★★★★★
I first came across Antigoni when she opened for Eleni Foureira – best-known for representing Cyprus at Eurovision in 2019, where she came 2nd – in London last year. She revealed that it is her dream to represent Cyprus at Eurovision, only for that to be announced the following week! Fresh off the success of ‘JALLA’, Antigoni is touring Europe, stopping off at Bush Hall in her hometown of London for a glamorous Grecian gig.
Just like the Foureira gig, there were three talented (and beautiful) Cypriot acts on the line-up. DJ George M welcomes audiences into the venue, before playing again in between the two singers. His eclectic setlist included classic bops and newer hits, as well as songs in various languages, such as Spanish and, of course, Greek. It could have been nice to just play Balkan, Greek and Middle-Eastern music, to properly set the scene, but George wanted to include something for everyone, including people not from the Mediterranean.
The supporting act was Zach Koullas, who, like Antigoni, is a British-Cypriot Londoner who sings in both English and Greek. His setlist was a nice range of slower and more up-tempo songs, finishing with his delightful latest single, ‘EROTA’. He not only has a divine voice, gifted from the Greek Gods, but also splendid stage presence. Whilst Foureira opted for a more similar opening act with Antigoni, Antigoni chose to showcase a different kind of artist, albeit still Cypriot, and it made for a nice contrast.
Antigoni arrived onstage in a red belly-dancing outfit, her signature blonde curls circling her face like a mein. She’s clearly inspired by Shakira, and this outfit was reminiscent of what Shakira wore when she co-headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show with Jennifer Lopez. Coincidentally, both Shakira and Antigoni have named their current tours not after albums or singles but rather lyrics from singles (“Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” from ‘Session 53’ and “You Want More?” from ‘JALLA’).
When Antigoni opened for Foureira, she proudly proclaimed, “Cyprus is in the Middle-East,” which was very refreshing. She fully embraces her Middle-Eastern identity, from wearing belly-dancing outfits to singing songs called ‘Habibi’ and ‘OUD’, as well as recording an Arabic Remix for ‘JALLA’, in which Oualid sings “yallah”. Whilst she’s an excellent dancer, I would love to see her learn more belly dancing and incorporate it into her performances.
Early on, she once again said that it was her childhood dream to represent Cyprus at Eurovision and that it started with the next song, before covering ‘My Number One’ by Swedish-Greek singer Helena Paparizou, who gave Greece their only win in 2005. Antigoni and her dancers even did the original choreography, which the audience went wild for.
Like Zach, Antigoni mixed things up, with fast and slow songs in both English and Greek. Most of the songs were accompanied by the bouzouki, played by an older gentleman onstage. Antigoni celebrated the instrument numerous times. She said that when you play something sad, it feels like the bouzouki is crying, but when you play something happy, it’s like your heart is beating – with the bouzouki player demonstrating both. Antigoni even did a bouzouki-led Dolly Parton tribute with ‘Jolene’, as well as some other covers, as she likes to play the game of, “What would that sound like on the bouzouki?” Another time, she said, “This song is unreleased but I’m unsure what to do with it” (prompting a fan to shout out, “Release it!”), telling us that after a drum and bass songs of hers did well, she was encouraged to do more, but she does not love the genre, so she did it but put bouzouki in it!
The celebrations of her Greek-Cypriot identity did not stop there. At one point, she got members of the audience onstage to do the zorba/sirtaki, and she performed a snippet of ‘JALLA’ with fans doing the dance with her.
She admitted to being worried that some people would only know ‘JALLA’, so she threw in a few covers, from the likes of Zara Larson (‘Midnight Sun’) and Shakira (‘Hips Don’t Lie’), two artists who she seems to be inspired by, both performance and looks-wise, whilst also doing her own thing. And yes, her climax of ‘Midnight Sun’ was incredible.
It was a joy to see her perform her latest single, ‘Gia Panta Nai (Per Sempre Sì)’, a Greek-Italian duet cover of ‘Per sempre sì’ by Italian artist Sal da Vinci, who performed right after Antigoni at Eurovision this year. A highlight of the show was the Mihalis Violaris medley, made up of traditional Cypriot songs ‘Tillirkotissa’ and ‘Ta Rialia’, which she also performed when she opened for Foureira. She, of course, ended with ‘JALLA’, which made for an epic encore.
A DJ, a dreamboat, and a diva – this was one Big Fat Greek Party.
