Billy Idol & The Stranglers live in Athens June 2010

I had already bought all the tickets for the summer concerts I wanted to attend that year when I noticed this one. I wasn't craving much to see Billy Idol (apart from "Eyes Without A Face" of course), maybe it was The Stranglers I wanted to see more (even without Hugh Cornwell)

I arrived while The Stranglers had already started playing for fifteen minutes. They were good, but to me they looked strange without Hugh. Thankfully, I had already seen them with their original line up back in 1985 at the by now famous Rock In Athens festival.

Billy Idol was the big surprise, however. With his guitarist, Steve Stevens who has been with him since the 80's. He started "quietly" one might say, performed "Eyes Without A Face", while it was obvious that he had had a few ("too much f***ing Greek wine", he said). He had kept his strongest tracks for the end, though: Rebel Yell, White Wedding, Mony Mony, Dancing With Myself. He even performed King Rocker from his Generation X days. And he managed to excite the Greek audience. Unbelievable! I never imagined that I would have such fun at a Billy Idol concert. 

And while Stevens was playing his guitar solos, Billy was taking time off by going to the side of the stage in order to make out with his girlfriend! (The fact is that the aforementioned girlfriend looked young enough to be his daughter!)

SETLISTS:
THE STRANGLERS
01. 5 Minutes
02. Walk On By
03. Always The Sun
04. Golden Brown
05. All Day And All Of The Night
06. Nice 'N' Sleazy
07. No More Heroes
08. Peaches
09. Skin Deep
10. Duchess
BILLY IDOL
01. Ready Steady Go
02. Love Is Strange
03. Dancing With Myself
04. Flesh For Fantasy
05. Scream
06. Twenty Flight Rock
07. To Be A Lover
08. Sweet Sixteen
09. Eyes Without A Face
10. Kings And Queens Of The Underground
11. L.A. Woman
12. Don't Shoot The Messenger
13. King Rocker
14. Running With The Boss Sound
15. Rebel Yell
Encore:
16. White Wedding

Jean Michel Jarre live in Athens June 2010

I had wanted to see Jean Michel Jarre in concert ever since the late 80's. Having seen on television excerpts from his concerts in Houston, Lyon and other cities with the incredible - at least for that era - laser shows and the musical instruments that he had created, I decided that this was an experience I would like to have! And I was actually ready to do that since I was in London when he announced that he would organize similar concerts at the Docklands. Of course, the English, being as usual spoilsports set several obstacles concerning safety reasons and what have you and so the concerts were postponed only to take place later marred by the worst kind of English weather as well as reduced ticket numbers. As a result, I couldn't make it.  However, back in 2010 I got my chance to make up for it. Seeing as the concert was taking place at an indoor venue (as was the whole of that year's tour), I was doubtful as to whether he could reproduce all those special effects. I needn't have worried! He performed a bit of everything. Including the musical instrument with the laser beams which played a different note depending on which beam he was touching. He even treated us to some 3D effects... and he played the theremin as well!

The theremin is one of the first electronic instrument invented almost a century ago by a soviet scientist.

One funny thing that happened was when I realized that the two people sitting next to me were talking about their visit to Busch Gardens, the amusement park I was working at back in 2000 in the USA. All in all, this was a night to remember, and what was more important was that the venue was full. And keep this in mind: for those that listen to synth-pop, Jean Michel Jarre (together with our very own Vangelis) is their classical music! 

SETLIST:
01. Oxygène 2
02. Magnetic Fields 1
03. Équinoxe 7
04. Équinoxe 5
05. Troisième Rendez-Vous
06. Magnetic Fields 2
07. Souvenirs Of China
08. Oxygène 5
09. Variation 3
10. Theremin Memories
11. Équinoxe 4
12. Statistics Adagio
13. Révolution Industrielle 2
14. Deuxième Rendez-Vous
15. Quatrième Rendez-Vous
16. Chronologie 6
17. Chronologie 2
18. Oxygène 4
19. Oxygène 12
20. Calypso 3

 

ZZ Top live in Athens September 2009

After coming back from Udine, the last stop of my tour of Italy with Bruce Springsteen in 2009 there was only one summer concert left: U2 at Cardiff in Wales. After that, it was back to concerts in Greece with the first one being ZZ Top in Athens in September 2009. And as it was autumn by now, we were back to indoor venues.

