It is not the best tο write about a part of a festival only, but sometimes it must be done so. Ejekt Rocks 2010 kicked off with the Greeks Zebra Tracks, an alternative rock band comprised by young musicians that actually made a relatively good impression on the 300 people who showed up early to the venue.
For the next one hour my experience was at least…“traumatic”. Some Obojeni Program from Serbia with too bad and too loud sound and with the most boring repertoire I’ve heard lately should make the promoters think what should the criteria for inviting a band to participate in their festivals be.
Bad Religion don’t need an introduction. It is a powerful band, strongly – tied and adorable to the Greek audience and did nothing more than confirming the above. An extra reason for a great performance was the fourteen years since their previous show in Athens, in July 1996, something that Greg Graffin mentioned a lot of times during the show. Bad Religion’s performance lasted eighty five most powerful minutes and they challenged Faith No More, who followed, to reply…
Set list: Set list: Do What You Want, Overture, Sinister Rouge, We're Only Gonna Die, Recipe For Hate, Flat Earth Society, Before You Die, A Walk, How Much Is Enough, No Control, Requiem For Dissent, Atomic Garden, Sanity, Part III, Suffer, No Direction, Los Angeles Is Burning, Germs Of Perfection, Man With A Mission, New Dark Ages, I Want To Conquer The World, Materialist, Fuck Armageddon This Is Hell, Along The Way, Infected, American Jesus, Generator, 21st Century Digital Boy, Sorrow.
…Ok, let them reply b
ut in what language? Faith No More have their own language, their own codes, but also their own world where they function musically.
In the beginning the band walked onto the stage wearing totally white suits - except Bordin of course – under the notes of “Midnight Cowboy” and the headbanging begun with “From Out Of Nowhere” that followed. The band was once more impressive! Most impressive of all was Mike Patton with his well known non-stop movement and his uncanny screams. The sound was still problematic but that didn’t stop more than 5.000 people to follow the Amecicans’ rhythms. From the set list, “Digging The Grave”, “Falling To Pieces” and “The Real Thing” (at least) were conspicuous by their absence. This is one of the reasons that I consider their show excellent but not like their sweeping performance at “Theatre Vrahon” last year.
The guys, didn’t hesitate to cover “Poker Face” by Lady Ga Ga, and the band’s idea to throw dozens of t-shirts to the fans just before “Pristina” with which they finished the show, was also unique.
Set list: Midnight Cowboy, From Out Of Nowhere, The Land Of Sunshine, Caffeine, Evidence, Surprise! You're Dead!, Poker Face, Chinese Arithmetic, Last Cup Of Sorrow, Cuckoo For Caca, Easy, Ashes To Ashes, Ben, Midlife Crisis, The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies, King For A Day, Epic, Just A Man, Charriots Of Fire / Stripsearch, As The Warm Turns, Pristina.
About Unkle’s performance, it’s a common phenomenon in some festivals in Germany and recently in England, that the headliner doesn’t necessarily close the festival’s program, which on weekdays is a little…barbaric! So, due to my early wake up call, and since Unkle has nothing to do with Rockpages’ material, I left the venue right after Faith No More.
One more thing the promoters should also consider is that rock doesn’t address to students and unemployed people only.
Dimitris Kazantzis