Category Archives: Gig reports

Gig reports, Various

(gig report) Lagwagon/Satanic Surfers/Alo Stari/Fair Do´s-Kino Šiška, Ljubljana, Slovenia-16.11.2019.

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I love melodic punk and this zine is practically full of such music that I love and cherish above all. When I heard about this gig a while ago, it was a must go, because this package is indeed Punk Rock Holiday mini fest hehe, almost like winter edition. The three of us traveled from Zagreb in Irina˙s car, because we went there a day earlier on Friday evening to check out Inteliber in Zagreb, the biggest book fair in these parts.

We arrived in lovely Ljubljana around 5 pm and the gig was not scheduled to start until 7 30 pm, so we had time to eat something, so we found great little Mexican food restaurant and ate some delicious spicy food there.

When I entered Kino Šiška I was amazed with this gig space, it is a former cinema with a lot of space, what is more important, there is no smoking inside, so you don˙t feel like smoked salmon after gig and it is spacious, vast and totally great sounding venue. We greeted friends from Slovenia and Croatia and it was about time to enter because the first band was about to start. FAIR DO´S from UK are no strangers to the pages of this zine, because we reviewed their excellent record out with Lockjaw records some time ago and I was eager to hear the guys play live. Despite going on early they delivered fantastic half an hour set of neckbreaking fast and musically skilled modern melodic hardcore punk with some modern metalcore touches in one new song they presented to us. They reminded me of a mixture between Propagandhi and The Human Project, but they are deliciously fast and I saw such strength emanating from them while playing. Definitely fantastic band to check out live.

ALO STARI from Maribor, Slovenia were on next representing the local scene and I must admit that I am amazed by melodic, energetic pop punk they played with super frontman and lyrics in their own Slovenian language. I was later told that three of the guys played in Trash Candy, so they are no strangers to the scene although this band is relatively new, on scene since April this year with no album released yet. But they definitely showed why are they on tonight`s bill, because I am eager to see them play live again.

I saw SATANIC SURFERS play live a little more than year ago, when we witnessed their great set at Punk Rock Holiday and interviewed them there. It was cool to meet familiar faces again and talk to the bass player Andy and guitarist Magnus again, those guys are so friendly, down to earth and full of positive force. As for their set, the Swedes delivered 45 minutes of energetic fast hardcore punk with Rodrigo doing the drums again as well singing like in old times. The set was made of hits from their still latest album Back from Hell, like Catch my breath, Usurper and couple more, also old hits were in the set although some of the gems were missing due to limited time on stage. The communication with the full house was super, all of us really enjoyed their energy and music. They triumphantly ended their set with Head under water.

It was my third LAGWAGON gig in three years, so I knew that I was in for something great. The new record Railer is for sure one of the best releases this year. They opened their set with one of my favorites from that record being The Suffering. Joey Cape was singing okay, what he couldn`t manage, bass player Joe Raposo covered with fantastic backing vocals added by Chris Rest and Chris Big Bitch Flippin. It was nice to see the band smiling and enjoying their set of oldies Sick, Sleep, Coffee and Cigarettes, but also fantastic new songs like Surviving California, Bubble and Parable. The hits like May 16 and After you my friend were sung by all of us louder than band. This evening was special because it was Joey Cape´s birthday, also Andy from Satanic Surfers too, so they received two fantastic cakes on stage after regular part of the show finished with Razor Burn. Joey tasted cake, took guitar so we knew what was next. The evergreen anthem Alien 8 which we sang like there is no tomorrow and I wanted this show never to end. Such amount of love, good energy, great music, friendship and vibe bands returning to us fans and vice versa. Lagwagon ended their set with Making friends and Stokin the neighbours and I was smiling the whole time with joy after being there, witnessing the gig I will remember as long as I live. There is only one question remaining, why there is no such gigs in Croatia? But maybe it is better that way. I love Slovenia. I love gigs there.

 

Gig reports, Various

(gig report) We Salute You VII: Mašinko(Zg) Tahijevi Kmetovi(Ka) BKD(Vž)-01.11.2019.-Prostor Čakovec

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Every year at the end of October or early November, there is an annual in memoriam gig in Prostor Čakovec for all our fallen brothers and sisters that we have lost through the years. This year was no exception. The line-up this year was made of punkrock bands and when we arrived to Prostor just around 10 pm when the gig should start according to the schedule, there was enough people in front of the club and inside waiting for the gig to start. The first band of the evening were TAHIJEVI KMETOVI from Karlovac. These veterans are playing for four decades and with some lineup changes they endured until today. I saw them about a little more than year ago in Varaždin and they were not my cup of tea there. Now, I changed my mind when I was able to hear their set on good pa system, so the guys and girl delivered about half an hour of nice punkrock mixed with, that is only my opinion, some garage punk and hardcore influences. Their singer has great voice and sounds original, different than many of her peers in the world punkrock scene and that is great. They played mostly songs from their debut album, but I think there were four new unreleased songs in their set, and I love the new material, in my opinion much, much better than older stuff. They finished their set with Kud Idijoti cover Jebem ti rat.

BKD from Varaždin played our hometown not long ago, also here in the Croatian and Slovenian area a lot, but it is nice to see the trio expanding in the region having recently played great gigs in Serbia and Macedonia. Who heard this band and saw them play live knows what to expect from them. Jokes on stage, then punk oi songs about friendship, drinking, more drinking and then some drinking, a bit more jokes. I love this band and I know most of their lyrics so I sang along and had fun listening and watching them play. The finished their set with Kud Idijoti cover too, hehe.

I last saw MAŠINKO from Zagreb play live on Zmajevo fest in Zagreb last year, I think that they didn˙t play much gigs and paused afterwards because singer Šulc went to China or something similar. Now, they are back and they sounded better than ever. Their gigs are a challenge for every soundman because they have five men singing and they do it divinely. Vocalist sings his parts, the three guitarists and bassist sing different harmonies, every men something else and I loved every minute of their hour long set of street melodic punkrock and we all sang every chorus and every verse with them. Their set was made of the hits from all of their releases plus couple of covers by Mikrofonija and KBO! at the very end of two encores they triumphantly ended their set and party continued with hardcore and punk hits deeply in the night.

What to say? Another nice memory, another nice tribute to our brothers and sisters who are no longer with us. If they watched, they would be proud.