Simply Red adds its name to a growing concert list
The cherry has now topped the cake. The cherry – a ruby red cherry, that is – is popular British band Simply Red and the cake is the long list of live concerts scheduled for the upcoming summer season. Talk about building up an appetite. If you’re worried about how much time remains between now and September 3, the date the Simply Red concert is scheduled to take place at the Terravibe music festival in Malakasa (as announced by Didi Music Big Star Promotion last week), and for an opportunity to listen to Mick Hucknall sing «Stars» underneath the starry sky, just think of how many more stars, groups and bands will have visited Athens by then. The good news is that if all goes as announced and planned, this coming summer will see an array of young and old, pop and rock, alternative as well as mainstream artists. Here’s a roundup. They might be defined as the old guard in terms of age, yet they are all producing new material, often paving the way for the rest. First and foremost are the Rolling Stones, scheduled to appear in Athens at the Olympic Stadium on June 25. Bob Dylan is up next, set to appear sometime in mid-July at a venue to be determined (see story at left). Then comes Sting, who will go on stage at Terravibe in Malakasa on June 16, two days before Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. Though considerably younger, the old guard also includes Depeche Mode, who return to Greece with a new album as part of their «Touring the Angel» world tour. The Depeche Mode concert will take place at Terravibe on August 1. Popular Massive Attack also returns to Greece for a single concert at the Karaiskaki Stadium on June 9. The band’s new album, «Collected,» is expected to hit the market in the following days and this work will form the basis of the concert. For all you jazz lovers out there, early bookings will be needed for the two legends and one lady expected as part of this year’s Athens Festival. Soul king Solomon Bourke and the Blues Brothers will appear at the Herod Atticus Theater on July 11 and 12, B.B. King on July 22 and Canadian vocalist Diana Krall on July 13. The world’s greatest Latin stars these days, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin that is, have also decided to honor Greece with their presence this summer. Both artists – Lopez on April 29 and Martin on May 31 – will set camp at the Karaiskaki Stadium. On an entirely different note, that of the so-called new folk scene, up-and-coming psych-folk singer Devendra Banhard will appear at Gagarin on July 4.
