A concert that never took place - Depeche Mode @ Terra Vibe in 2009

My first visit to Terra Vibe was in 2006 to see Depeche Mode live for the second time (the first was at the Rock In Athens festival in 1985). My problem then was that I couldn't see anything. I only heard the band. So, when Depeche Mode announced they would be coming back in 2009 at the same place, I decided to organize everything perfectly so that I would make up for the last (lost) time. I remembered from 2006 that the areas to the side of the stage were higher up, so I would be able to see the stage from there. Those were the areas that were designated as VIP. So, without hesitation, I bought the more expensive ticket for one of these areas, I arranged the bus tickets in time having learnt my lesson from the Leonard Cohen concert the previous year and I was ready to go.

Everything was going according to plan. After work I went to the Athens train station from where the buses would depart, I got in one and arrived at Terra Vibe. 

While I was getting in, Puressence were playing support, another band that I had never seen live until then who were coming to Greece very often but unfortunately I missed them as I was busy getting in and trying to find my place. (I would see them the following year just before they split up).

Anyway, I was there. I even met some friends. And then we were waiting. And waiting. And waiting. But it still didn't occur to me that something might have gone wrong. Meanwhile people kept on coming. Soon, Terra Vibe was as full as it had been back in 2006, only this time, I was in an area where I was comfortable. And then the announcement was made through the speakers. Dave Gahan was ill (we didn't know what it was at that time) and he had been taken to the hospital. 

If you remember, it turned out to be pretty serious and a substantial part of the Tour Of The Universe had to be canceled or rescheduled. And although other dates were rescheduled the Greek promoters didn't try to bring them back in Greece at a later date. Just like they had done in 2006 with The Rolling Stones. Anyway, I got on the bus back home, the next day the gig was officially canceled (they told us it might take place the following day) and our tickets were refunded. The problem was that according to some people, Dave had already been taken to the hospital while tickets were still being sold at the gate with more people coming in. Lots of people were disappointed. Many of them had come from other European countries (among them one British friend who noted that Terra Vibe was a safety hazard). At least for me, it turned out well. When Depeche Mode announced two extra dates for Barcelona in November I immediately bought a ticket for one of them and ended up being present at one of the two nights where the official DVD was being fimed! But more about that later...
Oh and when Depeche Mode came back to Terra Vibe in 2013 for the Delta Machine tour, I bought a ticket at exactly the same VIP section and finally managed to actually see and not just hear them at Terra Vibe

Uriah Heep live in Athens

Uriah Heep is another band that I wanted to see live for years. The reason for this was that about 10 years ago they had come to Athens for an acoustic gig, but it was not the kind of gig for which one could buy a ticket. It was organized by a tobacco company and you had to take a part in a survey conducted by that same company in order to get a free invitation and only if after the survey they decided to give you that invitation. Well this time they were coming for a proper, full-electric gig and I was alerted to it by a co-worker. The only problem was that I was not sure if I could make it. I would finish work at 9:30 and Uriah Heep would come on stage at 10:00. Well, for once I decided it was worth the extra expense and I arranged for a taxi to wait for me outside work and take me straight to the venue.
I just made it on time just five minutes before Uriah Heep came up on stage and managed to find my friends in the process. Not only that but it was sold out but that time and we could barely fit into the main hall. I ended up watching a large part of the gig from the lobby, since the doors were open and the sound - and visibility - was just as good as inside.

As an added bonus, when looking to our left, towards the stairs, we could glimpse posters adverising what was to come during the summer!

The band played several tracks fron their latest album. Although with a band that has such a history as Uriah Heep, albums as these, so late in their careers, tend to be dismissed as below par (also taking into account the fact that, if I'm not mistaken, there is only one original member left), the songs they played for us on the night actually sounded quite good. I haven't listened to the full album yet, but my judgement is based on the songs I heard that night, especially the title track ("Living The Dream"). Apart from these, all the other classics were there including "Lady In Black" and "Easy Livin' which ended the main set and the encore respectively.

All in all, it was a long overdue enjoyable night despite all the trouble I had to go through to get there...

SETLIST:
01. Grazed By Heaven
02. Return To Fantasy
03. Living The Dream
04. Too Scared To Run
05. Take Away My Soul
06. Knocking At My Door
07. Rainbow Demon
08. Waters Flowin'
09. Rocks In The Road
10. Gypsy
11. Look At Yourself
12. July Morning
13. Lady In Black
Encore:
14. Sunrise
15. Easy Livin'

Still Corners live in Athens

More than one month after my trip to Milano to see Blossoms, my next gig was another one of the "girlfriend bands" (ie bands I have discovered through my girlfriend). In fact, it was with her that I had gone to see them for the first time, five years before this one. Unfortunately, this time she couldn't attend while I just barely made it on time after work. What was surprising was that the venue was full and the gig was sold out. 

It's quite nice to see synth-based bands selling out gigs in Greece. Having said that, I managed to secure a space on the stairs from where I could see all the action.

