September is about come and I couldn’t help but thinking of my lovely Thessaloniki. September is no doubt a difficult month. Some say that September for the year is what Monday is for the week; too tiring till it’s over. After all, “Wake me up when September ends” by Green Day is still a hit. Students are rushing back to town, ready to start all over the new academic year. Everyone’s back from holiday and officially autumn begins! The dog days are over! Back to reality, right? Well, living in Thessaloniki helps you in fact transition back to real life kinda easily. The city is bustling with festivals, with the biggest and most important one being Thessaloniki’s Street Mode Festival.

Street Mode Festival

26IS OKTOVRIOU 15, 54627 Thessaloníki

Time to turn yourself on “street mode”

Street Mode is an annual music, art, and sports festival held in Thessaloniki since 2009. It is in fact the largest festival in Northern Greece, reaching more than 40.000 visitors, in a multiple-days long program involving gigs on 5 stages, music contests, and street activities. This year, the Street Mode festival celebrates its 10th anniversary and as a matter of fact it will take place for over 4 days, starting on Thursday August 30th – till Sunday, September 2nd.

© Photo: Street Mode Festival

As I said, since you’re back to Thessaloniki, it’s about time you turn yourself on “street” mode and enjoy live music, DJ sets, shows and contests of graffiti, street art, street dance, parkour, skateboarding, longboarding and much more! The festival complies with exhibitions, workshops, games, children activities, and other side events.

With its roots in the streets, Street Mode initially began as a series of events taking place in an open – public space, aiming to present all the elements of street culture together.

But what is the street culture and how is it portrayed in the festival?

When talking about street culture, things like urbanization and urban culture come to mind. However, the definition of the street culture is actually something really vague. It can be broken down into multiple subcultures, since everyone has their own way of understanding and portraying the street culture’s elements. Some prefer expressing it through arts and music, while others through innovations. However, one thing that cannot be argued, is that the street culture derives from originality, creativity and diversity!

The festival’s organisers define street culture as a subculture developed mainly in the urban areas of Thessaloniki and is freely expressed through arts, such as graffiti and breakdance, or through skateboarding or parkour, followed and represented always by the sounds of hip-hop, punk rock and ska or reggae music.

This year’s line up

© Photo: Street Mode Festival

International Acts (A-Z):

DOG EAT DOG [USA] DOPE DOD [NL] DUB INC [FRA] ELECTRIC SIX [USA] GODFATHERS [ENG] JAYA THE CAT [USA/NL] LA PEGATINA [ESP] LIONIZE [USA] MARKY RAMONES BLITZKRIEG [USA] MONKEY 3 [SWI] NEW MODEL ARMY [UK] OCEAN WISDOM [ENG] PHIL CAMPELL & THE BASTARD SONS [ENG] REPETITOR [SRB] SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT [GER] SKILLER [BUL] STONED JESUS [UKR] TALCO [ITA] THE GREAT MALARKEY [ENG] THE REAL McKENZIES [SCO] THERAPY? [NIL] TOO MANY T’S [ENG] YAWNING MAN [USA]

National Acts (A-Z):

63 HIGH BAD MOVIES BEGGARS BLOODY HAWK CORE THE BAND DEAF RADIO FER DE LANCE FUNDRACAR OLDSCHOOL REDNEX PANX ROMANA PUTA VOLCANO RNS SLEEPIN PILLOW SOLMEISTER THE LAST DRIVE TWINSANITY and more.