Sweet Summer Sun Festival

Περιγραφή στα Αγγλικά

A bent note hangs somewhere above the old gasworks chimneys before it resolves — that's Eric Gales opening a phrase left-handed on a guitar he holds upside down, a technique he's played since age four, taught by his left-handed older brothers even though he's right-handed himself. On Saturday 18 July at 18:00, he headlines the Sweet Summer Sun Festival, a single-night blues bill inside Technopolis, the former municipal gasworks in Gazi.

Gales won his first blues contest at eleven, signed to Elektra at fifteen, and was named Guitar World's Best New Talent in 1991. He shared a stage with Carlos Santana at Woodstock '94, survived a 2009 arrest and prison sentence, and returned in 2022 with Crown, co-produced with Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith — the album that, three decades into his career, finally put his voice and songwriting on record alongside his guitar playing. Sharing the bill are Tassos Skouras & Nukeleus, the Babis Tyropoulos Quartet, and the Sakis Dovolis Trio, three Greek acts framing the night as a meeting point between Memphis blues and its local players.

Expect blues purists who know Gales' catalogue note for note standing next to people who came for a warm July evening among old brick and steel. Setting: an open-air yard inside the gasworks complex. Vibe: relaxed and standing-room, with the chimneys doing the backdrop work a light show usually handles. Sound: three home-grown acoustic and quartet sets building toward one full-band electric headline set. Door: general admission on advance tickets.

Each stage change tightens the crowd closer to the front rail as the night moves toward Gales' set. If you want a seated, hushed listening room, this open yard won't give you that — but if you want to watch a guitarist play upside down in the open air, get there before the openers finish.

Technopolis sits a short walk from Kerameikos metro, at Pireos 100 in Gazi. Tickets run 35 EUR in advance through more.com.

Gales has played this style of guitar since childhood; Saturday night in Gazi is one of the few chances Athens gets to see it up close.