What a night! With some of the top artists of the last few decades and a great, up-and-coming band, we didn’t expect anything less. 

First of all, Tramhaus confirmed their reputation as the next big thing in the post-punk scene, putting on a brilliant show that probably surpassed their already excellent recordings. It is pretty much guaranteed that this is a band that we will hear again in the future and that we will have more opportunities to see them live. The band that followed, The Ride, need no introduction, as was evident from the response they received from the crowd. The indie legends played a set that included all the highlights from their discography (‘Leave Them All Behind’, ‘Taste’, ‘Seagull’, etc.) as well as some of the top songs from their most recent LP, “Interplay”.

Later on, we witnessed the long-awaited first show of The Smile, the wonderful new project of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner. The trio, with the invaluable contribution of Robert Stillman on horns, delivered a wonderful and rich show for around 90 minutes, with a selection that included tracks from their two studio albums as well as two unreleased songs (“Instant Psalm” and “Don’t Get Me Started”), and as the last track, “Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses” from Yorke’s solo career.

The finale, of course, belonged to the mighty Pulp, who delivered a pop masterpiece. We were lucky enough to witness the great band from Sheffield play the longest show of this year’s tour at Release Athens 2024, returning to the stage for a second encore after the “Common People” extravaganza. “Bad Cover Version”, “Razzmatazz” and the brilliantly nostalgic “Glory Days” with the video from the band’s youth, lit up Plateia Nerou and marked the end of two unforgettable hours that filled us with memories we will never forget.

Release Athens 2024 will continue next Saturday, June 29th, with the big performance of Vassilis Papakonstantinou and special guests Gus G. and Ronnie Romero.