The photo is published in the edition of Pop + Rock for its 20 years anniversary.
After the recent gig of U2 when 80.000 plus people were found in Athens Olympic Stadium, we decided to do a survey in concerts of high attendance ever held in Greece.
Our research was unfortunately quite difficult because we found no formal statement or evidence of concert turn out in Greece! Only for Rolling Stones at Olympic Stadium we had seen an article in the newspaper "Ta Nea" where it was mentioned that a little more than 79,000 tickets were sold and that is known because the IRC inspected the place and found 10,000 illegal tickets.
Why are not there any official figures from the concert organizers? I would say that the most important is what you attend every time rather than how many people see it with you. I agree, but I find these statistics quite interesting.
So, we searched our libraries of our old issues of the magazine "Pop + Rock" and the "Difono", "surfed" to the electronic versions of several newspapers and of course a number of music sites - blogs to reach to the following, which we have to emphasize once more that have nothing to do with official reports, but just estimations. We sincerely hope we did not miss out on any concert.
Which are the 22 concerts of high attendance ever held in Greece?
The party of Loukianos Kelaidonis at the EOT beach in Vouliagmeni on 25/07/1983 : 100.000 or so, according to unofficial information published at article of Sissy Karavia in Lifo and Wikipedia (Wikipedia is mentioning more than 70 000). At the party names of famous greek performers such as Savvopoulos D. M. Zorbala, B. Germanos, Dalaras, A. Manos and Mado appeared. Indeed, they arrived on the scene with speedboats. The second program of ERT (radio) was broadcasting live and the party spokesperson was Yiannis Petridis.
G. Dalaras at the Olympic Stadium on 30/ 09 and 03/10 of 1983 : He did two concerts, raising a total of 160,000 people. On concerts Giannis Parios, Charis Alexiou and Kelaidonis took part. The first concert attended the legendary greek singer Gregory Bithikotsis - according to the Wikipedia .
U2 in OAKA on 03/09/2010: More than 80,000 people - according to Mix Grill . The concert was opened by Aviv Geffen and Snow Patrol.
D. Savvopoulos at the Olympic Stadium on 19/09/1983 : Celebrated the 20th anniversary of his career with a concert held at the Olympic Stadium of Athens, before 80,000 people - according to Music Corner .
Rolling Stones 16/09/1998 : 79.000 - according to an article on Ta Nea , which referred to some fake tickets. The concert began with 'Xylina Spathia'. Amnesty International Concert at O.A.K.A. (P. Gabriel, Sting, B. Springsteen, Dalaras, T. Chapman, Youssou n 'Dour) 03/10/1988 : 70.000 approximately according to the related article at Vima .
Madonna in OAKA on 27/09/2008 : More than 60,000 people - according to reports of Mix Grill. Before Madonna, played by Robyn.
Pink Floyd at the Olympic Stadium 31/05/1989 : 50-60.000, according related article from Pop + Rock .
AC / DC @ Stadium 28 / 05/2009 : More than 50,000 people - according to reports of Mix Grill . Before the AC/DC played the Answer.
U2 in Thessaloniki 26/09/1997 : 50.000 - according to Vima and relevant article by Anna Vlavianos. Before the U2 played Nick Portokaloglou. REM at the Panathenaic Stadium (MTV GR Day) on 05/10/2008 : 50.000 around, according to MTV .
Live AID - Concert for AIDS in 02/10/1988 : Bonnie Tyler, Jerry Lee Lewis, Joan Jett, Run DMC, Black Uhuru - 45.000 according to some relevant article at Vima .
Sonisphere Festival at Terra Vibe in 24/06/2010 : 40.000 around, according to reports of Mix Grill.
Rory Gallagher in New Filadelphia Stadium at 12/09/1981: 40.000 fans according to Wikipedia.
Rock in Athens 1985 in the Panathenaic Stadium : First day on 23/07 appeared Telephone, Depeche Mode, Stranglers and Culture Club, and the second on 24/07 The Talk Talk, Nina Hagen, Cure and Clash - 25.000 - 30.000 each day according to the very interesting article of trib4mian .
Manu Chao at Terra Vibe on 10/07/2008 : More than 30.000 , under story of Mix Grill .
Metallica at Terra Vibe in 03/072007 : More than 30,000 people, according to reports of Mix Grill .
Black Sabbath in Rockwave Festival, Terra Vibe on 25/06/2006 : 22 - 25.000 in accordance with what is written in site of Black Sabbath by friends of the band and the corresponding review of Avopolis .
Depeche Mode in Terra Vibe on 01/08/2006 : 20.000 - 25.000 , according to a report of Mix Grill.
Roger Waters at Terra Vibe on 18/06/2006 : 20.000 , according to reports of Mix Grill .
Iron Maiden @ Terra Vibe, 02/08/2008 : Approximately 20.000, according to the relevant review of Avopolis .
Guns'n'roses in the Olympic Stadium on 24/05/1993 : The arena filled as all the lower tier. The top was closed, according to article Rocking.gr .
Comments and feedback as always are welcome ...
About concerts held in our country since the 60's and on, you can read our relevant Tribute here .
Relevant article