Cool Music Central

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Live: Wire @ Temple (Athens, May 23rd, 2019)

The long overdue return of Wire to Athens took place at Temple Club last Thursday. Eight years after their last gig here, the archetypal art-punk band was back with a remarkable set showcasing their rich history and still casting an eye to the future.

Not currently having a new album to promote (their latest release was 2017's "Silver/Lead") turned out a to be an opportunity for the band to create a live set that revisited and reconstructed tracks from all their various periods.

Like a faulty time machine which skips back and forth in time, Wire took us on trip that went as far back as their seminal debut album, 1977's "Pink Flag", to remind us of the classic "Three Girl Rhumba" (the track that Elastica "borrowed" for their '90s hit "Connection") and the proto-hardcore of "12XU" (closing track of the album and of this show), they revisited "Two People in a Room" from "154", their third LP which turns 40 this year and closed their first (and most revered) period, they included a few highlights from their '80s return when they experimented with a more electronic pop sound ("Ahead", "Over Theirs", "Drill") and of course played us several tracks from recent years with "Short Elevated Period" from "Silver/Lead" being a prime example why Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Robert Grey and "new" boy Matthew Simms (who, of course, is part of the band for almost a decade now) remain a force to be reckoned with.

Wire, live @ Temple (Athens, May 23rd, 2019)

Wire included at least one new track in their set, which we suppose is a first taste for things to come in the near future, and you can sample it below ("Primed And Ready"), along with first and second period classics "Three Girl Rhumba" and "Over Theirs". Wire's history continues to unfold and every chapter holds new and exciting surprises!

Wire - Three Girl Rhumba, live @ Temple (Athens, May 23rd, 2019)

Wire - Over Theirs, live @ Temple (Athens, May 23rd, 2019)

Wire - Primed And Ready, live @ Temple (Athens, May 23rd, 2019)

The privilege to open for Wire's second Athens show went to noise makers Rita Mosss and the experimental bass and drum duo Hand & Leg.

Hand & Leg, live @ Temple (Athens, May 23rd, 2019)

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Live: Courtney Barnett @ Fuzz Club (Athens, May 16th, 2019)

Rest assured that in a few months time, when we'll start the conversation about the artists that stood out in the musical landscape of this decade, Courtney Barnett will certainly be on everybody's short list. With two outstanding solo albums, several EPs and singles plus a fine collaborative effort with Kurt Vile, the often self-deprecating, but immensely talented Australian singer-songwriter has rightfully received plenty of critical praise and awards.

The timing of her first visit to Athens couldn't have been better, with last year's sophomore album "Tell Me How You Really Feel" cementing her reputation and recent single "Everybody Here Hates You" (which made its live debut here) keeping the momentum going. Of course the title of the single was the complete opposite of the reaction and sentiment that Barnett received from the fans that congregated in Fuzz Club on Thursday night.

Although the show was not sold-out (as it should have been), the enthusiastic reception of the crowd made it obvious that everybody present was thrilled to have the opportunity to enjoy live the music of Courtney Barnett and her band and, as she recognized towards the end of her faultless 90-minute performance, this is something we should do again very soon.

As for the set list, as you can see below, it included most of the songs of her recent album without omitting some of the key moments of her previous work, most importantly the song that introduced her to most of us, the exquisite "Avant Gardener", as well as "History Eraser", "Depreston", "Elevator Operator" and our Track of the Year for 2015, "Pedestrian At Best". "Let It Go", from her collaboration with Kurt Vile, was also performed solo as part of the three-song encore.

Without a doubt, along with Anna Calvi's performance a couple of months back, we can safely say that this was one of the top gigs of 2019 for Athens, although we haven't even reached the middle of the year yet!

And of course we should mention that another thing that these two gigs had in common was the quite good support performance by Amalia and her band The Architects, who presented us their indie-pop tunes plus an interesting, slowed down version of the Violent Femmes classic "Blister In The Sun".