I’m trying to put a label on the character of this festival…I won’t, I’m struggling but also, it doesn’t make sense. It only makes sense what took place in Technopolis last Thursday night. Unfortunately, and we apologize for that, we didn’t catch the performances of Soulstice and NukeLeus Trio that opened the festival, two local Jazz bands.
We entered the venue shortly before the appearance of Take Off Collective. I’ve never done a Jazz band review in the 20 years I’ve been involved in music media. I have no knowledge of this genre of music, I don’t follow it, and I’m certainly not in a position to judge world-class musicians of a genre of music I know very little about. I will only say that the musicians who make up the American group, belong to the elite of the genre. Take Off Collective presented not some tracks, but an impromptu jam that lasted around an hour and to my ears was a feast of sounds from some really great musicians.
The time of The Aristocrats had arrived and since the first notes of “Stupid 7” that opened the show, it was easy to understand that what would follow would really be something special. Guthrie Govan, Bryan Beller and Marco Minnemann need no introduction as to who they are and what they have done so far in music, their bios and feedback are simply…stunning! For over two hours these three musicians captivated the audience, a large part of whom were musicians, and it was very interesting to hear the comments between them. The appearance of The Aristocrats was helped a lot by the excellent sound they had, a term that in Greece we are about to forget what it means. Excellent also was the communication with the audience, especially by Beller, which audience responded in a particularly warm way. The Aristocrats said goodbye to the audience, thanking all the contributors of the festival and promising to return as soon as possible. An important notice I have to make is that although an instrumental live performance often tires the audience, here the set was structured in such a way that it probably caused the opposite, even those who were not musicians, showed that they did not want the concert to end.
Before closing, I have to praise the organization of the festival by an excellent, new production in the area, as everything worked flawlessly and in a very humane way, respecting the approximately 1,200 people who were in Technopolis. Well done to these people!
Setlist: Stupid 7, Hey… Where;s My Drink Package?, Sergeant Rockhopper, Bad Asteroid, The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde, Aristoclub, drum solo, Through The Flower, Ohhhh Noooo, Furtive Jack, Last Orders, Blues Fuckers.
Dimitris Kazantzis
Photos: Bettina Buschbeck
