Rockwave | Athens | June 30 – July 2
Athens’s annual Rockwave Festival at the TerraVibe park in Malakassa, north of the city, gets off to head-banging start on Friday, June 30, with headline acts Rotting Christ and Nightstalker, two locals outfit that have been shaping the Greek metal scene since the late 1980s. The local act roster is completed by 1000 Mods playing psychedelic “anti-radio” metal, Bazooka and Godspeed.
Ever-popular British alt-rock band Placebo is taking the stage on Saturday, July 1, with hits from albums that have sold over 12 million copies worldwide as well as lesser-known songs. A favorite with Greeks and former frontman with Madrugada, Norway’s Sivert Hoyem appears on the same day with songs from his solo recording, including the hit “Sleepwalking Man.” Hailed as provocative and explosive, UK act Fat White Family will be making its Greek debut at Rockwave with songs from last year’s “Songs for Our Mothers” album as well as its maiden “Champagne Holocaust.”
Melancholy alt-rock band Last International Playboy wraps up Saturday’s lineup at the Terra Stage. Over at the Vibe Stage, there’s Cigarettes After Sex with ambient pop, Greek indie acts Tango With Lions and She Tames Chaos, and some feel-good pop from Amnesia Pills. Sunday’s bill is headed by Evanescence, the act that redefined rock in the new millennium and always a crowd-pleaser, along with gothic death metal act Paradise Lost, with older work and tracks from the recent album “The Plague Within.” Liverpool’s Anathema also brings its doom-death metal sound to the Terra Stage, while Dutch band Epica is expected to draw fans of symphonic metal if only for the vocals of Simone Simons.
French heavy metal band Gojira tops the list at the Vibe Stage on Sunday, followed by Irish band Flogging Molly, and Athens-based rock-metal quartet Poem and prog-metal act Tardive Dyskinesia.
Tickets for the festival can be purchased from Ticket House (42 Panepistimiou, inside the arcade, tel 210.360.8366) and online at www.tickethouse.gr and www.ticketpro.gr. To find out more about the festival and how to get there, visit www.rockwavefestival.gr.
