Release Athens Festival 2024 - Offspring

To tell you the truth, I don't have any Offspring albums. I have plenty of singles, though. It was back in the 90's when MTV Europe as well as clubs in Greece started playing "Come Out To Play" (which we knew at the time as "Keep' Em Separated"). "Self Esteem" was also popular at the time. And then came 1999 with "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)". I first heard it at Camel Club in Athens, Greece and noticed that immediately everyone went wild: From the bartenders and the DJ to the clubbers themselves. A few days later, I saw the video on MTV Europe. And there was more to it, another great song and another great video "Why Don't You Get A Job". And when in the fall of that year I moved back to London for my Master's Degree, I bought the enhanced CD single of "The Kids Aren't Alright" because it featured the video of "Pretty Fly" (there was no YouTube back then, and even if there was I prefer to own my favourite media). All that was enough for me to want to go and see them live if I ever got the chance. And that chance came on the 9th of June this year. And this was why I arranged to see Coldplay on the 8th, so that I could see Offspring on the 9th.

I set off from home quite early in the afternoon because that was the day of the European Elections and I had to vote in the city centre. After the food feast that traditionally follows all elections, I headed to the south of the city to attend the festival.

As I arrived Danko Jones were playing. I heard some praise for them from some of my friends, but another friend, whom I met there at the gig wasn't that much impressed. Moreover, I was surprised to hear the singer saying "we might not play your favourite song tonight, but because most of our songs sound the same, wait for the next song, close your eyes and it will sound like your favourite". Danko Jones : The frank band!

 

After them, The Subways came up. They looked and sounded familiar. I thought I had seen them before. When they played their last song "Rock 'N' Roll Queen", I was sure. But where and when? It was on the following day when I remembered that I had seen them at the Rockwave Festival back in 2016 when they supported The Last Shadow Puppets.

 

Finally, it was time fot the main attraction. The Offspring. Back to the 90's we went and even though I heard some criticism from others that they are not as good these days and "uncle Noodles" keeps on talking a lot between songs in order to make their sets last longer (he does), to my mind they were brilliant. And yes, they played all my favourite songs, "Come Out To Play", "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)", "Why Don't You Get A Job", even "The Kids Aren't Alright", ending with "Self Esteem". They even threw in a cover medley mixing classical music and punk rock: Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" coupled with The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop"!

 

As far as the festival was concerned there were all the same attractions again this year, the free Cokes, Johnnie Walker with Ginger Ale (which thankfully is made with the Black Label version of the whisky), more official merchandise compared to what these used to be in the past, but the only thing that was missing was the free Amstel Free lemon "beer" at the exit. 

And as usual, there was lots of "unhealthy" (or "dirty" as we call it in Greece) food, after the exit, outside the festival grounds...

SETLISTS:
DANKO JONES
01. Guess Who's Back
02. Get High?
03. I'm In A Band
04. I Gotta Rock
05. Lipstick City
06. First Date
07. Code Of The Road
08. The Twisting Knife
09. Good Time
10. You Are My Woman
11. Flaunt It
12. Full Of Regret
13. Had Enough
14. Lovercall
15. My Little RnR

THE SUBWAYS
01. Oh Yeah
02. Black Wax
03. We Don't Need Money To Have a Good Time
04. Taking All the Blame
05. Kalifornia
06. Alright
07. Turnaround
08. I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say
09. Influencer Killed The Rock Star
10. At 1 AM
11. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
12. It's A Party
13. Girls & Boys
14. With You
15. Rock & Roll Queen

OFFSPRING
01. Come Out And Play
02. All I Want
03. Want You Bad
04. Staring At The Sun
05. In the Hall Of the Mountain King
06. Blitzkrieg Bop
07. Million Miles Away
08. Original Prankster
09. It'll Be a Long Time
10. Bad Habit
11. Gotta Get Away
12. Why Don't You Get A Job?
13. (Can't Get My) Head Around You
14. Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)
15. The Kids Aren't Alright
Encore:
16. You're Gonna Go Far, Kid
17. Self Esteem

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

Bruce Springsteen live in Belfast May 2024

I have lived in the United Kingdom for several years, but only in England. I finally visited Scotland in 2004, then Cardiff in 2009 for a U2 concert. So the only part of the UK that I hadn't been to until last month was Northern Ireland. So when Bruce announced his 2024 tour with the two opening dates in Cardiff and Belfast I made my travel arrangements in order to fix this. What's more in between the two concerts I would go to the only major city in England that I had yet to visit: Liverpool.

So, as I have already mentioned in my previous post, after I had attended the opening date in Cardiff, I took a bus to Liverpool and two days later I took a plane from Liverpool to Belfast. The first time I crossed over to the other island: Ireland!

