Monday, March 31, 2008

Konstantinos Bhta : live at Liebe, Thessaloniki

Last night I was lucky to attend a great concert in Thessaloniki: Konstantinos Bhta (the last name is Vita for our English speaking readers, he just spells it like this) played in the Liebe club in Mylos complex. It was the first time I saw (and heard) him live, and I must say it was about time!


I was outside Liebe exactly at 21:00, the supposed starting time of the concert. But, as usual, the doors were not even open. I got my ticket there (20 Euros, same price as in pre-sale at the record shops, and two Euros cheaper than the internet price) and waited. There were some people waiting outside but not many.


The doors opened around 21.15. I went inside and secured a place at the bar, so that I could stand easily and also not be pushed by people (ha, little did I know).
The venue: Liebe is basically the old Mylos Club, a place where I have seen The Creatures (Siouxsie rulezzz) and others in the past. Now it is a dance club, owned by one of the prominent radio DJs of Thessaloniki, Nikos Portokaloglou. The place could use the help of a decorator, it looks shabby and as if no one actually cared for it's design. From the promotion the place is getting on the radio I was expecting something different, I was wrong. And the prices are exorbitant, I paid 8 Euros for a bottle of beer (on top of my ticket), which I consider a blatant theft. One thing is for sure, I'm not going back for more.


The concert started at 22.15, with Netrina, an Electronica group (with members such as Kostas Giannikopoulos, a long time collaborator of Konstantions Bhta in his recordings), who played three tracks. Then Konstantinos came onstage with his collaborators (Vaios Mahmoundes on keyboards, Kostas Giannikopoulos and Kostas Skaltsas of Netrina plus a young guy on guitar whose name escapes me). They started a bit awkward but soon felt the warmth of the crowd and felt surer about their music, displaying to us all their talent.



They played songs both from Konstantinos' solo works and Stereonova albums, almost all the crowd favourites like "Klemmeno Podilato" (Stolen Bike), "Kyma" (Wave), "Proastia" (Suburbs), "Opalita", "Soma" (Body), "Pornostar", "Exostis" (Balcony), "Astronaftis" (Austronaut), "Taksidi Sti Gi" (Journey to Earth) which was repeated at the encore with Konstantinos playing just his guitar and singing, "Pote Pote Pote De Tha Gino Filos Sou" (I will never never never be your friend) and others. The set was just shy of two hours, but we definitely wanted more - he played only one encore, asking us what to play next. He was in a good mood, smiling and thanking us all the time. It looked like the band enjoyed the concert as much as we did, which is precisely the point for me.



The funny thing is that there were people there that looked totally out of place. There were many times that people passing before me obviously belonged to some "skyladiko" (popular Greek music club of the lowest denominator) and not this concert, all coiffed and high - heeled and wearing cocktail attire (i do not mind this as long as it is for somewhere else and not an electronica concert). Obviously they found out about Konstantinos from his work for Dimitris Papaioannou's "2" or from the heavy promoting of his latest album on a Greek TV channel (Alter), it is so "fashionable" to listen to Konstantinos now. My suspicions were confirmed when these people started leaving the venue soon after the concert had started or, the last of them, after he played the "2" tracks and he was obviously not playing another from that work. That's the price of popularity I guess. Nevermind, I had a great time and so did most of the people present, the ones who know Konstantinos' work and came here for all of it, not just the recent stuff. I hope he comes back soon!

Konstantinos website: www.kbhta.com
His Myspace: www.myspace.com/kbhta

16 comments:

  1. I have the clip also on YouTube for anyone who cannot see it here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4y0iuf_rfY

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  2. "skyladiko" (popular Greek music club of the lowest denominator)

    χαχαχα!

    Λατρεύω Κωνσταντίνο Β. Το αγαπημένο μου track του το "Hunter" από το 2. Με το Άργος λίγο με ξενέρωσε να σου πω όμως (σαν εμπορικό μου φάνηκε)

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  3. Ε μα πώς αλλιώς να το γράψω κομψά αγγλιστί? χαχαχα!

    Το 2 πάλι μου φαίνεται πιο εμπορικό από τον Άργο. Ίσως είναι ιδέα μου αλλά μου φαίνεται ότι οι "μανταμίτσες" χωνέψανε πιο εύκολα εκείνο παρά το καινούριο του. Βέβαια οι διαφημίσεις του Άλτερ μπορεί να αλλάξουν τα δεδομένα.

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  4. Περάσαμε καλά δλδ, ε;
    :)))))

    Μπράβο Στράτο μου!

    Κι εμένα μ' αρέσει.

    Καλό μήνα!!!

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  5. χτυπώ με ρυθμό το κεφάλι μου στο τοίχο που δεν είχα πάει στην αποχαιρετηστήρια συναυλία του ρόδον. Θα επανορθώσω σύντομα...

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  6. @ dustroad: Στο Fuzz πάραυτα!

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  7. Ενα δίκαιο το έχεις. Τι σου είναι αυτή η ελληνική γλώσσα. Μοναδική!

    Για να μάθεις να συναναστρέφεσαι μαζί μου... έχεις πρόσκληση για παίγνιο που μπορείς να παίξεις (μην πεις όχι). Παπουτσωμένος blogger λοιπόν κι εσύ

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  8. Ο Κ.Βητα ειναι πολυαγαπημενος μου!! Τον εχω δει παρα πολλες φορες και παντα ειναι σαν πρώτη :)
    Καλό μήνα!

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  9. Ευχαριστώ και ανταποδίδω!

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  10. μπουζουκόβιοι στον Κων/νο!!! μπλιεξ

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  11. Άσε, το τι είδαν τα ματάκια μου... 12ποντα και διαφανή φορεματάκια με πλατινέ αντάυγειες και νυχάκι μανικιούρ 3 πόντων... κρίμα που δεν έβγαλα κα ιφωτό να γελάσει το παρδαλό κατσίκι.

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  12. lol βλέπω το κεφάλι του cookie
    http://cookiebashing.blogspot.com/

    ανέβασα και εγώ φοτος

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  13. Δεξιά ή αριστερά είναι ο cookie? lol

    Οι δικές σου φωτό πολύ καλύτερες!

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  14. Επειδή ήμουν τελείως μπροστά με την Eri, δεν είδα και πολύ τα νέα φρούτα :Ρ
    Ήταν όντως πολύ καλή συναυλία!
    Πάντως κάποια από τα κομμάτια που λες δεν τα έπαιξε ή είχα πέσει σε νιρβάνα και δε θυμάμαι lol

    Με βλέπω! Στην 1η φωτό, δεξιά με την κουκούλα. that's me :P

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  15. @ Cookie Basher: καλωσήρθες! Μη νομίζεις ότι τα θυμόμουν όλα εγώ, από άλλο φίλο αντέγραψα τη λίστα!

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  16. Anonymous3:38 am

    hmoun k ego ekei
    phga na ton akouso gia na do poioseinai aytos o perivohtos k.bhta k telika sketh moufa!!!
    entelos!

    mono to liebe aksize poy to exoun kanei magazara k bravo se aytoys poy to exoun
    epiteloys k kati aksioprepes se ayth th polh

    ReplyDelete