Thievery Corporation

I had no idea who these guys were. Nor did I care much to find out, except that too many people I know to ignore the fact, were too excited and were organizing to go to their Saturday night concert at Theatro Vrahon. So when my friend Mike - friends since primary school!!! - called to ask me if I would like Ioanna, another childhood friend!! - to get a ticket for me I immediately said yes. So, five childhood friends - a bit older now - set off. Everybody knows the songs, the lyrics, the band, except myself. Stefanos who came along, had a CD with him so we played on the way. Nice, lounge music, a bit of reggae-ish, some funk, the type of music I would expect to listen on a beach bar and did not believe that it would be appropriate for a concert.
When we arrived, the place was packed. Actually the venue was the worst part of the concert. No toilets, and only one exit, and no parking nor metro nearby made it a bit hard to get there and even harder to leave.
But the concert was very good. Not sure how many people were there, but the theater was packed and everybody was jumping and singing along. Thievery corporation are a big band. They have five or six musicians that are constantly on stage and then the singers change in every song. The group is Washington-DC based but there are band members from Jamaica, Brasil, Argentina, Africa, and of course other american states.
Singers sang in their native language their country's songs (probably a bit alternated though to fit the Thievery sound)
What was cool, was that the group themselves were too glad to be in Athens. Apparently their first two international gigs ever - that is outside the US - where in Athens and in Salonica a few years back, so they got very emotional and the crowd with them
The highlight of the concert I think was that there was a technical problem right when a belly dancer was performing on a oriental tune. The sound went dead, but she kept on dancing and the crowd kept on cheering for her.
Also, when the lead singer (a rastaman from Washington DC) dedicated a song to the bankers in the US
And at the end when the people in the crowd from the first rows (girls mostly) got onstage and were dancing and singing along.
Despite the horror of trying to find a toilet and being stuck before the exit for half an hour, it was a very good night. I don't think I will ever be a huge fan of Thievery Corporation, but I wouldn't mind getting their album as it is great chilling music with influences from across the globe.