Release Festival 2018 - Autumn Edition - The Chemical Brothers

The day after my return from my summer holiday in Santorini, I went to see The Chemical Brothers in Athens. One could say that this was the first concert of Autumn 2018, although the 8th of September officially belongs to the summer. This was going to be the second electronic gig with graphics of 2018 for me (The first was Kraftwerk back in March) and the second dance gig ever in that particular area since Tiesto's appearance in the summer of 2009 (which was of course outdoors as opposed to The Chemicals indoors one).

Anyway, this was billed as a festival (the "Autumn Edition" of Release Festival which took place back in May and June and of which I had attended Day 1 and Day 2) and it did indeed look like a festival with all the kiosks but few people paid attention to the DJ sets before The Chemical Brothers appearance. 

As I arrived and went inside a James Holroyd DJ set was in progress but I took that time to wander and to look around the venue and also to find the perfect spot from where I would watch the main event. It was not surprising that there were quite a few people in their forties among the crowd since those must have been the ones that were listening to The Chemical Brothers in the 90's.

When I did find that spot, next to the bar, I stood my ground and at promptly 11pm The Chemical Brothers came on stage. It felt like a huge party and that's the way a dance gig should be. On top of that, the graphics added to that experience, usually different images for different tracks. And the tracks themselves where all those that we expected including some new ones. 

The highlights, for me, were New Order's "Temptation" mixed with "Star Guitar", "Hey Boy Hey Girl" and "Galvanize". The only notable absence was "Setting Sun" their breakthrough #1 hit with Noel Gallagher.

They even came back for an encore! The whole thing lasted for about two hours (OK, it could not be compared with Tiesto who stayed until 3am 9 years before), but it was great. A Saturday night out clubbing. Dance music is suited to late summer nights.

SETLIST:

01. Go

02. Do It Again / Get Yourself High

03. Free Yourself

04. Mad as Hell

05. Believe

06. EML Ritual

07. Chemical Beats

08. Swoon

09. Temptation / Star Guitar

10. Got to Keep On

11. Hey Boy Hey Girl

12. Saturate

13. Elektrobank

14. Piku Playground / Music:Response

15. Escape Velocity / The Golden Path

16. Electronic Battle Weapon 7 / Eve of Destruction / Under the Influence / The Test / It Doesn't Matter

17. Snow / Surface to Air

18. Galvanize

19. C-H-E-M-I-C-A-L / Leave Home / Song to the Siren

20. Block Rockin' Beats

Encore:

21. Got Glint?

22. Hold Tight London

23. Wide Open

24. The Private Psychedelic Reel

Paul Weller @ The O2 Arena in March 2009

Before I was a Bruce Springsteen fan I was also a Queen fan. And before I was a Queen fan I was also a Jam fan and later I became a Style Council fan. It all started with a record given with Pop + Rock magazine 40 years ago, in 1979. Well, not exactly given, but you could buy it from certain shops at half price using a voucher from the magazine. I decided to find out more about the bands featured on that record. Track 3 on side 1 was "David Watts" by The Jam. So I went out and bought the "Going Underground" 7 inch. That's it! I was hooked!

My first attempt to see Paul Weller live was in 2001 when I was in London during his Days Of Speed tour. Unfortunately, the gig was already sold out. My second attempt was for this gig at the O2 Arena 10 years ago, but this was also showing as sold out on Ticketmaster and other sites. So when I was at the O2 Arena in November of the previous year to see Queen + Paul Rodgers I decided to try my luck at the venue box office. And yes, they had a ticket. And the seat was a very good one, close to the stage. So I bought it and I immediately started planning my next London trip in my mind. However, just a few days before the London concert it was announced that Paul Weller would be playing live in Greece! Shock horror! Would my trip to London turn out to be useless? As we will see later, it wouldn't!

When the time came and went to London, what do you know? I almost missed that gig! Apparently the Underground was not operating all the way to North Greenwich station and I was left stranded with several other people at a bus stop in West Ham waiting for a bus! 

It finally came and I made it on time, but only just. I missed Corral, the support act, but I would make up for that 7 years later when they played support for The Stone Roses in Manchester. I only had time to get a beer from the bar and find my seat before the show started.

