The sour side of making it here too often
Looking at the trend of visiting acts for shows here in recent years, some artists do enjoy particular popularity in Greece and they seem to be milking it for all it’s worth. Repeated visits, however, can be detrimental to a band’s image, especially when it has nothing new to present. One act that ranks among the livelier members of the let’s-go-Greece club, is the Manchester pop-rock band Puressence. The British act, whose fanbase could be described as far less considerable in other European regions, is now midway through a six-date tour of Greece. It does not include a show in Athens but an announcement is soon expected. On this latest visit, the Manchester band has already performed in Thessaloniki as well as the provincial cities of Kozani, Agrinio and Kavala. Puressence is set to play in Larissa in central Greece on December 2 and in Patra in western Greece the following day. Annual visitors over the past decade or so, either as the headline act or support group for bigger acts, Puressence last visited in May to open for electro-pop giants Depeche Mode. The evening was marred by the last-minute postponement of Depeche Mode’s show as a result of singer Dave Gahan’s severe bout of gastroenteritis. In the meantime, Puressence has played merely two British pub dates. Also on the list of regulars here is the German hard-rock band Scorpions, nowadays a caricature of its better past, if there ever was one. Scorpions, who visit annually, manage to pack excited fans into entire stadiums. Others include Archive, Placebo, Massive Attack and Moby, the difference with these being that they usually have something new and interesting to present. Judging by its repeated visits of late, the gypsy-punk collective Gogol Bordello seems set to become the latest member of the let’s-go-Greece club. The New York-based act with the lively stage show will return for a gig in Athens on December 17 in its third visit in less than three years.
