So the season is in full swing but before I tell you about my start, "I WANT TO TELL YOU A STORY" as Max Bygraves used to say.
Just as a little side story before I tell you the proper story when I used to work in London I had to refurbish some air conditioning in a luxury block of apartments in Victoria. One of the apartments was owned by Max. We were refurbishing every apartment so I had to go in to Max's. In there he had a complete jet black bathroom with gold fittings and the most disturbing thing was in his bedroom the ceiling was mirrored, I felt quite queezy at the visions that ran through my head, do you think while he was in there with his female friends he'd be singing to them "You need hands" LOL.
Anywhoo on with the real story.
What you are about to read is a true and accurate account of an epic journey I made to watch Depeche Mode in concert in Athens.
It all began Friday morning at 4.30am, since Thursday morning 8.30am up until Friday morning 4.30am I had only slept for 1 hour. Set off at 5am to the bus station to catch the coach to Athens. Coach left the station at 5.30am to make its way to the ferry. 6am the ferry leaves and arrives at Kylini on mainland at 7.30am. Back on the coach and then a 5 hour journey to Athens bus station where I arrive at 12.30pm. Now up until I arrived at Athens bus station it was all going smoothly then it all got stressful with heavy rain, great, just what I needed for an outdoor concert.
I ask at the information desk how I get to Terra Vibe Park in Malakasa. The young lady was very helpful and said "Ahh, your going to see BOOM, BOOM, BOOM" What she meant by "boom, boom, boom" I don't know but I figured out that was her way of saying Depeche Mode. She explained to me to catch the 420 bus to Athens minor bus station and ask the driver to tell me when to get off.
I Make my way to the bus stop and hop on the bus, I explained to the driver where i needed to go and could he tell me when I had to get off he said "yes". The bus went on for about 20 mins , I was the last person left on the bus. We then stopped in the middle of a housing estate. This was definitely not a bus station. I ask "Is this bus station" he said "Yes". I wasn't convinced. There were 2 other buses there with its drivers so I asked one of them. It wasn't the bus station as I had thought it was just where the buses terminated before they started the return journey. BUGGER!
The other bus driver told me to catch the bus back across the road and ask the driver to tell me when to get off. Bit of Deja Vu going on here. So off I go to catch the bus back the way I came. 15 mins in to the journey the driver tells me where to go from the bus stop and I find the minor bus station. It was only 5 mins from the first station, I could have walked it.
At the minor station I tell the ticket office I need to get to Terra Vibe Park. I'm told I can catch a bus to Serio then I have to catch a taxi to the park. This I already knew so that was fine. The bus sets off and the driver tells me when we're at Serio.
As I step off the bus I see that Serio isn't a place its a service station on the motorway, GREAT! I look around for a taxi and not one in sight. I decide to have a look around service station and have a coffee. There was not one car or person anywhere near the service station, just me. I walk across the car park and was then greeted by 3 male gypsies walking towards me who had appeared from behind bushes. (Excuse my language in the next part). I sized them up and thought to myself "If kick one of them in the gentleman vegetables and elbow the other in the nose I should be able to take out the third" they were about my height and skinny LOL. As they got closer I pointed my fingers like guns and aggressively said "you better F#*k off right now". at this point they stopped and dipped their hands in to their pockets and pulled out boxed iphone 5's. They weren't going to mug me they wanted to sell me a phone LOL. I apologised and said "No thanks" and they walked off.
After my coffee there was still no sign of a taxi so I walked to a small police station across the road and asked them for a taxi, they replied "Why don't you walk there?" in my usual sarcastic manner I said "oh i guess its over those hills and through that Forrest?" The policeman replied " No just follow this road for 8km in takes you straight to the park". The sun had just come out so decided a 5 mile walk wasn't so bad.
A 5 mile walk is that bad if you haven't got any water to drink and the sun becomes blazing and about 28deg with me wearing a fleece hoody and waterproof jacket. The road seemed endless. To my left was an army base with gunfire going off and to my right a load of road kill. There was so much road kill I could have eaten for a year ha ha. Signs everywhere saying "no photography" due to the army base.