What we noticed while waiting for Paul to appear was a 10-piece female string section. They weren't accompanying him on every gig of that tour, so that was a bonus. But they would appear on the live CD/DVD from that tour he later released titled "Just A Dream - 22 Dreams Live". So that DVD will always remind me of the gig at the O2 Arena. 

Anyway, when Paul came on stage, he launched straight into "Peacock Suit". He then proceeded with a setlist that had a bit of everything: Jam songs ("Eton Rifles", "The Butterfly Collector", "Town Called Malice"), Style Council songs ("Shout To The Top"), songs from his solo career, and, though I did not realize it at the time, new songs from his next album, the yet-to-be-released at that time "Wake Up The Nation". There was even an acoustic session with him and two other guitarists sitting on stools. All in all, he seemed like a man enjoying himself and was chatting with the audience. (There was even a football comment, something about Chelsea I think, but I didn't quite catch all of it.)

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Looking back on it, it was indeed a unique experience. And it wasn't a waste of time or money. When Paul came to Greece later in the year, he didn't have the string section and he didn't play any of the new songs.

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--> With the sounds of "Town Called Malice" the last song, still echoing in my head, I left the O2 Arena.

But seeing as there was no tube and I would have to take the night bus, I decided to stay there for a little while. Especially as, from the nearby O2 Bar And Grill I heard some more Weller sounds coming my way. A band called RoShambo was playing there and they included some Paul Weller covers. They saw me filming "Out Of The Sinking" and gave me a free CD! They were suprpised to see the video later on YouTube and commented on it.

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Finally, it was time to leave, and I took the night bus to Leicester Square experiencing London by night once again after all these years. 

From Leicester Square, I grabbed a taxi to my hotel in Victoria at the cost of 13 GBP ("a snip!" as Smash Hits would have said back in the 80's)

SETLIST:
01. Peacock Suit
02. Out Of The Sinking
03. 22 Dreams
04. The Changingman
05. Wake Up The Nation
06. All I Wanna Do (Is Be With You)
07. From The Floorboards Up
08. Sea Spray
09. Shout To The Top
10. The Eton Rifles
11. Porcelain Gods
12. Invisible
13. One Bright Star
14. Empty Ring
15. You Do Something To Me
16. 7 And 3
17. Have You Made Up Your Mind
18. Push It Along
19. 111
20. All On A Misty Morning
21. Magic Bus
22. The Butterfly Collector
23. Brand New Start
24. Wild Wood
25. Echoes Round The Sun
26. Broken Stones
27. Whirlpool's End
28. Town Called Malice

Monika, live in Athens, 10 years ago

2009 was a very busy year for me in terms of concerts. I don't know if it was the year in which I have attended the most, but it was certainly the one with the most trips abroad (to attend concerts of course). All these were listed on my second ever blog post (which is in Greek, but will soon receive a re-write in English since a lot of the photos and links have disappeared). It all started in January of that year with Monika.

Monika was one of the first Greek artists to become well-known through the internet. Mostly through MySpace which was the most popular social medium at the time. At a time when most Greek artists who wanted to become well-known had to sing in Greek and most specifically the genre that is known as "laikopop", it was surprising that she managed to break through singing in English and playing alternative rock. When she announced that concert at Gagarin, in January, it sold out quickly and there was almost no place to stand while we were in there. And boy, did we have to stand for hours, as she came on stage quite late, while classical music was being played by the speakers. But it was all worth it.

At that time, she had only released one album, 2008's "Avatar". She played most of it that night, plus a couple of new songs, a few covers (the best of which was "Be My Baby" and the most unexpected was The Wings "Let Me Roll It" plus she sung another one in Greek for good measure) and she even repeated a couple of songs at the end.

Even back then she had already received a lot of bad press from traditional media. These were concerned with some unfortunate comments she had made in her interviews, the fact that she didn't go through what were back then the usual channels to achieve fame, but mostly they had to do with the fact that she was lucky enough to be able to fund her musical career while other struggling artists may not have had it so easy because of lack of money. The important thing though, is this: She obviously had (and still has I believe) talent, so why should it have gone to waste? Even if it was much easier for her... And besides, an artist who managed to make the Greek mainstream audience to listen to international music must have done something right.

