We had a wonderful night out on a Thursday night, courtesy of Mikro, back in 2010 at Jasmin Rock Club which, by the end of the night, had turned into Jasmin "Electro" Club. Although not a lot of people had come at first, Jasmin was gradually filled to capacity (amazing considering it was a weeknight) and Mikro came on the stage at around 10 to midnight and played for almost two and a half hours. They played some songs that were new at the time from Upload/Download (depends on which version you have) and several older favourites. On top of that, there were three amazing covers, Enjoy The Silence by Depeche Mode with Nik on vocals, plus I Feel Love by Donna Summer and Sexy Boy by Air with Ria. And there was also an amazing electro medley.
Nik's inexhaustible energy moved the crowd who were dancing non-stop during the second part of the night. At some point we got confused when we thought that he was texting through his mobile while he was singing. What he was in fact doing was programming his vocoder.
They finished their set with "My Friends" the end of which was mashed up with samples from Prodigy, Killers, Fatboy Slim and Underworld among others...
I had been aware of Mikro for a long time, and had in fact seen them live in 2007 at Fly Beeyond Festival where they appeared purely by chance at the last minute, since another band had withdrawn from the line-up. I had already discovered Marsheaux, an electro-pop duo, who come, as do Mikro, from Salonica and were also part of the roster of independent record company UNDO Records. Mikro and Marsheaux had appeared together in November of the previous year (2009) at London's La Scala club as part of an electro-pop night, with other British electro bands.
Back in 1987 I had seen Black Sabbath live. Well, it was a kind of Black Sabbath. I think the only original member was Tony Iommi. And they didn't play Paranoid. So, I thought that by seeing Ozzy Osbourne solo in 2010 the situation would be rectified. As he came up on stage, an (almost) full moon appeared through the clouds and the set (naturally) began with Bark At The Moon (from my favourite solo album of his from the 80's).
He also played Shot In The Dark from the following album which had a different sound since the synthesizers were more prominent but nobody seemed to mind. But what I really liked is that he didn't just play a couple of Sabbath songs, he played quite a lot and some of them were not what the crowd expected (eg "Fairies Wear Boots"). War Pigs was magnificent and at the end of it he declared "A very good friend of mine has recently passed away. His name was Ronnie James Dio". However, I seem to remember that he felt a lot differently back in the 80's when Dio replaced him as lead singer of Sabbath...
On top of that VIP ticket holders who were at the front of the stage were awarded with several showers courtesy of Ozzy who was constantly throwing water at them. (He was also throwing water at himself, so I guess that was fair). The hero of the night must have been the roadie whose task was to refill the water bucket. And he gave a standing ovation to his Greek lead guitarist Gus G.
There were two tracks that I wanted to hear and he saved them for the end: Crazy Fuckin' Train and of course Paranoid. I had to wait 23 years for that last one...
SETLIST: INTRO: Carmina Burana
01. Bark at the Moon 02. Let Me Hear You Scream 03. Mr. Crowley 04. I Don't Know 05. Fairies Wear Boots 06. Suicide Solution 07. War Pigs 08. Road to Nowhere 09. Fire in the Sky 10. Into the Void 11. Shot in the Dark 12. Rat Salad (with guitar and drum solos) 13. Iron Man 14. Killer of Giants 15. Flying High Again 16. I Don't Want to Change the World 17. Crazy Train ENCORE: 18. Mama, I'm Coming Home 19. No More Tears 20. Paranoid
In 2020 I only went to one concert. In 2021 I went to only one as well, at least so far. And it was at the same venue, Gazarte Roof Stage. Since I felt safe in it last year, I thought I'd do it again. The truth is that I thought it was a bit more crowded this year, but there weren't any problems later so, I guess it was OK. And this time it was an international artist: Kadebostany from Switzerland. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to get into their music... The support act was Vassilina with whom I was familiar since she had released a digital album on UNDO Records (home of Marsheaux) and now has a physical release on Inner Ear Records. She played mostly stuff from the latest album and it was good to finally hear her live.
After her set, and after we had listened to more music from the Gazarte speakers including David Bowie's "Starman", Kadebostany came on stage.
