17 April, 1967. First Stones concert in Athens, Greece. Riotous year(s), then, in Athens. Stormy demonstrations, everyday, in the streets. Police beats students and comes to blows with construction workers. Police has an extremely strong distrust of all public meetings and gatherings. Concerts included…

To the majority of the press the band is a very strange, unnatural phenomenon, at best. A part of the conservative press has the opinion that the Stones are “trouble- makers”. But some journalists are recognizing Mick’ s cleverness and glibness. Do you know why? Because a journalist, who obviously wanted to prove that the Stones are uncultured, asked Mick “what do you know about Shakespeare?” and Mick answerd: “what do you know about Homer?”. The poor journalist was startled by Mick’s reaction. He probably didn’t know much about Homer…

Big day, April 17. In the small stadium (capacity 25,000) there are about 10,000 fans. Some say 7,000, others say 12,000. And thousands of policemen. Thousands! Not a big crowd, of course. But under these conditions, in this atmosphere, with the police supervising the whole event as if it was a dangerous demonstration, the audience does seem almost huge.

The crowd is enthousiastic and that makes the police enen more nervous and aggressive. Whoever is dancing and screaming more than the “normal level” – and noone knows, of course, what exactly this level is, according to the “rules” of the police- runs the danger of being beated. Things are getting too hot. Something in the air smells of “explosion”. And the explosion happens when the band plays “Satisfaction”! The “cause of war” is a real “tragi- comic”…

While the Stones are playing “Satisfaction”, a fan tosses red flowers to the stage. Red carnations. Mick tosses the flowers to the audience. That’s it! Police thinks that this exchange of red flowers is a kind of … communist symbolism! The band is a part of a communist conspiracy! Why not, the Stones recently visited Poland and perhaps that’s an additional “evidence”… But there is something even more ridiculous. The sound of the word “Satisfaction” does resemble a short greek phrase: “Tha Tous Sfaxo”. That means “I’ll slaughter them”. “Them” who? Who are the probable victims? Maybe the policemen… Maybe the whole established order…

Mister Tasigiorgos, Police’s leader, gives a clear order: stop this concert! Policemen tore up the stage and Mick is clashing with some of them. The crowd is shouting “Shame on you Tasigiorgos, shame on you Tasigiorgios”. Police dispreses the crowd chasing people, not only into the stadium, but also outside!

This is the end of the first Stones concert in Athens. Four days later, April 21, a military coup is seting up a tyrannical, fasist regime. The dictatorship endures seven years (1967- 1974).

The Stones visited Greece, for second time, 31 years later. In 1998. For us, greek fans, the fact that the opening song in 1998 was “Satisfaction” had a special sentimental value. It was the historical link between the past and the present. A at long last, the Stones played the song until it’s end, in Greece…

What a story... I think we tend to easily forget how close this political athmosphere has been, not too long ago. (Close for many of us, but of course even daily reality for some!)

Jelle