Now there was a major difference with the Cardiff concert. It was not held in a stadium but in an open space (Boucher Playing Fields) with one ticket price for everyone. That meant that after many years I would claim a place in the pit! And even though I missed the first roll call after my arrival, I got a very good number on the next one. Not only that, but I ended up next to my Welsh friend who had also been to the Cardiff concert even though he got his number in the previous roll call. What I realized after this process was this: When the concert is in a stadium, with FOS tickets sold, those lucky enough to secure one will start the roll calls several days before, so someone who arrives on the previous day doesn't have a chance of getting a good number. When there is a concert like this one in Belfast, where everyone can get to the pit, nobody bothers! There were people who arrived on the same day and got a good number. Go figure...

 

On the day of the concert everything went smoothly during the final roll call and we started getting in the fields. During this process, we heard Bruce and the band begin a soundcheck (mainly "This Hard Land") and we realized that by peering over the fence, we could actually see them! They saw us as well and acknowledged us. 

 

Then we finally got in, secured our places, Bruce's sister Pam came on stage and took photos of us and finally all we had to do was wait. (The waiting part was made easier by reading the "Bruce" biography by Peter Ames Carlin which I had brought with me).

 

The band members started coming up on stage one by one with Bruce being the last one. This time the beginning of the concert was more straightforward with "No Surrender". "Lonesome Day" was once again there and this time he didn't just play "Ghosts" he also played the title track from the "Letter To You" album. (He had done a similar thing last year at Hyde Park. He played both songs on the first night, but only "Ghosts" on the second one). The other good news was that "Better Days" seemed to be becoming a regular and the even better ones was that the same thing seemed to be happening with "If I Was A Priest"! But the best news of all was that unlike last year, there seemed to be more changes to the setlist as well as acknowledgment of some requests. In short, the old Bruce was BACK! A look at the pre-written setlist which someone managed to get, revealed that "Pay Me My Money Down" was also planned for the night (and this would have been quite appropriate for a concert in Ireland), but it wasn't to be. I would have normally been gutted by that, I mean I love that song and I would have loved to hear it on Irish soil, but if its absence meant that we would hear "If I Was The Priest" again, then that's fine with me.

 

And then came the time for the phone calls. Now, each time I go to a Bruce concert, I always call two people in two different countries (You know who you are S & A!). If I manage to get an internet signal (not so easy when you're in the exact same place with thousands of other people) I call them using Viber, in order to add vision to the phone call experience). I usually pick a "fast" song during which I make my phone call. However, when it was time for my second call Bruce had already gone into his "slow" section and I didn't want to delay it any longer. So I picked "Backstreets". A was excited to hear it and started singing along. When the band got to the end of the song with the quiet section that goes "we swore forever friends on the backstreets..." my friend was a bit faster than them and she went ahead and sang "...until the end". Everyone was quiet at that point and as a result everybody heard her. Suddenly I realized that everybody was looking at me and at my phone! "She is singing all the way from Greece!" I told the person beside me. And then I thought "what the ****, everybody heard us now and since technology brings us closer together let's go all the way!" So I turned my phone around in a 360 degree turn around the pit all the while shouting "Everybody, say hello to A from Greece!" You can imagine what happened then. Everybody was cheering and waving at my phone!

The main set ended, once again with "Thunder Road" and then we got to the encore with "Land Of Hope And Dreams". No "Born In The USA" this time, but we got "Glory Days" instead. And of course everything finished as always with the second encore with Bruce saying goodbye to each member of the band individually and then played "I'll See You In My Dreams". It was a great night and I had almost forgotten that during one of the early songs in the set Bruce wasn't able to hit a high note. This happened twice and I started having nightmares about Bono who had to abandon a concert at its beginning because of his voice. However Bruce went and had a drink which was possibly tea at the side of the stage and then he was OK. So I forgot all about it. But then later during the tour he completely lost his voice and had to cancel several dates. How lucky I was, having chosen the first two dates of the tour!

SETLIST
01. No Surrender
02. Lonesome Day
03. Prove It All Night
04. Ghosts
05. Letter To You
06. Better Days
07. The Promised Land
08. Spirit In The Night
09. Hungry Heart
10. Nightshift
11. My City Of Ruins
12. Last Man Standing
13. Backstreets
14. Because The Night
15. If I Was The Priest
16. She's The One
17. Wrecking Ball
18. The Rising
19. Badlands
20. Thunder Road
Encore:
21. Land Of Hope And Dreams
22. Born To Run
23. Bobby Jean
24. Glory Days
25. Dancing In The Dark
26. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
27. Twist And Shout
Encore 2:
28. I'll See You In My Dreams