Υπόγεια Ρεύματα – 30 Χρόνια Στο Υπόγειο με Φίλους
The Hound was at the big celebration of Υπόγεια Ρεύματα. The legendary band celebrated 30 Χρόνια Στο Υπόγειο με Φίλους and blew our minds! Υπόγεια Ρεύματα are celebrating 30 years of presence this year.
By Dimitris (Bari) Polyzois
The Υπόγεια Ρεύματα are celebrating 30 years of presence this year. As part of these birthday celebrations, the band threw a huge party, where it invited friends and collaborating musicians to perform the tracks from the album ‘30 Χρόνια Στο Υπόγειο με Φίλους‘. We found ourselves at Τεχνόπολη του Δήμου Αθηναίων and we're bringing you the vibe!
It all kicked off with the eponymous album
The Υπόγεια Ρεύματα have done a lot of prep work for this particular celebration. All through the preceding period, they were recording and releasing videos from these recording sessions, the tracks included in this collection, together with friends. This way they managed to lay the groundwork and build up hype for the upcoming show. The whole set of these videos can be found on the band's official YouTube channel.
Credits
In Στο Υπόγειο με Φίλους we find Υπόγεια Ρεύματα joined by:
Γιάννη Αγγελάκα – Θα Μ΄ Αγαπάω
Μαρία Παπαγεωργίου – Σε περιμένω
Ελένη & Σουζάνα Βουγιουκλή – Σαν Έρημα Καράβια
Φώτη Σιώτα – Ανέμη
Αλέξη Καλοφωλιά – Η Γη που Αφήνω
Δημήτρη Υφαντή – Αγέρας Δραπέτης
The collection «Στο Υπόγειο με Φίλους» is out digitally on all platforms and on Youtube.
Recording – Mixing – Mastering: Πέτρος Πετρόπουλος
Studio: Polyphoniki Studio
Video: Αλέξης Φάλαντας, Φανή Μαρία Χατζή
Production: Goodheart Productions
About the gig
A real musical party!
First off, let's stress that what we watched wasn't your run-of-the-mill, standard concert. With Υπόγεια Ρεύματα holding steady on the Τεχνόπολη stage, a whole crew of important musicians and artists kept coming up to join the band. This gave the whole night a distinctive flavour.
On stage, specifically, we saw:
Ελένη & Σουζάνα Βουγιουκλή, Σπύρος Γραμμένος, Βαγγέλης Καζαντζής, Αλέξης Καλοφωλιάς, Γιώργος Κατσάνος, Κίτρινα Ποδήλατα, Κώστας Λειβαδάς, Ερρίκος Λίτσης, Νικόλας Μαραγκόπουλος, Δημήτρης Μητσοτάκης, Τηλέμαχος Μούσας, Μάριος Νταβέλης, Μαρία Παπαγεωργίου, Σάσα Παπαλάμπρου, Μιχάλης Πούγουνας, Αγγελική Τουμπανάκη, Τσοπάνα Rave, Πάνος Φραγκιαδάκης, Frank Panx, Magic de Spell, MC Yinka – Iota and the former members of Υπόγεια Ρεύματα.
30 Χρόνια Στο Υπόγειο με Φίλους with an audience of every age
There were plenty of impressive things that night that I'd like to dwell on. Starting with the organisation and the sound, hats off to the people who handled that (that's Πέτρο Πετρόπουλο for the front-of-house sound going out to the crowd, and Πασχάλη Κολέντση for the stage sound). With a concert featuring such a huge number of artists with such different characteristics, the sound crew worked miracles to keep things from wobbling. The audience got to enjoy the whole spectacle without a hitch. Worth noting too is the fact that the concert lasted about 3 hours!
The second thing I'd like to point out is the age range of the crowd. Looking at the people in the audience, you could easily tell there were adults who had lived through the band's earliest steps, but also teenagers who'd only discovered Υπόγεια's songs much later. What everyone had in common was that they sang along to the same songs with the same passion.
A 30-year journey
The greatest badge of honour for Υπόγεια Ρεύματα is that they've managed to attach their name to a string of major hits, known to people of all ages and beyond. Υπόγεια were never mainstream, and never will be. But they will always be one of the most distinctive bands on the underground scene. A band that has never been afraid to experiment with genre, with lyrical style (they've set plenty of poems to music), or with subject matter.
That's exactly what sets them apart! For our part, we hope they keep being this active and keep giving us wonderful moments as they celebrate many more anniversaries!
