Festival season in Athens, Greece has begun with Nightwish and In Flames debuting at Release Athens Festival on June 7th, in Water Square. The headcount featured over 12,000 fans singing along and crowd-surfing throughout the night. 

In Flames definitely brought their metal energy back to Athens since their last performance many years ago and fans were well and ready to receive the power from their performance.  Their minimal stage setting is perfect given their amazing light show and energy from the band. The set is currently featuring bassist Liam Wilson from Dillinger Escape Plan filling in for the summer festival run as Bryce Paul has stepped down to focus some time at home.   

The best highlight of Nightwish, aside from the magical performance was watching singer Floor Jensen glowing from her pregnancy and rocking out with the crowd. It was also bittersweet since Nightwish has announced a hard stop on touring for the foreseeable future after their 2023 dates are exhausted. The band will release the follow-up to Human :II: Nature (Nuclear Blast Records) soon.   

Release Athens Festival will be featuring an amazing lineup this summer with Helloween, Jinjer, Amon Amarth, Kreator, Interpol, Soulfly, Wu-Tang Clan, Disturbed, Bullet for My Valentine, Echo and the Bunnymen, Siouxsie, and so many more. Check out https://www.ReleaseAthens.gr for more information and tickets. 

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY ANNIE ATLASMAN