A finger impression of me walking along the 5 mile road, forgot about the no photography signs lol.
I'm sure it was further than 5 miles but I finally saw signs for Terra Vibe Park. The park itself is huge and fenced off all the way around, i'd say from one side to the other its about 2 miles wide. I walk around it and find the ticket box office where I have to collect my VIP ticket. I ask the steward where I can collect my ticket, he tells me its at the other side of the park, 2 miles away. So I walk back the way I came. I find the box office and they tell me its not open yet, this was 4.30pm. So I wait. An hour later I ask again about my ticket, again the woman says it will be about another hour till they open, so I wait. 6.30pm the window opens and I go to collect my ticket, this time I'm told its not that box office my ticket is at, its at the first one I went to, 2 miles away. I flipped, why did she tell me to wait there for my ticket? Why didn't she tell me 2 hours ago it was the other box office? AAGGGGHHH! I walk back to the first box office and by this time there is a huge line of people waiting for tickets, not happy at all.
I wait and eventually I get my VIP pass.
Now I'm a happy bunny!
As I walk in there is a stage in front of me with a Greek band playing. They were pretty good, a sort of Greek version of The Killers, didn't catch the name. As I looked at the stage I thought, this is a bit small but also saw I could be right at the front. It was still early and I needed a drink. As I was walking I see a sign for VIP's. I go in and get a wrist band added to my pass, then it all becomes clear. The little stage is a pre-concert stage, the real stage was in an area behind the small stage.
The small stage as you enter.
Now this is real stage.
I get my drink and a cold hot dog, it wasn't meant to be cold it was meant to be hot as the name states "Hot Dog" but at this point I was starving and needed food and a beer. I settle down in the VIP area where I want to watch the concert from and wait. The support band was called Fox The Band, they were quite good with a female singer who was very much like Hazel O'Connor from the 80's.
Just as it became dark Depeche Mode walk on to stage to a Synth fan fair. The noise from the crowd was deafening. The gig was a sell out and must of easily been about 50,000 - 60,000 there.
From start to finish the concert was like one big adrenalin rush, Dave Gahan never stopped for the whole time he was on stage which isn't bad going for a 51 year old. I thought I had energy but I got nothing on him, running, dancing, spinning, he just kept on and on and the crowd were swept away by him. I've seen more concerts than I can remember and this was the best, when a band sounds better live than on CD that is saying something and the whole show just made me so emotional through the rush I was getting I almost cried, was a real weird feeling.
Low points of the concert, well none to do with band but Greeks do need to get some rhythm, their dancing is awful, and I don't mean traditional Greek dancing as that's great I mean dancing at concerts, it was like watching a load of dads dancing at a wedding LOL.
High points of the concert, all of it, the hairs stood up on the back of my arms and neck for the whole show and "Never Let me Down" at the end was a perfect song to finish on. Have a look on You Tube for "Depeche Mode, Malakasa, Athens 2013" and see if you can find some good footage. If so watch "Question of Time", "I feel You", "Personal Jesus", "Soothe My Soul" and "Never let me down". I still get shivers now when I tell customers about it.
As I walked out I took a pic of the crowd as the band gave their final bow. It was rammed packed.
A sea of very happy people.
The concert was over and time to get a room. Now being as I had walked to the concert in the daylight, I didn't know where to go in the night. I saw that most people were walking in the same direction so I followed them until I reached a road I remembered near a village. There was no rooms anywhere, I asked in 2 tavernas and nothing in the area, DOUBLE BUGGER! I ask a taxi driver at an area where there was maybe 30 taxis how much to Athens, the driver replied "25€", great! I asked to go, he answered "When taxi is full we'll go" I asked if the fare was then split 5 ways and he said "No, its 25€ each", there is no way that I was going to pay 25€ with 4 others when it should be 25€ on my own. I can feel a long walk coming on.
