Sandler.

Next up were Bittersweet, another Greek band

And then it was the turn of The Jamming Funkers, the band with the best stage presence of all the Greek bands, featuring dancers on stage, both male and female, a horn section and a powerful vocal performance from their lead singer.

And then it was the turn of The Viper vikings, the last (and the most electronic) of the Greek acts.

They provided a good transition to the international acts starting with the equally electronic James Blake. My personal opinion though is that they would "segue" better with Peter Hook & The Light who also did an electronic set, but they also play synth-pop like The Viper Vikings. You see, I thought that James Blake (and here comes another "personal opinion") is one of those artists that sound better on record than they do on stage. However several people in the crowd had come especially to see him, he is quite popular in Greece, so we have to respect that... (I remember a girl standing beside me watching him with such dedication it was ubelievable. So a big RESPECT goes out to her)

Setlist:

01. Air & Lack Thereof
02. I Never Learnt to Share

03. Life Round Here

04. To the Last

05. CMYK

06. I Am Sold

07. Lindisfarne I

08. Lindisfarne II

09. Limit to Your Love (Feist cover)

10. Voyeur

11. The Wilhelm Scream

12. Retrograde

And then it was time for the first of my favourites. Hooky from New Order (and Joy Division) with his band Peter Hook & The Light playing New Order (and Joy Division) songs. Now I am not going to lie, I thoroughly enjoyed his one hour set, but he did receive a lot of criticism from other people, mainly that his voice is not that strong and that he should hire a lead singer. However, I must admit that I prefer him singing, mainly because that enhances the illusion that I am watching a part of New Order (and Joy Division)

Red Bull were one of the sponsors of the festival and they had placed a fridge full of cans of their drink on stage. However it was locked and Peter could not grab one for refreshment towards the end of his set. OK, we understand it was up there for advertising purposes but in this case "advertising" probably meant that we, the fans, would see it and then head on to the bar to buy one.

Setlist:

01. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover)

02. Ceremony (New Order cover)

03. Everything's Gone Green (New Order cover)

04. Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover)

05. Your Silent Face (New Order cover)

06. 5 8 6 (New Order cover)

07. Fine Time (New Order cover)

08. True Faith (New Order cover)

09. Temptation (New Order cover)

10. Blue Monday (New Order cover)

While the stage was being prepared for The Pet Shop Boys, Faith SFX appeared as a warm up act, a rapper and human beatbox

Finally, it was time for what most of us had come there for: The Pet Shop Boys

After a long(ish) wait they started off with Axis behind the stage cover which was eventually removed to reveal them in all their glory

They even re-enacted a scene from their musical "Closer To Heaven"

This gig was part of their "Electric Tour" to promote their album of the same name which was a suprising return to form with upbeat and dance tunes and which was, I think, not officially released yet at the time of the gig. A very good article (in Greek) about that (featuring several of my photos he he) can be found here: http://provatos.blogspot.gr/2013/07/blog-post_17.html (If you decide to read that using Google Translate, please ignore its title. It does get lost in translation. Really. TRUST ME). 9 months before that, another album had been released, "Elysium", which was considered rather boring by the fans and was probably a contractual obligation. They did promote the older album as well (and despite the criticism, "Memory Of The Future" is an exceptional song)

And so the hits kept coming (with an exceptional laser show during "I'm Not Scared").

And just two weeks after seeing Bruce Springsteen in Paris, I got to hear another Bruce Springsteen song!

Even a b-side was played ("I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)"). And so it was all over, but not before they came back with an encore of "West End Girls" and "Vocal".
The sound was, well, not bad, but it definitely could have been better (Too much bass during Peter Hook's set and at the beginning of The Pets). It was rather a small crowd (well, smaller than expected). The Pets previous appearance in Athens at an indoor venue in November 2009 was sold out. The usual Ejekt crowd was expecting some other act than The Pet Shop Boys ("They're too old", "ancient history", "my mother is a fan" were some of the comments), but still those who were there enjoyed it to the fullest. As for me, it was my second Pets gig. The first one was 22 years ago at the Birmingham NEC where the "Performance" video was shot...

Setlist:

01. Axis

02. One More Chance / A Face Like That

03. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)

04. Memory of the Future ('New Single Mix' version)

05. Fugitive

06. Integral

..... Sample of "The Rite of Spring" (Igor Stravinsky piece)

07. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing

08. Suburbia

09. I'm Not Scared

10. Last to Die (Bruce Springsteen cover)

11. Somewhere (Leonard Bernstein cover)

12. Leaving

13. Thursday

14. Love Etc.

15. I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too) 

16. Rent

17. Miracles

18. It's a Sin

19. Domino Dancing

20. Go West (Village People cover)

21. Always on My Mind (Elvis Presley cover)

Encore:

22. West End Girls

23. Vocal