After surviving the crazy afternoon storm, we made it to enter S.E.F some minutes after George Gakis left the stage. As we heard his 40 minute set was very good and the first thousand of the fans that were in the stadium enjoyed every minute of it.

Without a delay, some minutes later, Firewind jumped on to the huge stage in front of an almost fully stadium. The crowd, as expected, wasn’t very familiar with the group’s songs and sound but, as everyone knows now Gus G.’s achievements, everybody was willing to watch seriously the band. Of course, Firewind didn’t miss this big chance and 50 minutes later left the stage, having earned thousands of new fans. Their setlist was a best of with most songs coming from their previous CD “The Premonition”, while from the new album we only heard the new single “World On Fire”. The highlight of the set was the cover of “Maniac” that was sang along from 15.000 fans.

Firewind Setlist:  “Head Up High”, “Destination Forever”, “Angels Forgive Me”, “Set The World On Fire”, Guitar solo, “Firewind Raging”,  “Till The End Of Time”, “My Loneliness”,  “Mercenary Man”, “Maniac”, “I Am The Anger”, “Falling To Pieces”.

A few months after their latest concerts on Greek ground, the Scorpions returned once again to Athens. This year was Stadium Of Piece And Friendship that hosted the show, instead of Karaiskaki open field. A concert, that of course was sold out many weeks ago. And of course, this concert was originally scheduled for October 6th but due to singer’s, Klaus Meine’s, illness it was postponed and finally was re-scheduled for October 27th. This time the concert had a special feeling, as the promoters advertized it as the last Scorpions concert in Greece. Something that the band’s members didn’t mention during the show, but this is something that only the future can prove. 

The “Sting In The Tail” from the homonymous new record was the set’s opening song, with the classics “Make It Real”, Bad Boys Running Wild” and “The Zoo” to follow causing the first vivid reactions from the Greek rock fans. The next two hours passed by just as if they were seconds, despite the predictable setlist and their many recent shows during the last years, as their fabulous stage performance and their huge songs pleased the thousands of their fans, including me, with a two-hour of absolute hard rock entertainment that only few groups can offer. The concert ended with “Rock You Like A Hurricane” which left 15.000 smiling faces in the stadium being the best proof for the, already known, live skills of the best ever German band. 

Today, some days after the concert and judging the show without the enthusiasm of the moment, I can tell that this was not the best Scorpions concert in Greece, as the setlist was mediocre comparing to the band’s discography, and furthermore this was the first time that we didn’t hear any song from the golden ‘70s era, something, that was already a disadvantage of their previous concerts. Of course, considering the particularity of this year’s concert no one cared about that, even the most demanding fans, as the fact that these were our last two hours with our favorite band, our brains didn’t allow time for such brainstorming but only signals for the absolute entertainment and satisfaction. 

“Sting In The Tail”

“Make It Real”

“Bad Boys Running Wild”

“The Zoo”

“Coast To Coast”

“Loving You Sunday Morning”

“The Best Is Yet To Come”

“Send Me An Angel”

 “Holiday”

“Wind Of Change”

“Raised On Rock”

“Tease Me Please Me”

“Dynamite”

Drum Solo

“Blackout”

“Six String Sting” – Matthias Jabs Solo

“Big City Nights”

“Still Loving You”

“Rock You Like A Hurricane”

 

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