Anyway, all of us had a great time that night, she was a bit nervous at first (she stumbled on one of the cables and almost fell), she thanked us for coming and making this, her first big live concert sold out, while many people were left out while unsuccessfully trying to find a ticket until the very last moment. When asked by a member of the audience why she hadn't arranged a second gig on the following day she answered that "It's not that simple"

Monika went on to release two more albums, the second one in 2010 just as successful as the first, the third in 2014 not so much. By then albums were not selling that much and that was the last album she has released so far. But recently she made a comeback with a digital single, this time singing in Greek, without changing her musical style though...

Rockwave Festival 2018 - Day 3 - Iron Maiden

Day 3 of Rockwave Festival 2018 came on the next day after Day 2 (and 14 days after Day 1 by the way). The problem was that it was also two days after my return from Rome where I had seen Little Steven And The Disciples Of Soul and Roger Waters. Would I be able to get through another festival, once again at Terra Vibe? It seemed that I could. 

This time I wasn't planning on seeing any of the other bands so I left for Terra Vibe at a reasonable hour (not too late though since a lot more people were expected to see Iron Maiden than Judas Priest. (Indeed by the end of the night it was filled to capacity.) I arrived there on time and I went to my usual spot (the same one as the day before, which I know that it has good visibility since it has been used as a VIP area on other concerts) and lied down to relax with a beer.

When I was in my teen years, Iron Maiden, were, for me the third part of the Heavy Metal Trinity (the other two were AC/DC and Motorhead). I guess it's a matter of personal taste. I remember that back in 1983 I had bought "Flick Of The Switch", "Another Perfect Day" and "Piece Of Mind" on the same day. I had seen AC/DC twice, in 1988 in Lausanne and in 2009 in Athens. Iron Maiden I had also seen in Athens, again in 1988 in what is now considered a legendary concert. It was only Motorhead that I hadn't managed to see until 2014 in Milano, a bit more than a year before Lemmy left us. But I really wanted to see Maiden again, almost 30 years after my first time. In fact it was going to be 29 years, 10 months and 1 week, my biggest gap between seeing two concerts from the same band).

Back to the present and Terra Vibe, while comfortably relaxing at my spot, I also managed to see two other bands. Tremonti were first.

Then it was time for Volbeat, who I must admit that I liked quite a lot in fact. By that time I had already met again some of my friends that were with me on the previous day and quite a few more.

Then, a couple of hours (and almost 30 years later), Iron Maiden were on stage! Much more material to draw from plus a great stage show, with Eddie making several appearances.

I have to state that although Iron Maiden have a long history, their ideal singer, in my opinion is (and always was) Bruce Dickinson. Respect to Paul Di' Anno, they produced quite a few great tracks in his time but the best ones were from the Dickinson era. Not much to remember from Blaze Bailey. As far as a connection with the previous concert goes, it was great to hear "The Evil That Men Do" once again. Back then it was one of the new songs, now it was one of the golden oldies from one of their greatest albums "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son". And from the songs that were not yet written in 1988, the best one has to be "Fear Of The Dark" a track that always sounds better live. In fact, I remember buying the live version on CD single back in the 90's.

The night came to an end with Bruce Dickinson singing, acapella, a verse from "Alexander The Great", a song the crowd wanted to hear, but the band had not planned it in their setlist. And so, with Monty Python's "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" playing over the speakers the last of my summer concerts came to an end. 

Thankfully, it looks like that was the end of Terra Vibe. The company that organizes Rockwave Festival has decided "to rest" and the new company that was formed by several of its former members has announced its first concert in the center of Athens. If this is indeed true, this is great news for Athens concert goers, since there has never been a more inconvenient place for concerts than Terra Vibe which is also a huge safety hazard. We will hopefully now spend our summers enjoying concerts instead of wasting time going to and coming back from Terra Vibe.
I now had 10 more days in July and the whole of August to rest. My next gig would be in September!

