Winter is somehow going to slow but certain end and all that sweet Spring and Summer season gigs and festivals are coming back. For start of that season, the good people at Vintage Industrial Bar Zagreb brought melodic hardcore heroes IGNITE from Orange County, California, back to our shores.

Our little international Croat-Slovenian crew started our trip around 6.30 pm, and with a lot of laughs and great company with some stops for pissing we were in Zagreb around 8 pm. We had some time to kill before the gig, so we went to grab some beers and energy drinks in front of the nearby drugstore that is open 0-24 hahah. There we hung around and then all of our friends we haven˙t seen for some time now slowly gathered and it was gig time.

Vintage is for me the most beautiful and one of the best clubs I have ever been to in my life. We said hello to some friends there and talked a bit and then SHIN started to play. I saw those guys play live only once in Prostor in our hometown and liked their set there. When it was announced that they will support Ignite, I looked forward to their show. I was not wrong.

Their bass player was sitting down, I guess the guy has a broken leg or something, but it doesn˙t matter. Shin play melodic modern version of hardcore with some old school elements and they played in many other bands prior to this one, so they really know their hardcore. They played setlist from both of their releases, album and e.p. and the people in front of the stage really appreaciated their set including me. They played half and hour or so. It was only too bad that the crowd was really static, but that˙s how it goes sometimes, but the show was great nonetheless.

After a quick stage makeover it was time for IGNITE to start their show. This was the third Ignite show in three and a half years, and I am going to see them once again this Summer at Punk Rock Holiday, so I had no special expectations, but Ignite is Ignite and led by the special voiced singer Zoli Teglas, they opened with Poverty For All and all of the club just exploded with energy.

I was amazed, like everyone in the club was singing and the smiles were upon people˙s faces and that is whats important, positive mental attitude. Who Sold Out Now and Veteran brought people on their toes. It was very hot suddenly despite the winter outside.

The kids were crowdsurfing and stagediving a bit, but we all took care of one another and fun was all around. The set was filled with great songs like My Judgement Day which Zoli dedicated to Donald Trump, the title song of the current new album, Know Your History, Fill in the blanks, Run, but the special vibe was the acoustic version of Slowdown which we sang so hard that even Zoli was amazed and then A Place Called Home, traditionally sung half in Hungarian, half in English.

The setlist has some changes from the last time I watched them, so they played cover by Bad Religion, the song We´re only gonna die which surprised me and I was curious whether they will play some really old songs. Fortunately, they did, they played legendary Call on my brothers and In my time after congratulating Filip from Zagreb, their stage manager on becoming father. Sunday bloody Sunday marked somehow the end of the regular set, but they said that it was stupid to get off the stage and then we shout for more, then they come back etc etc, so they played more immediately.

It was the first time I saw Ignite play with two guitars, it sounded really awesome and mighty. For the end they left three songs, but first Zoli told us the story of I think Dutch fan who is sick from cancer, the doctors told her she had a month to live, but she is still alive now and fighting five years later. They dedicated Nothing can stop me to all the people who are fighting cancer and similar wicked diseases. Then it was time for the song which always brings goosebumps to my skin. Live for better days,  which every one of us sang, hugged our friends and just always I get goosebumps and tears of joy in my eyes while singing to this song. Then, Zoli thanked everyone who came out and made full house Vintage on a winter Thursday night and Ignite finished their set triumphantly with Bleeding.

We were tired but happy to witness another gig that filled our batteries and made us stronger, more inspired to fight on and more than ever resolved to build this scene and support one another. This is the magic of Ignite and their music. We hung around for a while, said our goodbyes to the people we love and went to the car to get home to our north, tomorrow is a work day, but it is Friday, and we have great memories of a triumphant evening, so it is easy to survive work day on our shitty jobs.