Release Athens Festival 2024 - Duran Duran

A lot of people were listening to Duran Duran back in the 80's. Most of them however are reluctant to admit it now, mostly because of the bullying they received about it, mainly from "rock" fans. That's why, when they first came to Greece in 2005, I didn't expect that a lot of people would go to see them. However, a lot of them did, so many of them in fact, that a venue change was needed. Although, I had seen them live before (back in 1989, at the inauguration of the London Arena), I missed my chance. Taking into account though how successful their first Greek concert was, I predicted that they would come again. And they did. The following year at the Olympic Fencing Hall. And that was the first time that I saw then in Greece. They came again, but only to Salonica (I think it was 2012), and finally, this year, they returned to Athens. And not only did I go, not only was I in the company of the admin of their Greek unofficial Facebook page, but I was also in the company of other artists' fans and members of their respective Facebook pages: U2, Pet Shop Boys and Bruce Springsteen (that last one is, as you've probably guessed, me!).

There's wasn't much in terms of support for this particular date. The original support act, Sofi Tukker, pulled out at the last minute and JC Stewart was drafted in. There was no other support act before him, only a DJ set by Spyros Pagiatakis, which was very enjoyable, I must admit, as we got to hear many familiar and beloved 80's tunes.

Next up, as I have already mentioned was JC Stewart who was warmly and favourably received by the audience.

And then it was finally time for Duran Duran! I kept following their setlists on social media all these years, and because I had seen that there was a certain pattern to them, I had a suspicion that their set was going to be predictable and maybe a bit short (But definitely not boring!). Nothing could have been further from the truth, though. Although certain songs (eg "Hungry Like The Wolf") are always performed at specific points in the set, there was a lot of variety (including surprises) and for once, emphasis on their latest album was more than welcome. In this case, the album in question was their Halloween special "Danse Macabre" which features reworkings of certain songs of theirs, cover versions, and new songs as well. We even had a preview of the deluxe version of said album which hadn't yet been released at that time (namely the new version of "New Moon On Monday" entitled "New Moon (Dark Phase)"). Another noteworthy fact was the emphasis on their debut album from which they performed five songs. And yes, there was an encore, and yes, the last song was "Rio" as it usually is, but nobody was taking note of all these, because by then, the concert had turned into a big 80's and 90's party. And no, kids, they didn't play "U Can't Touch This". That was in fact "Super Freak", part of "Super Lonely Freak"!

In short: We can't wait for them to be back! 

SETLIST:
01. Night Boat
02. The Wild Boys
03. Hungry Like Τhe Wolf
04. A View Τo Α Kill
05. Invisible
06. Notorious
07. Black Moonlight
08. Super Lonely Freak
09. Friends Of Mine
10. Careless Memories
11. The Chauffeur
12. Is There Something I Should Know?
13. Ordinary World
14. Come Undone
15. New Moon (Dark Phase)
16. Planet Earth
17. (Reach Up For The) Sunrise
18. White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
19. The Reflex
20. Girls On Film / Psycho Killer
Encore:
21. Save A Prayer
22. Rio

Release Athens Festival 2024 - Massive Attack

 

Back in the early 90's I used to buy every dance single that entered the UK Top 40. It was the era of the "dance boom" as I was calling it, mainly headlined by house music, but other genres would soon appear. Now, I won't say that when I bought "Unfinished Sympathy" I witnessed the birth of trip hop (the 7 inch single that I bought contained two mixes of the song, one on each side, one was the original and the other was a more "house-y" remix), but it was one of my favourite songs of that year even though their name had been shortened to "Massive" because of the Gulf War. (The policy of the UK government at that time was that no song on the radio should remind listeners of the war that was taking place at that time. With that same policy they had even banned John Lennon's "Imagine", which didn't mention war but peace. But when the listeners heard the word "peace" they would remember the war. Geddit?). Thankfully I had heard of the band before and knew what their original name was. They went on to become one of the pioneers of trip hop and their later album "Mezzanine" is considered their best, but to my mind, "Unfinished Sympathy" will always be their best song.

Now, it was finally time to see them live. So the day following the Smashing Pumpkins gig at an indoor venue, I switched to an outdoor one for one more date of the Release Athens Festival. The band playing on stage when I arrived was Mount Kimbie.

Mount Kimbie were followed by Beak.