They got the crowd excited even though one of the restrictions being imposed was that we all had to remain seated, people could not stand up and dance. At least we were allowed to clap.
Nevertheless, the gig was highly entertaining and it proved to be a refreshing night out since it was my first gig after September of last year. And on top of that, it was also successful, since not only was it sold out, but the band were also due to appear on the following day at the same venue.
I am sure that you are all familiar with the Blues Brothers from the 1980 movie with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. They had however begun in 1978 as a sketch on Saturday Night Live and had already released an album before making the movie (and later released another one, apart from the soundtrack).
The two brothers were John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and their band consisted of well-established musicians (Steve Cropper, Lou Marini, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Matt "Guitar" Murphy among others). John Belushi sadly left us early in 1982. Nevertheless, the band reformed in 1988 and have been on the road since then, with different lineups, without of course John Belushi but neither with Dan Aykroyd who had already had a successful acting career. A sequel to the film was released in 1998, Blues Brothers 2000 with Dan Aykroyd reprising his role and John Goodman replacing John Belushi.
They came back to Greece once again and on Wednesday 21, July 2010 they performed at the Lycabettus Theatre. (They were also due to appear in Salonica two days before that, but unfortunately their gig was cancelled because it was raining). In Athens the opening act was Matt O'Ree with a very good set. We love him because he's from New Jersey like The Boss. He even contacted me on my YouTube page where I had posted a video from that night to make sure that I made it clear that they were playing in Athens, Greece and not in Athens, Georgia!
One hour later The Blues Brothers Band came on stage. From the original lineup Steve Cropper, Lou Marini and Alan Rubin were there.
They started with a couple of instrumentals (Green Onions, Peter Gunn Theme) until the two singers (Jonny Rosch and Bobby Garden) gradually appeared.
Highlights included my personal favourite She Caught The Katy (the song playing on the opening titles of the movie), Minnie The Moocher and of course Sweet Home Chicago.
They even brought a couple of kids onto the stage whom they awarded the honorary title of "Little Blues Brothers"!
The best songs were left for the encore: 634-5789, Soul Man, I Can't Turn You Loose, and even Knock On Wood!
Setlist: 01. Green Onions
02. Peter Gunn Theme
03. Soulfinger
04. Going Back To Miami
05. Groove Me
06. She Caught The Katy 07. Messin' With The Kid
08. Shotgun Blues
09. Hey Bartender
10. Flip, Flop & Fly
11. Minnie The Moocher
12. (I Got Everything I Need) Almost
13. Sweet Home Chicago / I Can't Turn You Loose
Encore: 14. "B" Movie Boxcar Blues
15. 634-5789 16. Knock On Wood 17. Soul Man / I Can't Turn You Loose
They say that in Greece the only music fans that go to concerts are the heavy metal fans. So, if you offer them quality hard rock in the form of Aerosmith, they would jump at the chance, right? Wrong! The stadium was half empty. Many theories were formulated to explain that (maybe the tickets were too expensive, maybe the organizers made some mistake and so on...). The truth is that the tickets were no more expensive compared to the other concerts at the time. True, I bought an expensive one, but that's because I chose to, since I wanted to be as close to the stage as possible. And the brutal truth is that in order for the stadium to be full the band has to be called Scorpions. It's that simple...
Anyway, Tyler and his gang didn't mind the low ticket sales (in contrast to other so-called "stars" who will refuse to play in a half empty stadium in order to maintain their "image") and they got on stage and gave it their all making this one of the best concerts we have ever experienced in Greece. They played both the "old" and the "new" songs. (By "new" I mean the 90's tracks featuring ballads such as "Cryin'" and "Crazy" which we would keep watching on MTV back in the day in order to see Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler.)
They actually started their set with "Love In An Elevator", which was introduced by a recording of Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35". In my original video I had included that introduction, which a few years later YouTube decided to mute (only the intro, mind you) because, well, it's a Bob Dylan song and Bob Dylan doesn't like his songs being on YouTube...
Steven Tyler even asked us to admire his "amazing body" which he has at his age and which he got "by eating Greek salad".