SETLISTS

Tremonti

01. Another Heart

02. You Waste Your Time

03. My Last Mistake

04. So You're Afraid

05. Catching Fire

06. Flying Monkeys

07. Radical Change

08. The Things I've Seen

09. Throw Them To The Lions

10. A Dying Machine

11. Cauterize

12. Wish You Well

Volbeat

01. The Devil's Bleeding Crown

02. Heaven Nor Hell / A Warrior's Call / I Only Want To Be With You

03. Lola Montez

04. The Lonesome Rider

05. Sad Man's Tongue

06. Slaytan

07. Dead But Rising

08. For Evigt

09. 16 Dollars

10. Seal The Deal

11. Let It Burn

12. Black Rose

13. Fallen

14. Doc Holliday

15. Still Counting

Iron Maiden

01. Aces High

02. Where Eagles Dare

03. 2 Minutes To Midnight

04. The Clansman

05. The Trooper

06. Revelations

07. For The Greater Good Of God

08. The Wicker Man

09. Sign Of The Cross

10. Flight Of Icarus

11. Fear Of The Dark

12. The Number Of The Beast

13. Iron Maiden

Encore:

14. The Evil That Men Do

15. Hallowed Be Thy Name

16. Run To The Hills

Rockwave Festival 2018 - Day 2 - Judas Priest, Saxon, Accept, Foray Between Ocean

Two days after attending the Little Steven And The Disciples Of Soul gig in Rome and one day after my return flight from Rome to Athens I was on my way to Terra Vibe for the second day of Rockwave Festival. What I was really interested in was the festival's 3rd day because I wanted to see Iron Maiden. The band I initially wanted to see on the second day was Foray Between Ocean, a Greek band, because their bass player (who used to be a member of Sorrowful Angels) was a Facebook friend of mine. The headliners on this day were Judas Priest and the last time they played in Athens was on the only date of the 2015 Rockwave Festival that I didn't go to. And the other bands were practically a who's who of 1980's heavy metal. Saxon and Accept. From the third day of the line up, I only wanted to see Iron Maiden. Taking into account the fact that tickets for both these dates were sold at a lower price, I finally made up my mind: I would go to both!
So I took an early bus to Terra Vibe on the 19th of July in order to catch the full Foray Between Ocean set. I secured a place at the very front of the stage under a scorching sun which turned out not to be a problem since they only played for about 30 minutes. And although I'm not a fan of this type of heavy metal, I enjoyed them so much that I even bought their album, copies of which the band threw at the audience at the end of the gig!

Next, I made my way to the other stage and to an area of Terra Vibe that I had already earmarked (and on other concerts is normally used for VIP ticket holders) where I could sit down between bands. And although I had arranged to go to Terra Vibe alone, it was there that I met several friends and colleagues (and even a fellow Springsteen fan from Cyprus) who had all chosen the same spot.
The first band I watched from that spot were Accept. And what caught my attention was one of their new songs "Koolaid", proof that they can write great stuff more than 30 years later.

Next up were Saxon. Now this is where I wondered how time flies. I remembered them as one of the bands of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal when they were in their twenties. It was great to see them after all these years and people really enjoyed their cover of "Ride Like The Wind".

The next band to play were Sabaton on the other stage. I must admit I didn't know them, but my friends went up there to see them while I stayed behind on my spot watching them using the powerful zoom of my camera. Although the most impressive thing about them seemed to be their stage effects (all these fires), I quite liked some of their songs as well.

Finally it was time for Judas Priest. I get dizzy whenever I try to calculate how old Rob Halford must be (who, by the way, I had met at Tower Records in Sunset Boulevard when I was in LA in 2000), but he's still got it! And he managed to bring back memories of the 80's in great style!

What most of us were waiting for however, came towards the end: "Breaking The Law". I could even imagine Beavis in the audience headbanging along to it.

Considering I had just come back from a five day trip to Rome I reserved my strength for day 3: Iron Maiden...