I start to walk back along the 5 mile road I had walked earlier, this time it was pitch black with no street lights on and only the light from the screen of my mobile phone to guide me. Eventually after dodging rats and snakes I arrive back at Serio service station around midnight. Again no rooms near here and my bus back to Athens bus station was at 6.30am. Time to find somewhere to sleep rough. The petrol station is a 24hr unmanned one but they had let 2 dogs off their chains to patrol the petrol station at night also the service station had let 2 dogs off to patrol that. These dogs weren't of any breed but were the build of a Rottweiler. Along with those 4 dogs were 3 strays. Now my sleeping options become difficult due to the dogs. There was nowhere to hide inside or empty buildings, the only place I could find was a metal staircase at the side of the service station that had a gate that the dogs couldn't get over. I ran to these stairs and jumped over the gates as the dogs started to bark at me. Made it! Good job I watched a few episodes of Bear Grylls over the winter, but i refuse to drink my own wee LOL
By this time I was boiling due to the long walk and the run to escape the dogs. I laid down my carrier bag which my concert t-shirts were in to use as a pillow and fell straight to sleep. One hour later when my body temp had dropped I woke up freezing. I was shaking and shivering and just couldn't get comfortable. The metal stairs had become like ice due to the night time temp and the dogs down below I could hear fighting with each other. I maybe had 2 hours sleep in all until 5.30am when the sun started to rise.
My bed for the night, its no Hilton Hotel I can tell you LOL.
At 6am the managers of the petrol station and service station arrive and chain the dogs up, its now safe to cross the motorway to catch my bus.
I arrive at the other side and search everywhere for the bus stop but can't see one. In my great scheme of thinking I can see where the slip road off the motorway is and follow it in to the coach park. So i find myself a place where the bus can see me in plenty of time and wait to flag it down. The bus arrives and I motion to flag it down, the driver points ahead, I start to flag it down furiously, he continues to point forward as he's driving and drives past me. Now with only 4 hours sleep since Thurs 8.30am and its now Sat 6.30am and after a freezing night laid on metal steps I have to find the energy run after a bus. I run as fast as I can to follow it to the bus stop, it stops, 2 people get off, I get close, it drives off, YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I then go to the petrol station to ask where the bus stop actually is, he points to an area at the side of the road. I had passed this earlier in the morning but how was I to know it was a bus stop.
Of course, this is a bus stop, stupid me!
After an hour another bus comes and I get on. This takes me to the minor bus station. From here I walk to the major bus station and wait 3 hours for my coach to Zakynthos. I've never been so happy to be on a coach for 5 hours. Outside the bus station there is a little church. This church must have been built many years ago before the bus station was there as they had built a whole area of buildings around and over it. I prayed for myself here after the previous day I had had.
Nice little church to visit.
As we were heading along the motorway home I noticed that there seems to be no road rules, over taking on blind corners, 3 rows of traffic with only 2 lanes and the hard shoulder over here isn't for breakdowns or emergencies its actually used as another lane, absolute madness.
This lorry stayed in the hard shoulder for about 10 miles.
Half way to the ferry we stop for a food, water and toilet break. Now I don't know what it is about me and toilet signs but I must just be in the right place at the right time, this is the real sign at the service station we stopped at. The gent is obviously busting to use the little boys room, the lady is in a more serious state of wanting to go as she is crossing her legs and the disabled person is like their in the 100m's at the para-olympics.
Why aren't signs like this in Britain.
Finally I'm on the ferry and can see home, Zakynthos, Thank god!
I arrive back on the island at 6.30pm, quick dash to house, a quick splash and dash then was at bar for 7pm to open.
And to top it all off the bar was packed out that night, used my 10 emergency chairs and had to borrow 2 from restaurant across the road. Also at one point had to turn custom of another 8 people away as couldn't physically fit any more people in.
To sum up, I travelled 774km ( 480 miles round trip) within 44 hours, was left stranded, approached by gypsies, walked miles, escaped dogs, slept rough and only had about 4 hours sleep in 44 hours but saw the most amazing concert I've ever been too. Would I do it again, Yes to see Depeche Mode as they were that good but No if it was anyone else.
And out of all that i have designed two t-shirts for my bars t-shirt range which are available now.
So my lovely lovely readers that's it for this week, hope you enjoyed my tale of adventure and can't wait to see you all at the Oceanic.
Serve All, Love All, Peace All, Kevlar Out!
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