Athens, 19 March 2004 - In each of six towns where the Olympic Torch stops overnight on its route from Olympia to Athens (25-31 March), it will be greeted with a concert by top Greek musicians.

The long journey of the Olympic Flame for the Athens Games begins, as it is known, at Ancient Olympia in the afternoon of 25 March, the Greek national holiday, with the first torch relay runner Kostas Gatsioudis setting off to transmit the motto " the Flame unites the World".

From Ancient Olympia to the Panathinaiko Stadium, on the first leg of the Greek torch relay route, the Flame will pass through the Central and Southern Peloponnese (Ileia, Messinia, Lakonia, Arkadia, and the Argolida), and the islands of the Saronic Gulf (Spetses, Hydra, Poros, Salamina, and Aigina). It will make an overnight stop in the towns of Andritsaina, Pylos, Kalamata, Gytheio, Tripoli, and Ancient Epidaurus, ere reaching the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens. There it will  remain until early June, when it sets off on the second leg of its long journey - a truly international one, for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games - visiting 33 cities on all the continents of the globe. The third leg will then begin on 9 July, as the Torch travels from Heraklio in Crete across Greece, to end its journey at the Olympic Stadium in the evening of 13 August, signalling the opening of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

The Olympic Torch Relay is a celebration, and this is what ATHENS 2004 wants to make clear by hosting a number of musical events.

ATHENS 2004 is organising six concerts from 25 to 30 March 2004 as part of the celebrations:

25 March - 21.20: Andritsaina, a town 65 km from Pirgos, with its two- and three-storey mansions and 18th and 19th century churches built amphitheatrically on the mountain slopes in a lush and magical landscape, is the first overnight stop for the Olympic Flame. There will be a concert by the Greek singer Glykeria in the square outside the Health Centre.

26 March - 20.30: Pylos, 'Queen of the South', with its historic Bay of Navarino and picturesque harbour, is the second overnight stop for the Olympic Flame. Pylos will greet the Flame at the Trion Ierarchon Square, to the music of Greek band PYXLAX.

27 March - 22.00: Kalamata, at the heart of Messinia, is the third overnight stop. The people of Kalamata will greet the Olympic Flame at King George Square, again to the music of PYXLAX.

28 March - 20.00: The Olympic Flame will arrive at the town of Gytheio, gateway to the Mani, which overlooks the Lakonian Gulf. The people of Gytheio will greet the Flame at Mavromihali Square, once more to the accompaniment of music from PYXLAX.

29 March - 20.30: Tripoli, capital of Arkadia, will greet the Olympic Flame at Areos Square, to music by Dionysis Tsaknis.

30 March - 17.40: The Olympic Flame will arrive at Nafplio, first capital of the Modern Greek state. Local people and visitors to Nafplio will greet the flame at Dimarcheiou Square, amid Neoclassical mansions, listening to a concert with singer Giannis Kotsiras. A little later the Olympic Flame will travel to Ancient Epidaurus, the next overnight stop and the end of the first tour of the Peloponnese.

On the next day the Flame will make the tour of the isles of the Saronic Gulf, on a speedboat. From Aegina, the Flame will be flown by helicopter to the Panathinaiko Stadium (Kallimaramaro), on the evening of 31 March.

All concerts will be open-air, and admission will be free.