Madrugada return to Athens for a unique concert in Kallimarmaro
The favorite band of Madrugada returns to Athens and chooses the Panathinaiko Stadium for another atmospheric live that will be unforgettable – When will the pre-sale of tickets start
“Madrugada and Greece, a kind of love affair…” (“Madrugada and Greece, it’s kind of a love affair)”), confessed the frontman of the band Sivert Høyem after their unique appearances in Greece in the spring of 2019.
And this indestructible love relationship with the Greek public, which follows them passionately all the years of their journey, will be confirmed again on the night of September 24 at the Kallimarmaro Stadium in Athens.
The reunification of Madrugada Twenty years ago, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of their first album “Industrial Silence”, it was a triumphant journey to fourteen European countries. Sivert Høyem describes the experience of this tour as a liberating and redemptive act. “I have never felt so comfortable on stage before. And I have never before had the good fortune to stand in front of an audience and enjoy it, to have so much fun “.
It is this moving reception of the audience that has created in the band members a commitment to their devoted friends. Thus, the band takes to the streets again and meets its audience on a new tour from which Greece could not miss!
The new Madrugada tour evokes feelings of emotion and anticipation in their thousands of fanatical friends. As part of their new long-awaited tour, they will give concerts in many European countries, including, of course, their favorite Greece.
For the time being, the band chose the Kallimarmaro Stadium of Athens, a special emblematic space – a symbol that carries not only a heavy historical burden that refers directly to classical Greek antiquity but also expresses the image of modern Greece, a country that is dynamically integrated into the international 21st century canvas.
The Kallimarmaro Stadium – the only marble in the world – in its centuries-long history, has hosted not only the first modern Olympic Games, but also major cultural events such as the Rock in Athens, the concerts of Jose Carrera and REM and the recent . Dior fashion show.
So here, under the hill of Arditto, under the gaze of the Parthenon, the Madrugada return to Greece again with their new album. “Strikes at midnight.” The first three songs released so far, “No one loves like me”, “Dreams of midnight” and “People could fall down” have already been played fanatically by Greek radios since their first day of release.
Their new album will prove how painful and creative the course of the band was. A band from his first album (“Industrial silence”) in 1999 until the last eponymous of 2008 (“Madrugada”), he continued to create authentic rock songs full of passion and confessional sincerity. Majesty, The Kids Are on The High Street, Lift Me, Electric, Strange Color Blue, Vocal, Shine, Honey Bee, Black Mambo stand out. Nothing was either simple or easy.
Madrugada, music resistant to time
Madrugada debuted in 1993 in the dark Stokmarknes of Norway by Sivert Høyem on vocals, guitarist Robert Burås and bassist Frode Jacobsen and later drummer Jon Lauvland Pettersen. Their first contract with Virgin, the legend says, was that they signed it on the hood of a car, earning extra from the company as much time as they wanted to close their first job.
They released their first album, “Industrial Silence” saying goodbye to the twentieth century, in 1999. Its success was immediate, first in Norway and then in many European countries, for the first time the album of a Norwegian – debutant band that did not belong to the state . black metal scene of the country, knew so much recognition. “We wanted to create a timeless, classic album of songs that when we played again after twenty years, we could say they certainly realized in time,” says Jon Lauvland Pettersen. They made it!
The album led to a decent cut for the band and is now considered a classic. However, more than any other European country, Madrugada were loved in Greece and that is why our country was one of the first to appear live Madrugada when they started touring outside their homeland. Since then, the strong relationship of the Greek public with the band begins, which grows bigger and deeper over time.
After the first and completely safe “Industrial Silence Album”, three more albums followed, “Nightly Disease” in ’01, “Grit” in ’02 and “The Deep End” in ’05, each highlighting the simple, but at the same time a modern style of Madrugada. As they matured musically, Madrugada enjoyed the appreciation and respect of the music-loving public especially in Greece, who never forgot and played in our country as often as they could, even outside the context of a general tour.
The Madrugada live to play, the live performances were from the beginning and more and more their big one. “Our music is made to be played live. Especially our first album, Industrial silence, and this is the best way to find our music. To hear us play live “. It was in these that the strong and evocative sound of their songs emerged, but of course the interpretation of Sivert Høyem, who was constantly evolving into a very great singer.
The rise of the band was interrupted by the untimely death of guitarist Robert Burås, who was found dead in July ’07, at the age of thirty-one. Shocked by the death of their teenage friend, the other two founding members, Sivert Høyem and Frode Jacobsen, decided to close the recording of the album and then retire. Madrugada’s fifth and – until recently – last album with the symbolic title simply released their name in early ’08 and with it, a great twenty-first century rock band hit the pause. All these years, when Madrugada withdrew, their friends did not forget them, they did not abandon them. The Greek public in particular, almost stubbornly kept the music of Madrugada in the spotlight.
The timeless Madrugada!
The Madrugada were loved and missed a lot. Frode Jacobsen admits that one of the motivations for their reunion was to keep the band’s legacy alive while discovering a new common musical ground. It was surprisingly easy to hit the right note. “The best is everything you do not have to say.” The 2019 tour not only introduced them to a new audience but they themselves appreciated the musical idiom they had already created in the first, intense years of their careers. For their reunion, in the place of the “irreplaceable” Robert Burås invited two friends and remarkable Norwegian musicians, Cato “Salsa” Thomassen and Christer Knutsen, on guitars and keyboards both – an enlarged band that “strengthened” them more . .
The Madrugada have always had something fluid and eternal. After all, the band itself emerged through an endless discussion of music that first developed into a rehearsal room, and from there to the studio and then to the stage, where their dark, melancholy music finally fell. Each of the members of the band contributes uniquely to the formation of the artistic identity of Madrugada. Høyem’s heartbreaking baritone voice. Jacobsen’s grounded bass. Lauvland Pettersen eccentric drums.
And above all and all the songs.
“Our best songs never followed a standard rule. “We want to follow our own path, to do everything our own way,” they say.
The calm power of Madrugada
Madrugada talk about the unspoken, express the hidden thoughts of all of us and intertwine them with stories, experiences, personal experiences that, because they are common, become universal. Our Norwegian friends narrate emotions and with their musical uniqueness, they do not look like any other band of their generation.
It can be expressed through a lazy and sometimes dark sound but essentially what has happened, by a dark melancholy midwife. With its metallic volume, their music sounds like a distant but tender lightning in the northern arctic sky.
The calm power of Madrugada, constitutes a precious soul deposit, an exchange of love between an authentic rock band and its faithful. A reminder of the band shouting that nothing has been lost yet, that the pandemic has not drained its inspiration, that they have never forgotten to evoke the deepest emotions in people.
The darkness of Madrugada is charming, tender, familiar. It does not scare you. It protects you. Times can be tough but children are still playing in the streets, kissing still tastes like rose, in the evenings we need to go home and people will always remind us how vulnerable we are. How much we need each other. Like the shelter in the storm.
The magic of Madrugada is always here!
Their music, loud and vulnerable at the same time, will flood the Kallimarmaro Stadium in Athens, a city that is always waiting for them, with the same passion and the same undiminished love.
The pre-sale of tickets will start on Thursday, November 25, 2021 at 11.00.
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