SETLIST: 01. Love In An Elevator 02. Back In The Saddle 03. Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees) 04. Eat The Rich 05. Pink 06. Livin' On The Edge 07. What It Takes 08. Rag Doll 09. Crazy 10. Cryin' 11. Drum Solo 12. Lord Of The Thighs 13. Stop Messin' Around 14. I Don't Want To Miss a Thing 15. Sweet Emotion 16. Guitar Solo 17. Third Stone From The Sun 18. Baby, Please Don't Go 19. Draw The Line Encore: 20. Dream On 21. Walk This Way 22. Toys In The Attic
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
This concert trip didn't start in the usual way. What I mean is that we didn't say "Oh, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood are playing in Istanbul so let's go see them". What happened instead was that the previous winter we had said that we should go to Istanbul some day, and if we could go to a concert there that would be even better! So, at some point we realized that Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood would be playing there together on the last day of their European Tour which didn't pass through Greece. We didn't think too much about it. We booked our flight and hotels during the previous March. The added bonus was that my birthday was on the day after the concert and I would have the chance to celebrate it there. I will dedicate another post to sightseeing whereas here I will concentrate on the concert itself which took place on Sunday the 13th of June 2010. Not before mentioning the Bruce moment of that trip which happened just a few hours before the concert. I had gone to explore the Asian side of Istanbul and as I was getting on the boat to get back to the European side I noticed a guy wearing the same t-shirt as me from the Working On A Dream Tour of 2009. He was a Turkish Bruce fan who knew most of my European Bruce friends. What's more he was going to the concert that night as well.
Although we had hired a mini van to take us to the venue, it literally took us hours to get there. The reason? Istanbul traffic jams are far worse than those of Athens! When we did arrive though, we found ourselves in one of the best concert venues we had ever been to! Imagine being next to the Bhosphorus listening to your favourite music!
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, were outstanding and we could see the
stage very clearly from where we were standing. In fact, because of the
way the venue was designed we would have been able to see the stage from
anywhere.
The best moment however was the fireworks show that took place halfway through the concert.
Several times during the concert I kept looking at those around me. "So, these people are Turkish" I kept thinking. Of course there were Turkish, I was attending a concert in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, so the majority of the audience had to be Turkish. What was so strange about that? Nothing, apart from the fact that from the moment we Greeks are born in this country we are taught by everyone (teachers, politicians, priests, journalists and the army) that we should hate these people. Instead what I saw as I was looking at them were not enemies, but people like us, with the same needs, the same problems, and, in that particular case, an equal love of music and who were there to enjoy a rock concert.
After the concert ended, as I was waiting for my beer (yes, the bars stayed open after the concert had ended) I struck a conversation with one of them reminiscing about the last time I had seen Eric Clapton live back in 1984 in Athens.
Once outside, we started waiting for our minivan to come and pick us up and lead us back to our hotel where a (surprise) birthday party had already been planned for me...
SETLIST: 01. Had to Cry Today 02. Low Down 03. After Midnight 04. Presence of the Lord 05. Glad 06. Well All Right 07. Tuff Luck Blues 08. While You See a Chance 09. Key to the Highway 10. Midland Maniac 11. Crossroads 12. Georgia (On My Mind) 13. Driftin' Blues 14. How Long Blues 15. Layla 16. Can't Find My Way Home 17. Gimme Some Lovin' 18. Voodoo Chile 19. Cocaine Encore: 20. Dear Mr. Fantasy
We had a wonderful night out on a Thursday night, courtesy of Mikro, back in 2010 at Jasmin Rock Club which, by the end of the night, had turned into Jasmin "Electro" Club. Although not a lot of people had come at first, Jasmin was gradually filled to capacity (amazing considering it was a weeknight) and Mikro came on the stage at around 10 to midnight and played for almost two and a half hours. They played some songs that were new at the time from Upload/Download (depends on which version you have) and several older favourites. On top of that, there were three amazing covers, Enjoy The Silence by Depeche Mode with Nik on vocals, plus I Feel Love by Donna Summer and Sexy Boy by Air with Ria. And there was also an amazing electro medley. 
They finished their set with "My Friends" the end of which was mashed up with samples from Prodigy, Killers, Fatboy Slim and Underworld among others...
