James are so popular in Greece. 30.04 they sold out 3500 tickets @ Apollon Basketball Arena in Patras.It was just another sold out concert for James in Greece as usual, but the first time in Patras. Their great performance and the high attendance was kind of reassuring that they might visit this college town on their next tour and play on a bigger venue.
Abbie Gale, one of the most successful bands of the greek indie scene opened the show at 8.55 playing some new tracks from their forthcoming album and some tracks from their latest album 2, like Love song, Clown, Fall etc. The arena was full by the time they finished and about 200 people were standing outside without tickets.
At 10pm sharp the lights went out and Larry’s acoustic guitar sounded with the first notes of “Sit Down” ( though ‘Just like Fred Astaire’ was on the set list) and Tim Booth with Larry came out, not on stage but among the crowd playing the whole song on their way to the stage. People of Patras had never seen anything like this before and “Sit Down” was the perfect start, followed by “Senorita” (another Greek favorite) that made the 3.500 people go mad. “Ring The Bells” came just before “Dr. Hellier” and “Ten below” from the mini album “The night before”. “Upside” followed by “Come Home” and “Out To get You” and you could see the tears running from the eyes of most of the fans. I don’t need to describe what happened when they started playing “Say Something” with people singing along for almost 5 minutes after the song ended. With ‘I know what I’m here for’, ‘Crazy’, ‘Tomorrow’ (the only song from Whiplash) and ‘Sound’, the main set was over.
But there was a special surprise for the people of Patras, a very special request. “Dream Thrum” opened the encore and you could see people stunned with the violin of Saul Davies. That’s why ‘Sometimes’ started as a slow song and then you could feel the earth move by the sing along of more that 3.500 Greek fans thirsty for James songs like “Laid”. A few fans from the crowd climbed on stage and danced along with Tim Booth and the rest of the Band.
But they couldn’t leave the stage without playing “Getting away with it” (not on the set list). I’m pretty sure that, from what you could hear from the small talk outside the stadium and the day after in Patras, this was the best show this town has ever seen and I think we will remember this concert for the rest of our lives.
Words: Andreas Mitrelis / Photos: GeoGalanis
Athens show was also sold out (7000 tickets). Several hundreds of people were looking for tickets outside the venue, scenes we haven't witnessed in years in Greece.The crowd in both cities was very excited, though there was an awkward feeling during the new songs they performed.The setlist for Athens was very similar to the Patra's show.Last photo is Evira (of support band Abbie Gale) with guest Vassilikos.
Athens photos from M.Gandy, you can see more here
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