My first encounter with ZZ Top was back at the beginning of the 80's. My brother wanted to buy a record that would have been representative of country music. He had decided on Johnny Cash. But when he announced it to his friends he got this reply: "Not Johnny Cash you w***er, ZZ Top". (You see, the Greek "rockers" did not consider Johnny Cash to be "rock enough" back then. So he bought "The Best Of ZZ Top" and that's how I got familiar with songs like "Tush", "Blue Jean Blues" and "La Grange". Unfortunately my brother did not like ZZ Top so he sold the record and bought something by Johnny Cash instead, as was his original intention. I finally managed to find "The Best Of ZZ Top" on CD when I went to the States in 2000. I can therefore claim that I've known them before "Eliminator" which was when the rest of the world became aware of them.

So, on the night of the concert, after I had picked up a couple of friends from Katerini (a town in northern Greece) at the nearby Karaiskaki Stadium, we made our way to the Tae Kwon Do Arena using the tram. Once inside, support was provided by Skelters and quite enjoyable they were, too. They even played a cover of the Beatles' "Come Together".

I would have expected Down & Out to be the support that night (a Greek band, one of this blog's favourites along with their later transformation as The Big Nose Attack, who had supported ZZ Top on the Sofia, Skopje and Istanbul dates of that particular tour), but it wasn't to be.

Anyway by now, it was time for ZZ Top to come on. With plenty of songs from their old(er) albums saving the trio of "Eliminator" favourites for the end of their normal set. They even spoke in Greek with a woman (presumably one of the organizers) before they launched into "Future Blues".

But that wasn't enough for the crowd who started chanting "Z-Z-TOP" repeatedly while we were running away from the main arena and onto the upper level in order to get a different (though not necessarily better) point of view. And they did indeed came out again, not just for one but for two encores.

That was the end of the concert, but not the end of the night for us. We left the south of Athens and moved to the center of the city where in what was our favourite bar at that time, a friend of ours was throwing her birthday party, which soon turned into a Bruce Springsteen party as was usual in those days...

SETLIST:
01. Got Me Under Pressure
02. Waitin' For The Bus
03. Jesus Just Left Chicago
04. Pincushion
05. I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide
06. Future Blues
07. Cheap Sunglasses
08. Goin' Down To Mexico
09. My Head's In Mississippi
10. I Need You Tonight
11. I Love The Woman
12. Party On The Patio
13. Foxy Lady
14. Just Got Paid
15. Gimme All Your Lovin'
16. Sharp Dressed Man
17. Legs
ENCORE:
18. La Grange
19. Tush
ENCORE 2:
20. Tube Snake Boogie

Kraftwerk live and in 3D

I have been listening to a lot of synth-pop music, especially during the 80's when it was most popular. In fact, my last gig was a synth-pop gig. But there would have been no synth-pop (and also other forms of electronic music), no Erasure, no OMD, no Marsheaux, no Depeche Mode (even if they are not so electronic now) without Kraftwerk. I had wanted to see Kraftwerk live for many years and it was extremely hard to get tickets for their UK shows. Then I noticed that this year they were playing their 3-D show in places that were awfully close to Greece (Sofia and Skopje for example), so why didn't any promoter make an effort to bring them here? Finally someone did. And at long last, on the 3rd of March, exactly one week after my seeing Erasure in London, Kraftwerk played in Athens.

When the gig was announced, before I bought my ticket, I had to make some enquiries. Where should I be in the venue? In the arena or in the seats in order to enjoy the full 3D experience? Both people I asked gave me the same verdict: It doesn't matter where you are, as long as you are facing the middle of the stage in order to better experience the 3-D  effects. I decided to buy a seated ticket, so my view would not be obstructed by a tall person in front of me. And since the seated tickets were not numbered, I had to get there early in order to find a seat that would be facing the middle of the stage. And that's just what I did. I got a seat at the topmost row directly facing the stage.

When the show finally started it was confirmed that this was a perfect seat to experience the 3D effects from, although, as you will be able to see from the videos, the show can be enjoyed even in 2D. 

I could go on for hours telling you how magnificent the 3D graphics were, but what was even more exciting was how many Kraftwerk tunes I was familiar with from all those years.

And the one I had completely forgotten about was "Neon Lights" which I came to know through its OMD cover of 1991!

Then again, the song I was most waiting for was "The Model" which had no 3D effects at all.

All in all, it was a wonderful night and a unique experience . Towards the end, they treated us to "The Robots" as a separate performance (and with different outfits). 

In the end they left the stage one by one while the music was still playing...

