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Greece’s international market is going from strength to strength, according to Ejekt Festival director Giannis Paltoglou.
Indeed, Paltoglou has landed Green Day’s first-ever performance in Greece, headlining the 20th anniversary of Ejekt this summer.
“If a new band comes to Greece and plays on the first record, they will keep coming back with every record because the Greek audience is really warm, and also the weather, the food and the hospitality are renowned,” Paltoglou explains. “But when bands are at the level of Green Day, it’s tough to convince them to visit because we are not a big market.
“We have around 5.1 million people living in Athens but we have a lot of tourists and the economy is much better than in previous years – that’s why we can afford to spend more money, increase ticket prices and bring bigger bands here. We’re growing up slowly.”
Green Day is the first act to be announced for the milestone edition of Ejekt, which will take place across three days in early July at Athens Olympic Stadium.
The festival moved to the 35,000-capacity stadium last year to facilitate the growing supply of – and demand for – international artists in Greece.
“The economy is much better now – that’s why we can afford to spend more money, increase ticket prices and bring bigger bands”
“It’s near to the train station, has better facilities for disabled people, more parking,” Paltoglou lists the benefits of the new venue. “And, of course, it has bigger infrastructure… it’s a stadium experience now.”
In another major coup, Paltoglou has secured Robbie Williams for a special, standalone performance at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens in October, under the Ejekt Festival banner.
“His tour is in October so we didn’t want him to perform during the festival’s normal days,” explains Paltoglou. “We wanted him in an iconic stadium with his production, not a greenfield.”
While Greek artists continue to dominate the market, demand for international stars has been increasing year on year according to Paltoglou.
“All the international shows we did last year were really good,” continues Paltoglou. “We had more than 78 international artists across our festivals and two venues in Athens.”
And it’s not just Ejekt Festival that is doing good business with overseas acts. “Over the 90 days of summer, we had almost two international shows from various promoters every day,” he claims. “People are thirsty for international acts.”
While Greece’s festivals are poised to supply the demand, the country’s touring circuit still has a way to go. Mid-size venues (with caps of 10-15,000) are sorely lacking, limiting the range of acts Greece could attract.
“All the international shows we did last year were really good”
“We don’t have any indoor venues at 3,000 capacity,” says Paltoglou. “The smallest arena is 6,000 capacity and then it jumps to 9,000 and then 16,000.”
“Also, the Acropolis Theater (4,100), a venue that has been operating every summer for the last 70 years, is closing for renovations until 2027. This will be a big loss for us. We have promoted many artists at the venue including Florence and the Machine, Herbie Hancock, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and others.”
“We are waiting for some new venues to open, but nothing is happening. We’re discussing with the government, private companies and stadiums to see what they can do… it will slowly happen.”
In addition to a shortage of venues, Greece’s location in Europe has always been a hurdle for touring acts.
“We are at the bottom of Europe,” Paltoglou explains. “So a band from England needs a travelling day, one day to play, one day to leave. Logistics are tough for them and that’s why we try to collaborate with other markets like Bulgaria and Turkey and create a tour of the eastern Balkans to attract newer bands.
“We are doing a lot of shows there in Thessaloniki,” he adds. “But the economy is not as strong as in Athens – it doesn’t have as many tourists – so we can’t charge the same ticket prices.”
That said, Paltoglou is optimistic that Greece will continue to establish itself as a worthy market for international acts.
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Greece is a country famous for its antiquities and history. And modern culture is by no means a priority for our government.
It is fair to say that they have, at best, a vague idea about the important issues in our field. To add to this, over the last few decades, the – many – Greek ministers of culture have been people unrelated to culture.
So, it is hard for these people to now, all of sudden, realise that something that they have been ignoring for so long is actually worth supporting.
In our case, EJEKT Festival has been a leading music festival in Greece and the eastern European region for 16 years. Every year we bring thousands of tourists to Greece; in 2020, our main headliner was the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and we were expecting around 10,000 visitors from other countries across the two days.
It’s clear, then, that we are generating a lot of income for the country and for Athens, and that we provide work for many people. But in our 16 years, we have never had any sort of support from any government or municipal office.
Our company’s turnover will go from a few million euros in 2019 to zero in 2020
Even though the government first banned all shows on 10 March, only on 7 May did they announce that no shows are to happen until 15 July. After that date, shows can happen only in open-air venues but with 40% attendance and with people standing 1.5 metres apart. In reality, it is clear that concerts and festivals cannot happen.
In light of the above, this year EJEKT Festival cannot take place. The same goes for all our other concerts. This means that our company’s turnover will go from a few million euros in 2019 to zero in 2020, and we have no idea what will happen in 2021.
But we have to pay our employees, our taxes, our rent and our other expenses. As far as we understand, many companies in our field cannot sustain this, and will go bust.
On 7 May, after two months of lockdown, the Ministry of Culture finally informed us of their plans for the summer. Clearly, we – the concert and festival producers – are not included. The only positive thing we heard was that they are planning to create a voucher scheme for cancelled events, but they gave no details about it, so we have to wait for that, too.
So, for now, we will keep asking for financial support to pay our employees, tax breaks for the live entertainment sector, and more wide-ranging support for the numerous people who work in our field. They deserve it.
Giannis Paltoglou is the owner of Detox Events and Ejekt Festival.