Still Corners may rely mainly on synths but at the same time they manage to have a deep, American, almost southern sound. I don't know if "southern" is the correct word for it. Probably not. Maybe "Wesren". ("Californian" perhaps?) I could compare it with what Bruce Springsteen's latest album, "Western Stars" sounds like (which is a solo album, ie without the E Street Band and sounds totally different from his other albums)

This time, I didn't worry about the setlist, I just wanted to have a night out after work with soothing and relaxing music.

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I did make a new discovery, there was a song that stood out for me ("Horses At Night") and it turned out that it was not featured on any of their albums. I bought it a few days later from their Bandcamp page as a digital download. 

On my first gig back in 2013 I had bought their first two albums (one of which was "Strange Pleasures" on coloured vinyl signed by Tessa!). This time I was looking forward to buying their third and fourth (the latest). Unfortunately, it was only the latter ("Slow Air") that was for sale at the merchandise stand, but I did manage to track down their third on Amazon the following day.

Nothing else to say except that it was an enjoyable night out on a weeknight and that Tessa was wonderful and lovely as usual...

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Oh! And they also took a selfie with all of us towards the end of the gig...

SETLIST:
01. Black Lagoon
02. Fireflies
03. Lost Boys
04. Dreamlands
05. The Calvary Cross
06. Don’t Fall In Love
07. Cuckoo
08. Beginning To Blue
09. The Message
10. The Photograph
11. Endless Summer
12. Berlin Lovers
13. Horses At Night
14. The Trip
Encore:
15. Wish
16. Still Life

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Blossoms live in Milano

Still Corners, Future Islands, Leon Of Athens. These are all artists I have discovered from my girlfriend. One advantage of having a younger girlfriend is that you learn about younger bands and artists. And if you also take into account the bands she is a huge fan of and to whom I was already listening to like Belle And Sebastian and Manic Street Preachers (not forgetting the Pet Shop Boys who brought us together), there are quite a few bands that we both like to listen to and see live.

The latest addition to the first list are Blossoms. They are virtually unknown in Greece and she learned about them from friends on a trip to the UK where they're hugely successful and most of their gigs are sold out. I like them because they're new, they're fresh, they're young, they're successful, they play both guitars and synths and they like The Stone Roses and Oasis.

It would be difficult - and probably too crowded - to see them in the UK where, as I have mentioned before, their tours sell out very quickly. So Milano was a much better - and cheaper - choice. And the gig would probably be intimate as it was taking place in a small club. I did not know if I could make it and I only found out about my work schedule just a week before the concert

On the day of the gig I was working but only until midday. I left work and went straight to the airport to catch my plane to Milano. When I landed I took the bus to the Milano Central Station which conveniently terminates just outside my hotel which is also in turn close to the club itself. So I checked into my room and then went straight to the gig.

Tunnel Club is exactly what it says on the tin. A club in a small tunnel underneath the railway lines. If Blossoms become as popular in Italy as they are in the UK we won't be able to see them in venues like these anymore. We were able to find seats in the very small seating area of the club next to the merchandise stand, run by a very cheerful guide who promised us that Blossoms were thinking of playing in Greece (in my opinion though this is highly unlikely). 

And it was from this stand that I bought a double vinyl deluxe edition of the band's latest album "Cool Like You" (Vinyl number 2 features acoustic versions of every song on the album). 

And when Blossoms came up on stage they launched into the opening track from that album "There's A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)".

One of the best moments however was "My Favourite Room" at the end of which they played snippets of "Last Christmas" by Wham! and "Half The World Away" by Oasis. 

They do like Oasis, on a live DVD that was featured on a different deluxe version of "Cool Like You" they play "Whatever". I was thinking back then that I would love to see them cover The Stone Roses as well and that wish came true when on this year's Record Store Day they released yet another deluxe version of "Cool Like You", this time with a second vinyl featuring cover versions recorded at the BBC. One of them was "She Bangs The Drums".

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They came back for an encore and they finished their set with "Charlemagne", their biggest hit from their first, self-titled album. Some people complained that their set was too short, but that's to be expected since they have only released two albums. And they played almost all the songs from the latest one (10 out of 12 tracks). That's something that we will probably not be able to witness in the future. Oh and I have heard somewhere that The Smiths in the 80's used to play 35 minute sets, so we should be more than satisfied with the 65 minutes Blossoms gave to us.

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While we were leaving the club, people were waiting outside for the club's usual Friday night event. It was straight back to the hotel since this was a tiring day which, for me at least, featured work, a flight and a Blossoms gig all within 24 hours. But we had the next day (Saturday) free to explore Milano where we would see many U2 fans on the streets since U2 were in town for a series of concerts. And what I didn't know at that time was that my next gig would be from one of the bands on the girlfriend list: Still Corners.

SETLIST:
01. There's A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)
02. Unfaithful
03. How Long Will This Last?
04. Getaway
05. Giving Up the Ghost
06. I Just Imagined You
07. Stranger Still
08. Between the Eyes
09. Blow
10. Blown Rose
11. Honey Sweet
12. Cool Like You
13. My Favourite Room / Last Christmas / Half The World Away
14. Love Talk
Encore:
15. At Most A Kiss
16. I Can't Stand It
17. Charlemagne

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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