Old and new, they’re all coming through
There’s a bit of everything for various tastes in the Greek capital’s upcoming concert agenda. Recent and more weathered acts, some renowned and others obscure, have been booked for performances in Athens over the coming weeks and months. Confirmed acts include mainstream cult band the Violent Femmes, garage-rock veterans The Fuzztones, dub circuit producer Mad Professor, Tonino Carotone, Simple Minds, New York genre-defying rock act Oneida and Australian ’80s rock band Hard Candy. From Brooklyn, Oneida, who take their cue from ’60s garage and punk as well as other styles, including avant-garde jazz, kraut-rock, even synth-pop, will perform one show, their very first in Greece, at the recently launched Underworld club in central Athens (Themistocleous & 5 Gamveta) on February 18. The band, renowned in New York for raucous shows, frequently conducted in lofts and warehouses, released its debut album back in 1997, «A Place at El Shaddai’s.» Several more have followed, including 2003’s «Secret Wars,» considered one of Oneida’s best works to date, and last year’s «The Wedding.» It will be a double-header bill with hard-edged pop-rock band Hard Candy, hailing from Melbourne, Australia, opening proceedings. The act, which has an extensive track record on Australia’s indie-rock circuit of the ’80s and ’90s, has been less active in recent years. Core members Erika Bach and Demetri Vlass, nowadays based on the Greek island of Ithaca, were drawn out of seclusion for the show. On the same night, concertgoers can also consider seeing the American cult band Violent Femmes’s latest show in Athens, this time at Club 22 (22 Vouliagmenis). Remarkably, the trio has been able to carry on performing in various parts of the world for over two decades, mostly on the strength of a highly infectious self-titled debut album – one of rock’s hardest hitting all-acoustic efforts – released back in 1983. The album’s bug has spread from generation to generation to keep this band going. Most recently, Violent Femmes put out a career-spanning compilation titled «Permanent Record: The Very Best Of.» It was released last year. The Fuzztones, a frequent visitor in recent years, return for a night at the Gagarin club on February 25. Basque cult artist Tonino Carotone, who fuses punk energy with Spanish, French and Italian styles, is headed for a quick return to Greece after an appearance at a seaside fiesta last summer headlined by ska band The Skatalites. Carotone will be at the Gagarin Club on March 4. Still going, former new-wave heavyweights Simple Minds, who at the peak of their career in the late ’80s had performed at a sold-out Wembley Stadium in London, have been booked for an appearance at Club 22 on April 15. At the same venue and coming much sooner, on February 11, three local acts, Mikro, Cyanna, and Gad, will feature at an event dubbed the Greek Electro Festival. It is being staged for the third year in succession. A local electronica favorite in more recent times, Mikro, will headline. Cyanna had impressed at last summer’s Synch festival, a major event that drew numerous innovative acts, domestic and imported. The evening’s other act, Gad, will be making its first live appearance. And, finally, a quick reminder that the Rolling Stones are booked for a single summer date, June 29, at the Olympic Stadium in Athens as part of the supergroup’s European tour, dubbed A Bigger Bang. Another top act, Depeche Mode, have scheduled a show for August 1 at Terravibe, on the outskirts of Athens.
