Greek band Villagers of Ioannina City come to Sofia on October 25, 2026, at club Mixtape 5. The group from Ioannina and the mountains of Epirus arrive on a tour called "Venceremos 2026", organised by the Sofia label Trichords Records. The special guest for the night has not been announced yet.

The group formed in 2007 and has since grown into one of the most recognisable names in European heavy psychedelic rock. The reason is that they do not play straight rock. Their sound takes in bagpipes, clarinet, flute and didgeridoo, instruments borrowed directly from the folklore of Epirus, the region of northwestern Greece that has for centuries shared the same musical border with Macedonia and Albania. The result is something no other European band does this way.

The turning point came with the album "Age of Aquarius", released on September 20, 2019 through Napalm Records. Ten songs, sixty-seven minutes of music, and suddenly the band was on Europe's biggest rock festivals and selling out concerts in the major music centres. Until then they were a regional curiosity. After that album they became a reference point.

For a Balkan ear this concert means more than it does for any other. The Epirus folklore these Greeks bring on stage is the same musical language sung on this side of the border too. When the bagpipe comes in over a distorted guitar at Mixtape 5, it will not sound exotic but familiar. Mixtape 5 holds a few hundred people, which means the sound hits from close range.

Tickets are sold through bilet.bg at twenty euros, roughly 1,230 denars, with sales running until the afternoon of October 25. The concert starts at 20:00. Sofia is a little over four hours by car from Skopje, which makes this one of the more accessible ways to see a band that rarely comes this far south in the Balkans.