Jump, Grandma!

And other news straight from the indie band name meme generator

So I was at Moby a week ago, in the middle of the crowd (the show was sold out, so I’d say there were over 20,000 people there), when I realized how old I am: the first time I saw Moby live was in 2009, at a festival in Bucharest. That’s 17 years ago, the age of a person who can almost vote, and I didn’t go with my high school buddies either: I went there for work. I was an accredited journalist (yes, my first job - which I also kept on a project basis for almost a decade after leaving the team - was, among other things, reviewing and photographing live music).

Anyway, ever since then, at almost every festival and large music event I’ve been to, I’ve noticed that branding and advertising have simply taken over, controlling what you eat, drink, and do while you’re there.

Sure, this was always the case to a certain degree, but it was usually brands that were somehow connected to what was happening: alcohol and drinks in general, snacks (potato chips and stuff), food, condoms.

Now it’s banks, toothpaste (yes, there was a toothpaste booth at Moby, I swear—it was one of those brands for sensitive teeth. Was it because most of the audience was seriously middle-aged and we all have sensitive teeth?), detergent, petrol companies, deodorants, pasta, beauty companies, insurance companies, and so on. It’s like you step inside and, within the first minute, someone is trying to sell you something. Most of the time, they have booths with random activities, like branded photo ops, or they just stuff your pockets with flyers you’re going to throw away without even looking at.

Don’t get me wrong: I worked in the event industry, I organized events myself, and I know that funding this stuff is hard. But dude, it’s become a disease.

Your host, at one such event, 11 years ago. No, not in Greece. Yes, it rained, how could you tell?

Also, Release Festival organizers (and Ejekt and all the other big events in Greece): all over Europe, people have been using digital wallets or chip wristbands (which you can top up digitally) for over a decade. Only here do you still have to queue ten times a night for those stupid plastic tokens. Which, by the way, you should be allowed to exchange back at the end of the night. That used to be a thing, yes.

In 2009, when I last saw Moby.

It’s kind of like the public transport paper ticket situation: Athens was among the last capitals in Europe to introduce tap-to-pay on buses, trams, and the metro, but when it finally did, it shouted about it as if it were the most innovative thing ever.

Come on, festival people. Be “innovative”.

In any case, I feel like my level of satisfaction at big music gigs has been getting lower as I age. At first, I thought it had something to do with growing older, but now I think it’s really about the increasingly restrictive conditions at these events and the inability to protect yourself from being constantly bombarded with advertising. Sorry, I loved Moby, he was great, I danced like crazy, but for €70, plus the obscene cost of food and drinks, I’d like to be spared the toothpaste commercial.

Anyway, here’s a review of the concert, if you’re curious. I used to write dozens of these per year and got paid for it. Oh, those were days.

Anyway, the last days have been a bit surreal in the media also. I blame it on the summer, so let’s get to it.

Spotlight

Cement, cement, on the Acropolis and now the Ancient Agora. Why so much cement? Well, maybe they’re afraid of them collapsing, like the house in Petralona because:

Next to the apartment building (that collapsed), demolition work was underway on a two-story building in order to erect a new five-story apartment building.

I’d normally say that there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING that describes Athens in 2026 better than this sentence.

But then I saw the image of the grandma that jumped from her second floor balcony in Kalithea and was caught by the hands of a stranger, because it took a while for the fire department to arrive at the scene and she would have died otherwise, and changed my mind.

The stranger was initially rumored to be her husband (the heteronormative romance is always a win!), then an Afghan or Pakistani delivery man (the underdog version, the unexpected hero, the self-indulgent racism of “yes, but they’re not ALL bad” versus the activist “you should respect them for all the good they do in this country!”—all of which exoticize “them” in surprisingly similar ways, although both sides would disagree), only for him to turn out to be a Greek construction worker. With strong hands, obviously required for this task. So boring. We shouldn’t let the truth ruin a good story.

The woman also had a Greek flag on her balcony, and she HELD ON TO IT as she jumped and I would like a separate Substack in which to dissect the symbolism of that with the yearning of someone craving a bag of potato chips - which I’ll go get right away - and possibly start that second Substack too.

News You Can Use

• Holidays with your pet - what are the rules on boats and beaches.

• Mitsotakis announced a fuel price cut of 10 cents a liter on gasoline and 5 cents on diesel through August.

• Efood platform delivery workers announce World Cup final strike on July 19.

• Thousands of dead fish washed ashore on a beach in Evia.

• The Municipality has opened applications for 100 energy-efficient air conditioning units for residents facing energy poverty. Eligible residents will receive not only the air conditioning units but also free delivery and installation by certified technicians.

• Water scarcity on the islands: what’s behind it, what comes next.

• Greece installs floating barriers against the pufferfish (and jellyfish).

• Why do Greeks feel worse than anyone else in the European Union?

“We compare our standard of living with the past, with our fellow citizens, as well as with other European countries. When, through social comparison, we feel that we lack the resources for a good life while others are doing better, subjective well-being declines and the ground is laid for feelings of uncertainty, pessimism and anger.”

• RyanAir had a great week: one of their planes made an emergency landing in Thessaloniki because a window was dislodged, almost sucking a passenger out, and I’m pretty sure someone on their sales team is already considering charging an “extra safety option” for the aisle seats.

• But the real horror is this piece of news: building managers all over Greece are being given increased powers through new legislation and, as a person who was on the receiving end of such powers, mostly in older buildings, I’m SCARED.

News You Can’t Use

Or apps you can’t use: the new parking app, proudly presented by the Municipality, that relies 100% on people’s civic sense (in Athens, ahaha) to mark their parking space as available once they leave - with absolutely zero incentive to do so.

Of course, it’s useless. I just tested it.

Just hit this 11.trolley meme page and move on.

The Long Reads

This photo archive of Greek sex workers with Italian and German soldiers during the Occupation was pretty interesting.

Wanderlust

• 22 reasons why we still love the Cyclades - I’ll leave this here for inspiration, but all 22 reasons are about Naxos, Paros, Tinos or Mykonos, whereas, I’d add another 100 for Kea, Kythnos, Serifos, Sifnos, Andros or Syros or the small Cyclades or… you get the point. Close your eyes and go to the lesser known ones, I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

• Here’s a list of stuff to do this summer for solo travelers.

• This weekend: In Orbit Festival, at various locations all over the city.

• The Athens Open Air Film Festival is still happening, and on Saturday there’s a horror marathon in Plato’s Academy Park.

• 4 summer festivals celebrating Greek tradition.

That’s it. Have a great weekend and do write back. Even if it’s just to complain.

Ioana