How about a free gig on a Saturday night? Sounds good, right? This is what happened last year at the end of September and this was a gig that I actually decided to go to at the last moment. The Big Nose Attack were playing in Athens, not just anywhere in Athens, but in Brahami, the district the district they grew up in, went to school in and the one which they call "home". The gig was taking place at the district´s main square as part of a summer festival organized by the municipality. So the band were playing to an audience that included their parents friends, neighbours and former classmates as Boogie Man (not the drummer, the other one) said.
However, this time, the setup was different. It had been a long time (by my standards), since I had last seen The Big Nose Attack live. My last BNA gig was at the 2017 Music Highway Festival. In fact, 2018 was the first year in a very long time (probably since they had formed) that I hadn't been to a Big Nose Attack gig. This time, there were four musicians on stage: Apart from Boogie Man on guitar and vocals and Little Tonnie on drums there was also a conga player and a bass player (Bass! Bass! on The Big Nose Attack! Sacrilege?).
Their fourth LP "Deader Than Disco" had come out the previous spring, which presented a bit of a change from their usual sound. Not really disco, but it definitely has a 70's feel with just 8 tracks, each more than 5 minutes long. It was the first time that I heard those songs, but they mixed them up with older favourites from their three previous albums. Meanwhile, I had the chance to walk a few meters to the nearby kiosk on the edge of the square, buy a can of beer, then go back to enjoy my alcohol listening to the music of the band.
At the end of the gig. seeing as the local metro station is also located at the square, I grabbed the last train home, to end a Saturday night filled with wonderful music having spent only the equivalent of a (large) can of beer.
Nowadays, with no gigs, I drink my beers at home...
I remembered The Monochrome Set from the early 80's. Back then they had come, together with another band (The Passage) from the same label (Cherry Red) in Athens for a gig. I was too young to go then, but a few years later I bought theirs and The Passage's records of that period ("Eligible Bachelors" and "Degenerates" respectively) in Monastiraki, the flea market area of Athens. Unfortunately The Passage are no longer with us, but The Monochrome Set are still active so this was an ideal chance to see them. The circumstances reminded me of what had happened the year before when I returned to Athens from my holidays in Santorini to immediately go to a Chemical Brothers gig. This time I returned from my holidays in Antiparos to see The Monochrome Set.
Ticket for gigs at An Club are usually not sold online beforehand, so I arrived very early in order to ensure I got in. (As it turned out later, I needn't have bothered because not many people had shown up). In fact I arrived so early that An Club was still closed and I had time to grab a souvlaki from nearby Exarchia Square. As I was returning from the square with my souvlaki in hand I noticed, Bid (real name Ganesh Seshadri), having a drink outside the club! I finished my souvlaki, got my ticket and went inside, in time to catch the support act, Cosmonuts, a Greek prog band. There were a nice surprise, so nice in fact, that I bought their EP "Holidays In Andromeda" at their merchandise stand, after their set, sold to me by the lead singer himself!
After that it was time for The Monochrome Set. Second in the set, was "The Jet Set Junta" my favourite song from "Eligible Bachelors". The band played on but it was not the singer, it was the keyboard player who stole the show, looking a lot like Jesus. He even went on to "bless" the audience. As I've said before, not many people showed up, but those of us who were there had a great time!
So that was the first indoor gig of the autumn of 2019. There would be another open air gig though, before we went back "inside"
This was our second venture to Brussels for the Brussels Summer Festival. The first one had been two years before for the Pet Shop Boys where we were also lucky enough to see Goldfrapp as well. This time it was for the Manic Street Preachers. I was supposed to have seen the Manics back in 2007, together with the Smashing Pumpkins (what a line up that would have been), but the date of that particular gig coincided with a week when there were a lot of devastating forest fires in Greece. Although there was no forest fire remotely near the particular forest that the venue of the gig was located (the infamous Terra Vibe), the authorities decided that the concert should be cancelled. The Manics returned, one month later at the same venue, but I was too disillusioned to go, especially since the Smashing Pumpkins were not going to tag along. Twelve years after that, I had another chance to see them. Moreover, they are one of my girlfriend's favourite bands, so a good time was guaranteed for all. However, as with 2017 and Goldfrapp, there was once again a surprise in store. I took a look at the line-up to see what else was on, on that particular day of the festival. The Manics were third on the bill so that meant they would only play for an hour. (That was not necessarily a bad thing as we would later see). Second on the bill were Hooverphonic, in essence a local (Belgian) band who I had already seen in Athens back in 2014. This time though they would be fronted by - yet - another singer. However the biggest surprise was the person who was topping the bill that day : Giorgio Moroder! Now, Giorgio Moroder had made a comeback in 2014 declaring that "74 Is The New 24". I wouldn't normally know what to expect from a Giorgio Moroder live gig, but I had been alerted by The Electricity Club that he had assembled a band featuring extremely talented singers performing quite a lot of the hits that he had written and produced. So I knew we were in for a delightful disco party! Meanwhile, it was also announced that Giorgio Moroder would appear at a festival in Athens. He did appear, but thankfully, I didn't rely on that because it was only a DJ set, not a live gig. In Brussels we were going to get the full Monty.