 

 

And finally Beak were followed by Massive Attack themselves. They presented an impressive stage show with projections translated in Greek. The big surprise for me though was the presence of Elizabeth Frazer from The Cocteau Twins. Not only was she there, but she also performed "Song To The Siren"! That was more or less at the end of the first half of the set. Because all my favourite songs, from "Angel" onwards seemed to have been reserved for the second half, including "Safe From Harm", "Karmacoma" and of course, "Unfinished Sympathy".

 

 

 

A very enjoyable night, by all means, but the fact was that I would have to return to the same venue, the following day for Duran Duran...

 

SETLISTS:
BEAK
01. The Brazilian
02. Brean Down
03. Yatton
04. Allé Sauvage
05. Wulfstan II

MASSIVE ATTACK
01. Risingson
02. Girl I Love You
03. Future Proof
04. Black Milk
05. Gone
06. Minipoppa
07. Voodoo In My Blood
08. Song To The Siren
09. Inertia Creeps
10. Rockwrok
11. Angel
12. Safe From Harm
13. Unfinished Sympathy
14. Karmacoma
15. Teardrop
16. Levels
17. Group Four

Smashing Pumpkins live in Athens July 2024

It's not common to stage an indoor concert in the summer in Greece, but this is what happened with the Smashing Pumpkins. I was going to see them in the summer of 2007 with the Manic Street Preachers at Terra Vibe. This was the perfect combination for me because in my opinion those were the two most important independent bands of the 90's, the former from the USA and the latter from the UK. Unfortunately, due to the massive forest wildfires of that summer the concert was cancelled. There weren't any wildfires near the venue but since Terra Vibe is in a forest it was decided to cancel it in order to prevent another possible wildfire. The years went by, and I finally saw the Manic Street Preachers in 2019 at the Brussels Summer Festival. And last winter when this concert was announced, I realized it was time for me to finally see the Smashing Pumpkins and bought a FOS ticket on the day they were released.

It was indeed a very hot day as I got there and we were promised that the venue would have ventilation although I'm not so sure if that was true. The opening act was Tom Morello. Now I had seen Tom Morello back in 2012 at the Hard Rock Calling Festival supporting (and later in the day playing with) Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band. But that was a different Tom Morello. It was "Tom Morello The Nightwatchman" a more acoustic version. This one was a full-on electric Tom Morello something that I had yet to experience. And that's how the set started: with a song ("I'm A Soldier (In The Army Of Love)) co-written by his son. What's more, his son was on stage as well playing the guitar. Later on we got something we hoped for but were probably not expecting: Bruce's own "The Ghost Of Tom Joad". After all, Rage Against the Machine had covered that song and Tom himself joined Bruce on stage back in 2012 for that same song (and a few more as well). In the course of the set we got, among other things instrumental parts of several Rage Against The Machine songs culminating with "Killing In The Name" where we, the audience, had to provide the vocals. We duly obliged. It all ended with another cover: John Lennon's "Power To The People".

 

 

Afterwards it was of course time for The Smashing Pumpkins. By looking around at the audience it was clear that everyone was feeling the heat by that time. Their set relied heavily on "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness" but there were several songs from their other 90's albums that we love so much and were, after all, what the audience had come to listen to. They even covered a U2 song: "Zoo Station". There was only one problem: The sound was awful. I thought at the time that this was a problem only for us who were at the front of the stage but it was also mentioned by other fans on social media posts and on internet reviews of the gig.

It all went well in the end. They played quite a long set and I went home satisfied now that my dream had come true: After the Manic Street Preachers, I had now also seen the Smashing Pumpkins live.

SETLISTS:
TOM MORELLO
01. Soldier In The Army Of Love
02. Vigilante Nocturno
03. Testify / Take The Power Back / Freedom
04. Gossip
05. Let’s Get The Party Started
06. Hold The Line
07. Kick Out The Jams
08. Bombtrack / Know Your Enemy / Bulls On Parade / Guerilla Radio / Sleep Now        In the Fire / Bullet In The Head / Cochise
09. Like A Stone
10. The Ghost Of Tom Joad
11. Killing in the Name
12. Power To The People

SMASHING PUMPKINS
01. The Everlasting Gaze
02. Doomsday Clock
03. Zoo Station
04. Today
05. Thru The Eyes Of Ruby
06. Spellbinding
07. Tonight, Tonight
08. That Which Animates The Spirit
09. Ava Adore
10. Disarm
11. Springtimes
12. Mayonaise
13. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
14. Empires
15. Beguiled
16. 1979
17. Rhinoceros
18. Jellybelly
19. Gossamer
20. Cherub Rock
21. Zero

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