SETLISTS

Foray Between Ocean
01. Lost Sky
02. Smiling Faces Of Vanity
03. Depression Never Ends
04. My Orient
05. Piece Of Life

Accept

01. Die By The Sword
02. Restless And Wild
03. Pandemic
04. Koolaid
05. Princess Of The Dawn
06. Up To The Limit
07. Analog Man
08. Metal Heart
09. Teutonic Terror
10. Fast As A Shark
11. Balls To The Wall
12. I'm A Rebel
13. Burning

Saxon
01. Thunderbolt
02. Sacrifice
03. Motorcycle Man
04. Strong Arm Of The Law
05. Battering Ram
06. Power And The Glory
07. The Secret Of Flight
08. Ride Like The Wind
09. They Played Rock And Roll
10. Crusader
11. Princess Of The Night
12. Heavy Metal Thunder
13. Wheels Of Steel
14. Denim And Leather

Sabaton

01. Ghost Division
02. Winged Hussars
03. Blood Of Bannockburn
04. Swedish Pagans
05. Carolus Rex
06. The Last Stand
07. Into The Fire
08. Sparta
09. Resist And Bite
10. Night Witches
11. Primo Victoria
12. Coat Of Arms
13. Shiroyama
14. To Hell And Back

Judas Priest

01. Firepower
02. Grinder
03. Sinner
04. The Ripper
05. Lightning Strike
06. Bloodstone
07. Saints In Hell
08. Turbo Lover
09. Tyrant
10. Night Comes Down
11. Freewheel Burning
12. Rising From Ruins
13. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
14. Hell Bent For Leather
15. Painkiller
Encore:
16. Metal Gods
17. Breaking The Law
18. Living After Midnight

10 years later - In defence of Working On A Dream

The last 4 Bruce Springsteen albums have followed a similar pattern: One great (Magic, Wrecking Ball), followed by one not so great (Working On A Dream, High Hopes). That was the case with Working On A Dream. And this was proved from the beginning of the subsequent tour of the same name when most songs from the album were dropped from the setlist leaving only two: Outlaw Pete and the title track. I was lucky enough to experience a live performance of a third though, when "Surprise Surprise" was requested in Rome and Bruce dutifully obliged.

OK, so, it's not a great album. Why did it seem so important back then? Well, for one thing, it was a happy album, much happier than Magic. Barack Obama had just been sworn in as president of the USA and hope was everywhere.

And what about the songs themselves? It had leaked on the internet a few days before its release and I remember when other fans from various countries were looking for it and the response was "The Greeks have it". I don't know how the Greek fans got it first, the thing is that all of us went out and bought a legal copy once it was officially released. But it was this situation that enabled me to listen to it before it was released, on my MP3 player one morning on my way to work. I had not, by the way received it all at once. I got it mostly track by track, as some songs were gradually becoming available on Amazon, such as the title track, "My Lucky Day" and the extended version of "The Wrestler". I managed to listen to all of it except for "The Last Carnival" which came on when I arrived at work so I listened to it on my trip home. From my work computer, I logged in to the Greek Springsteen Community forum and wrote my review. And I liked most of the songs, many more than just "Outlaw Pete" and "Working On A Dream". My favourite was "Tomorrow Never Knows" (it still is, and, in fact, I know somebody who became a fan when she heard that particular song). Another favourite at the time was, embarassingly enough "Queen Of The Supermarket" only because I fancied a checkout girl when I was a student in London, but I soon grew out of it.

OK, so I still haven't answered my original question: Why did it feel so special back then? The answer is simple: We knew there was a tour coming, so soon after the Magic tour. And as far as I was concerned, although I had seen Bruce Springsteen live the year before, this was the first time I was going to see him from up close, from "the pit" as they say. And I would not be alone this time either. After the Magic Tour I had met other Greek fans on No Surrender, the forum of the Greek Springsteen community {which by the way doesn't exist anymore as, along with everything else, has now moved to Facebook). This time I would be in the company of other people. There would, in fact, be several of us at each concert. Most of us can be seen on the Hyde Park DVD and there were also more than 50 of us at the Rome concert on the 19th of July. And let's not forget that we did not experience any of the usual "ticket stress" for that one, since we deposited the money to an account of a good friend and she brought us the tickets in person all the way from Italy.