SETLIST:
01. Numbers
02. Computer World
03. It's More Fun to Compute
04. Home Computer
05. Computer Love
06. The Man-Machine
07. Spacelab
08. The Model
09. Neon Lights
10. Autobahn
11. Airwaves
12. Geiger Counter / Radioactivity
13. Electric Café
14. Tour De France / Prologue / Etape 1 / Chrono / Etape 2
15. Trans Europe Express / Metal on Metal / Abzug
Encore:
16. The Robots
Encore 2:
17. Aéro Dynamik
18. Planet of Visions
19. Boing Boom Tschak
20. Techno Pop
21. Music Non Stop

The Last Of The Famous Vegetarian Cowboys

I bought my ticket for the Morrissey concert in Athens back in September last year. So in order to prepare myself, during my trip to England for the Bryan Adams concert I had taken with me Morrissey's Autobiography as a reading companion.

Learning more about the man (more than I already knew from reading Record Mirror and Smash Hits during the 80's) before seeing him live would prove useful to me just before the concert started.
It wasn't so simple however. The concert was scheduled for the 5th of December (a Friday). Lots of people from all over Greece, even fans from abroad had bought tickets. However, as I was approaching the venue it was announced that the concert was postponed. The official explanation was that Morrissey had missed his flight to Athens. Not a lot of people believed that, especially with rumours circulating about his health. A few days passed without any further news and finally it was announced that the concert was rescheduled for December the 15th (a Monday). The original tickets would be valid and no refunds would be issued to those who could not attend. As you can understand, this made a lot of fans angry, especially those coming from other parts of Greece. The rescheduled date was not on a weekend so those few who still have jobs in today's Greece would not be able to make the trip. But even those who had the time, they could not afford to make the trip again. Some people claimed that these particular organizers have never issued a refund when something went wrong with a concert. I cannot verify that, but in my case I remember there was no refund issued when at the 2007 Ejekt Festival the headliners, Underworld, did not appear after they were attacked by rioters who set the venue on fire. However since I had attended that festival in order to see the two bands that appeared before them (Madness and The Beastie Boys) I did not really mind...
So it was that 10 days later I made my way to the venue once again to finally see Morrissey. There was no support band, but before he appeared several videos from his favourite artists were displayed (among them The Ramones and Penetration).

And that's where reading his Autobiography came handy, since it was in there that he described them and how they shaped his childhood and his musical tastes. It was interesting to note that one of these videos was a performance of "Don't Dictate" by Penetration which was one of the first new wave songs that I listened to back in 1979 in a compilation given by Greek music magazine "POP + ROCK".

And then Morrissey came on stage with a rousing version of "The Queen Is Dead" followed by his own debut single Suedehead.

Now, his latest album was a very good one in my humble opinion, one of the best of 2014. So i did not mind that he played several songs from it including the title track "World Peace Is None Of Your Business" which he renamed "World, Greece Is None Of Your Business". Thank you Steven!

Other highlights included my favourite "Every Day Is Like Sunday" and "Asleep" which I had a hunch it was one of the Smiths songs he would play on the night.

But what was embedded in most people's mind was the last song "Meat Is Murder" which was accompanied by an explicit video showing exactly how the animals that we eat are treated and killed. By looking at faces in the crowd while this video was playing I can bet there were several people who turned vegetarian on that night. You can say what you want about Morrissey, but you have to recognize that his beliefs are strong and he knows how to promote them.

But, this was not really the last song. He was back with an encore of "How Soon Is Now?" that brought the house down.

Upon leaving the venue it was ironic to notice all these canteens selling meat-based fast food. There is a rumour that in the past he has cancelled gigs because he could smell them inside the venue. Of course, nothing like this happened in Athens.

Ignoring the food smells, we started the long walk to Athens city centre since there was of course no public transport at that place. There was however a lot of beer...

SETLIST:

01. The Queen Is Dead (The Smiths song)
02. Suedehead
03. Speedway
04. Kiss Me a Lot
05. Staircase at the University
06. I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
07. World Peace Is None of Your Business
08. Neal Cassady Drops Dead
09. One of Our Own
10. The Bullfighter Dies
11. Scandinavia
12. Yes, I Am Blind
13. Everyday Is Like Sunday
14. Smiler with Knife
15. Asleep (The Smiths song)
16. I'm Not a Man
17. Certain People I Know
18. Trouble Loves Me
19. Meat Is Murder (The Smiths song)

Encore:
20. How Soon Is Now? (The Smiths song)