It was 41 years ago today that Athens hosted the “Greek Woodstock” of the 1980s, as a beach party for 25,000 people turned to a sea of 70,000, with some even claiming 100,000 people were present.
The event took place on the sprawling beach of Vouliagmeni only a few kilometers from the center of Athens. The stage was on a platform in the sea, and performers got to it on a dinghy.
The concert in the sea under the full moon was the idea of Loukianos Kilaidonis (1943-2017), an influential Greek songwriter and singer who blended jazz, swing, folk, and country music rhythms in his songs.
Kilaidonis had been planning and making preparations for the party at Vouliagmeni for over a year. He envisioned “a folk evening with some aesthetics,” a musical celebration in the hot Athenian summer with a party atmosphere and endless fun under the moonlight. He was the first to take huge concerts out of stadiums and place them into natural surroundings.
From the beginning of 1983, he began to implement his idea, booking the beach in Vouliagmeni that belonged to The Hellenic Tourism Organization (EOT) at the time. The beach had to be transformed into a concert venue, which was quite difficult then. “I was coming and going for six months. I measured everything. The only thing I didn’t foresee was the large turnout,” Kilaidonis said in an interview a few years later.
The unexpected Greek Woodstock
Late in the afternoon on July 25th, everything was ready on the beach of Vouliagmeni. The 25,000 tickets, which cost 300 drachmas each (less than one euro in today’s purchasing power), were sold out. At 7 pm, the two entrances to the beach were opened and thousands of Athenians began flooding the beach.
Then the first swimmers appeared from the beach next to that of Vouliagmeni. Before the concert began, people started jumping into the sea for an evening swim, while others indulged in beach sports, racket playing, and volleyball. The whole atmosphere was a celebration of the sea and full moon to be followed by great music.
The stage was set up on a floating platform, which was about 15 meters (16.5 yards) into the sea. The artists arrived on stage in a lighted barge from the nearby Vouliagmeni Nautical Club.
The “Greek Woodstock” evening opened with host Loukianos Kilaidonis greeting the crowd and looking baffled by the huge turnout with the opening notes filling the air. Then it was the turn of Dionysis Savvopoulos, who, surprised by the large crowd, said: “It’s incredible, you’re all here. We thought it was a party, but we see that it’s a Finos Film blockbuster.”
Savvopoulos hit “Synnefoula,” stirred up the crowd, and the cheers reached the sky. “May God keep us strong to always meet and have fun,” he said.
The biggest names of Greek music at the time paraded on the stage for the party that lasted until after 2 am. There were appearances by Dionysis Savvopoulos, Giorgos Dalaras, Margarita Zorbala, Vangelis Germanos, Maria Farantouri, Afroditi Manou, Nelly Semitokolo, and, of course, the man of the evening, Loukianos Kilaidonis.
The “Greek Woodstock” at Vouliagmeni was broadcast live by national radio, and a record of the concert was released a few weeks later.
