The tenth day of the festival had 5 bands to watch, Clutch, who are very popular in our country, the Hellacopters on their first visit to Greece, Blues Pills and the two local bands, Deaf Radio and ΛDΛM (Adam).

ΛDΛM had the very difficult task of starting the show in the blazing heat, which is definitely not the ideal situation for a rock concert and not only that. This is a very interesting band in the field of alternative/post-whatever, as you young people call it, but I knew there was no way I could catch them at 17:45. Entering the space I heard their last notes, which were blown away by the strong wind. I hope to get a chance to watch them properly in the near future.

Up next were Deaf Radio with poor attendance up to that moment, however that was something that did not deter them and they kicked-off super. They live in the moment and take advantage of the time they have on stage to win over the audience below. “Astypalaia”, “Animals” and “Backseats” the highlights in their half hour. Professional in everything, setup, appearance, communication with the audience, they prove that they are one of the most remarkable Greek bands of the younger generation.

I had never seen Blues Pills live before, but I knew what to expect from YouTube videos and the live DVD “Lady Gold – Live In Paris”, still none of that could beat the experience of seeing them live before your eyes. Starting of course with the ideal frontwoman Elin Larsson, who suddenly raised the temperature. Although the cool breeze was blowing the frontwoman of Blues Pills poured out like hot lava all the way up and down the stage with her characteristic red fringes on her sleeves – which I admit reminded me of Ozzy Osbourne – flying in the air. She even hesitate to do crowd surfing, how cool is that? At the same time her bandmates Zack Andersson on guitar and Kristoffer Schander on bass rarely left their place, thus leaving all the space free for Elin, whose white boots left no trace of the stage untrodden. Nothing was able to stop her, neither the hot sun, nor the heat, from offering the ultimate show to the audience that adored her.

It’s a fact that the addition of the Hellacopters to the line-up of this day of the festival was a precious gift for their fans, and not only them, since it gave everyone the possibility to finally enjoy them from up close in Greece. And the band seemed to appreciate this a lot, since kept thanking the audience for their presence and support throughout the set.

The truth is that by the time of Blues Pills, the space in front of the stage and up to the tower of sound engineers, cameramen, etc., had started to fill up – not suffocatingly and not across the entire width of the space, but certainly the image was much better than before. It was clear that many had descended on Water Square to enjoy the Swedes. They were the ones who sang all the songs, danced, while there was also crowd surfing, the rest watched and actively participated in the modern Gods of rock’n’roll.

The ‘copters, therefore, in their first appearance on Greek soil, unfolded a representative set of almost all their albums lasting about 90 minutes with undiminished energy and swagger from the first second to the last. The great new album “Eyes Of Oblivion” was represented by four songs: “Eyes Of Oblivion”, “So Sorry I Could Die”, “Try Me Tonight” and “Reap A Hurricane”, his first encore. From my favorite “High Visibility” we heard “Hopeless Case Of A Kid In Denial”, which opened the set, “Carry Me Home” and “Down On The Freestreet”. With the presence of Dregen in the band it was reasonable that the focus was on the first two albums “Supershitty To The Max!” and “Payin’ The Dues”, with several songs from them.

Nicke wearing his signature cap was unstoppable with tons of energy and tension, air kicks, furious solos and an air of authentic Swedish rock’n’roll swagger. Next to him, Dregen with his right leg in a huge splint – like a Gene Simmons boot – wasn’t as mobile, but he was expressive and it was clear on his face that he wanted to bang along with the crowd like there was no tomorrow, but he couldn’t. However, he threw two or three kicks in the air, while leaning on his injured leg! The one who had no problem however was bass player Dolf DeBorst, who also plays in the Chief’s Imperial State Electric, who raged, screamed, yelled and kicked in the air… at the back you had Boba Fett (who had his birthday), real name: Anders Lindstrom, who plays keyboards and guitar, and the cool drummer, Robban, aka Robert Eriksson, with the black glasses that he didn’t take off during the whole set. Let’s note here, that the two of them have been members of the Hellacopters since the first album and Robban is a co-founder. A typical highlight of ‘copterism was the jam on Montrose’s “I Got The Fire” at the finish on “Born Broke”.