The festival itself has many venues around the city, (and one can move among the different venues at any time with their ticket or "Day Pass" as it's called), but once again, like 2017 the venue for our chosen line up was Place Des Palais. And once again we were able to get all the way to the front of the stage.
Manic Street Preachers were on time and normally they would have played the "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" album because on that particular tour they were celebrating its 20th Anniversary as James Dean Bradfield announced when they came on stage. (A special deluxe version of it had been out earlier that year). However because they would only play for an hour they would not play the whole album. I wouldn't have minded if they had, after all it's my favourite album of theirs. This meant that we would get a more balanced setlist and we did, starting with "Motorcycle Emptiness" although they did play a lot of songs from the "This Is My Truth..." album, including my all-time favourite "You Stole The Sun From My Heart". The biggest surprise though was the cover of "Sweet Child O'Mine". We had a wonderful time up there at the front with several hardcore Manics fans who had come from abroad until James Dean Bradfield told us goodbye wishing that we would "enjoy Giorgio Moroder and Electric f***ing Dreams" as he launched into "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next".
But before Giorgio Moroder would come along it was the turn of Hooverphonic. I must admit their set arrived at the appropriate moment as night fell, providing us with a relaxing time before the party that was to follow. This was the band that most people had probably come to see as they were playing in front of their home crowd. This time there was no "Sometimes", but "Mad About You" (which seems to be their most popular song in Greece), was still there.
And now it was time (although we couldn't suspect as much at the time) for the greatest disco party we had ever been to. We were being properly prepared for it while waiting for Giorgio Moroder with songs like "Daddy Cool' playing from the speakers.
Meanwhile, it had started raining. Rainfalls are quite frequent in Brussels from what I hear, but we were lucky not to experience one when we were watching Goldfrapp and Pet Shop Boys in 2014. This time we were not so lucky, however the organizers had thought of that as well ans had provided us with free ponchos so we had nothing to worry about.
While waiting, by watching the giant screens on either side of the stage, we learnt that some familiar artists were going to perform in Brussels quite a while after the festival.
Finally, Giorgio Moroder was on stage and he kicked off with - what else - Donna Summer. We were expecting a lot of Donna Summer on that night, and that's exactly what we got. The opener was "Bad Girls" and the follow-up was "a sexy song" as Giorgio announced it. It couldn't have been any other than "Love To Love You Baby". Next up was "On The Radio" one of my favourite Donna Summer songs before it was time for us to go to the movies, first with "Midnight Express" ("Chase") and then with "Top Gun" ("Danger Zone" and the obligatory "Take My Breath Away"). Then we had a mixture some of some of his solo efforts ("From Here To Eternity", "Right Here Right Now"), more movie classics ("Flashdance... What A Feeling"), a Daft Punk tribute ("Giorgio By Moroder") before coming back to Donna Summer with the pioneering "I Feel Love" (the birth of synth-pop?), "Mac Arthur Park" and "Last Dance" as the final song of the main set. 19 years before, when I was in LA and inspired by the song I visited the actual "MacArthur Park" but I must admit I was rather disappointed as it seemed quite abandoned and smelled of piss.
There was more Donna Summer during the encore with "Hot Stuff" (which also became a movie favourite many years after its release when it was featured in "The Full Monty") and finally the party came to a close with Blondie's "Call Me" (another movie favourite featured in "American Gigolo").
In short, this was the best dance party I have ever been to!. And before leaving the venue to go back to the hotel, I found some time to stop in one of the stalls and have a portion of not French, but Belgian fries...