I Listened to the alnum again, this time on vinyl on the 10th anniversary of its release, And I dug out the original tour programme. The tour programmes of both the Magic and the Working On A Dream tours were basically the CD booklets (wih song lyrics and other information) enlarged. So the Working On A Dream tour program would qualify as a vinyl booklet. (The lyrics are printed on the vinyl inner sleeves anyway). The verdict: I still believe that it is a good album. You don't believe? Well, at least for the title track watch the Hyde Park DVD once again. Look at all those people waving their arms. Now tell me again that Working On A Dream is not a good song. I dare you.

10 years... "Where the time goes, tomorrow never knows..." 

Queen + Paul Rodgers in London 2008

You have probably noticed by now that a large percentage of my concert posts are about Bruce Springsteen. Yes, Bruce Springsteen is my favourite solo artist. However, my favourite band, and this was long before I discovered Bruce Springsteen, was Queen. Unfortunately, by the time I moved to the UK in 1988 they were no longer touring. And three years after that, we lost Freddie. Not only that, but on that day, the Greeks suddenly discovered Queen. Yes, the same people who were teasing me and bullying me for listening to "that faggot" were now talking about "a sad day for music" and "a great loss". Go figure. So, I never got the chance to see them live although I got lots of video tapes and DVD's. And as a hardcore fan, Queen were not just about Freddie Mercury to me and I kept following the solo careers of Brian May and Roger Taylor over the years. So when I learned that they had teamed up with Paul Rodgers (of Bad Company and Free) as a lead singer for a new album and a tour and was also offered a pre-sale link for their November 2008 London concert I jumped at the chance. OK, so I could not see Freddie live, but why not see Brian and Roger live? The truth is, I had seen both of them in person in 2001 at the traffic lights at the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street opposite the Dominion Theatre where the "We Will Rock You" musical was playing. But this was a chance to see them perform. And not just perform, but perform Queen songs. And what's more Paul Rodgers was a respectable stand-in for Freddie, since he was not just a singer, but a rock singer, from a similar era.
And so, 10 years ago, in November 2008, I flew to London for this great gig. It was also the first time I was visiting the O2 Arena, which I had known as The Millennium Dome 8 years before that.
And yes, I saw what I wanted to see: Queen songs, but also Free and Bad Company songs since Paul was the lead singer. And I even saw a bit of Freddie. He appeared on the video screens not only on "Bohemian Rhapsody" (you can't have "Bohemian Rhapsody" without Freddie) but also on "Bijou". Because the band performed songs that Queen had never performed live, songs from "The Miracle" and "Innuendo" albums, like "I Want It All" and "The Show Must Go On". And there were also songs from the "The Cosmos Rocks" album which they had released with Paul Rodgers at the time. Apart from Paul singing his Free and Bad Company songs, Roger got his moment taking centre stage for a drum solo and "I'm In Love With My Car" (on which he sang the lead vocals on the "A Night At The Opera" album anyway) and Brian also had his own place in the spotlight with a guitar solo and his solo hit "Last Horizon". Somewhere at that point, Brian told the audience that in whichever city they were playing, they would play a local song. So what could they play at the O2 Arena then? A cover of "Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner" to which the audience sang along.

And like the original Queen gigs it all ended with "We Will Rock You", "We Are The Champions" and "God Save The Queen".
All in all it was great entertainment for a Friday night, but before going home early on Sunday morning I also had the chance to see the Monty Python musical "Spamalot" on Saturday night. An amazing London weekend!

SETLIST:
01. Hammer To Fall
02. Tie Your Mother Down
03. Fat Bottomed Girls
04. Another One Bites The Dust
05. I Want It All
06. I Want To Break Free
07. C-lebrity
08. Surf's Up... School's Out!
09. Seagull
10. Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner
11. Love Of My Life
12. '39
13. Drum Solo
14. I'm In Love With My Car
15. A Kind Of Magic
16. Say It's Not True
17. Voodoo
18. Bad Company
19. We Believe
20. Guitar Solo
21. Bijou
22. Last Horizon
23. Radio Ga Ga
24. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
25. The Show Must Go On
26. Bohemian Rhapsody
Encore:
27. Cosmos Rockin'
28. All Right Now
29. We Will Rock You
30. We Are The Champions
God Save The Queen