After a triumphant performance, the show closed with the triplet of ‘Reap A Hurricane’, which the crowd welcomed with enthusiasm, ‘I’m In The Band’ and ‘(Gotta Get Some Action) Now!’ which created some chaos. Let’s hope they will return to Greece soon for another live. We need it!

Setlist: Hopeless Case of a Kid in Denial, Alright Already Now, Carry Me Home, Like No Other Man, Born Broke, Eyes of Oblivion, Ghoul School, Down on Freestreet, You Are Nothin’, So Sorry I Could Die, Toys and Flavors, Tab, The Devil Stole the Beat From the Lord, No Song Unheard, Soulseller, Try Me Tonight, By the Grace of God

Reap a Hurricane, I’m in the Band, (Gotta Get Some Action) Now!

At exactly 11 the headliners of the day, the very popular to the Greek rock crowd, Clutch, took to the stage with the air of… a demolition crew that came to work. Four ordinary, next door kind of guys as you’d call them, until you hand them the instruments and put them on stage. Then they transform into rock super heroes. Without too much fuss, without any exaggeration, scenery, effects, etc., they take their places and a storm begins.

It’s quite typical of the quartet, that only singer Neil Fallon moves around, gestures, plays with the audience and interacts. Tim Sult hunches over his guitar and unleashes thunder and lightning with a comfort and ease that is truly impressive. He doesn’t pay attention to the shouts and screams, or to the bottles that are launched like rockets in every direction, there he is a modest and humble servant of rock’n’roll. The same goes for bassist Dan Maines who literally builds mountains with his playing, while in perfect harmony with the other Giant, Jean-Paul Gaster on drums who is blasting his kit with. It is worth mentioning that of this quartet, 3 are the original Clutch that started from Maryland in the early ’90s, with their classmate Neil Fallon replacing the previous singer, Roger Smalls, just when they settled on their name.

Simplicity in appearance is also transferred to their sound, as you know very well. Guitar, bass, drums, voice – that’s it, nothing else. It’s very different to hear American rock’n’roll played by an American band. There’s a character and an authenticity to it that you won’t find anywhere else – I can’t explain it, but I feel it! They are tight, the groove is strong, the intensity levels hit deep red, the passion and their very good songs hit the Water Square like an earthquake. After all, the relationship of the Greek audience with the band is a love relationship that has been forged through the nine appearances of the Americans in our country before this one. Apart from the so-called “tourists” that are there in all live shows, but have nothing to do with the scene the majority of the audience knows the songs, hummed or screamed the lyrics, danced, swayed and gave it all at the end with “Electric Worry”.

Clutch played both their new songs “Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone)” and “We Strive For Excellence” from their upcoming 13th studio album, “Sunrise On Slaughter Beach,” due out September 16th. And they thanked us many times for our presence, and emphasized that they are having a good time with us and we look forward to seeing each other in person again.

Unfortunately, in the aftermath of this wonderful evening, we were informed about another barrage of wild fires in various areas of Attica, which is certainly not something that leaves anyone unaffected. We see the same thing happening every year, not only in Athens, but all over Greece. Let’s hope that we won’t have any more similar incidents for this summer at least and that we will again experience similar beautiful moments like those that the Release Athens Festival gave us on its 10th day.

Sea of Destruction, Immortal, The Mob Goes Wild, A Quick Death in Texas, In Walks Barbarella, X-Ray Visions, Firebirds!, We Strive for Excellence, Subtle Hustle, Cypress Grove, (Notes from the Trial Of) La Curandera, Passive Restraints, Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone), Crucial Velocity, Burning Beard, The Elephant Riders, Spacegrass

The Regulator, Rats, Electric Worry

Γιάννης Δόλας