Almost a month ago, we were at the same speedway stadium in Lendava. Now, on the other side of the same stadium Tepih na Paleti festival took place for the ninth year. I remember the first time I went to this festival in 2012. Then it still took place in nearby Hungarian little village just across the border. I can´t believe how it grew, not only in crowd, but in awesome lineup.

The first day, on Friday we got there at 7 pm, so we missed the first band that opened this years festival THE INSURGENT from Gornja Radgona. But, we just got in time to see PANICKA from Lendava, the local heroes.

After the rain fell for the most of the day, the Sun started to rear its nice head through the clouds.  Panicka were just finishing their sound and backline check. As I mentioned before they got a new singer, former bass player Daniel came back in band this time as singer, so the guitarist Ken has more space for being crazy and he can move and jump around more. I saw these guys play for more times than I can count and I can safely say that this just wasn˙t their day. There was not a lot of people in front of the stage and the band was not really tight, they played a really sloppy show this time around. But, this is punk, and who cares really?!

They went through their standard set of classics like “Vse to”, “Kolo sreče”, “Mi delamo” plus a couple of newer songs that are really great and come on guys, do the record already! We who saw them had fun and the band was satisfied more or less with their show today.

Next were VASECTOMY from Murska Sobota who play some mixture of death metal and hardcore and since I don´t really like such music, we used their set to move around through the venue and say hello to the people we know and haven´t seen for a while plus refresh ourselves with beer. During their set the rain started to pour again and chased the crowd away from the stage, but the guys bravely held through their set. The festival has beer in cans for fair prices and also wine, water, energy drinks, vegan and non vegan food plus really friendly crew, so if you are thirsty or hungry, you will be satisfied!

DERKOVBOIS from Hungary play streetpunk oi and I haven˙t seen them play for couple of years so it was a real pleasure to see and hear their set.

The band from Szombathely are now already veterans of the punk scene and they sounded really tight and energetic with their streetpunk anthems. I just can´t understand shit what they sing about because I don´t speak Hungarian but the singer tried to explain before each song what they are about and I think his English improved since the last time I saw them play live. Their set was awesome. Mosquitoes just ate us alive at that time of the evening, they were just relentless!

PIECE OF MIND from Germany play some modern beatdown hardcore and this music is just not my cup of tea, so I used their set to mingle around and wait for the other bands to start playing. When I listened to SKYWALKER from Prague, Czech at home I knew that live they must be awesome. This was their first show ever in Slovenia and they blasted the stage and us apart.

Skywalker play energetic melodic hardcore with heart and soul and I loved how they interacted with the crowd and talked between their songs like every hardcore band should. The hardcore and mosh parts are quickly changed into beautiful melodic parts and the singer and guitarist interact with their vocals epic. This band was absolutely one of the highlights this first day of the festival. The singer talked about being antiracist, antisexist and antiborders band and these days hardcore bands at the gigs somehow lack that speech, and I think it is awesome that Skywalker used their set to remind us of the growing right wing and fascist threat in Europe right now. IN-SANE from Slovenia have only three shows of resurrection to celebrate the 20 years of this band and tonight was the first of them. I just can˙t wonder enough how this band sounds tight and energetic with their melodic hardcore punk.

These guys sound like Propagandhi, meaning technical melodic hardcore punk at its best. I just stood through their set with my jaws open watching them play and the show was almost intimately shared between the band and the crowd and both were pleased to witness such special show. I saw IN-SANE play live back in the days and it was a real pleasure to see them with this special show. The last band for this Friday were SAUČEŠĆE from Zagreb, Croatia. This was only the third time that I saw them play live and I was eager to see them. This band is kinda punk supergroup trio with the members of Fraktura mozga, Mašinko and Pičke vrište playing pop punk with horror lyrics, not really horrorpunk and not really pop punk. Their show was just great, the set consisted of proven hits like “Apokalipsa zombija”, “Baka”, Pola riba, pola riba, vazda mrtva” but they also played some new songs that are not released yet, and judging by what I heard the new material is epic! Saučešće finished their set and the first day of the festival with a cover by Fraktura mozga, “Božić je”.

Saturday was supposed to start a bit earlier than Friday, with more bands on the bill and the weather was really nice and sunny, warm too. When we got to the venue SENF from Varaždin were about to start their show as the first band to open the day.

There were not a lot of people there and it is always hard to open the festival early in the day but the guys really put an effort and did their show well. Senf play crossover between metal and hardcore punk, with nice melodies underneath the fast thrash metal galloping and a lot of humour in the lyrics. They are like S.O.D. with a touch of Balkans. They went through the material from both of their e.p.-s and a cover of Rectal Destroyer called “Krivo je polje” in the end, which is my personal favorite RXD song. Next in line to play were EYECONTACT from Slovenia, stoner band and as I understand one of the better bands in that genre, but that is just not my music and not my cup of tea as I love to say, so I saw them play a couple of songs, but I don´t like such music, so I went to grab something to drink.

BRITOF from Slovenia play similar music but with a bit more metal sludgy swampy New Orleans touch, so they were a bit more to my taste, but I watched them from the hill drinking red wine with cola, bambus hehe! I don´t usually like metalcore but MBURNS from Crikvenica/Rijeka do it really good and they play a mixture of modern hardcore with dual brutal and melodic, clean vocals. Also, they use some electro dreamy melodic samples at the start of their songs, so it all sounds very interesting.

I always love when the drummer sings and that is the case with this band. The singer and the drummer really have awesome voices, one being more brutal the other one more melodic. I also loved how the singer and bass player both went from stage to the crowd trying to motivate more people to participate in their show and they managed to gather people who enjoyed in their show including me.  MBurns share a guitarist and drummer with KRAJ PROGRAMA from Rijeka, so it was logical that they continue next. They play kinda pop punk with some modern groove parts in the songs. They are neither punk, nor pop, something inbetween. I am not really fan of their music, because on the record they sound too mellow to me, but live were okay, but just okay.

The singer somehow got  lost in the higher notes, or maybe I didn´t hear it well due to me being too close to the stage. She tried her best to animate the crowd and the people enjoyed their set. Then came the time for one of the bands that I really wanted to see live for a long time. KRIVA ISTINA is a melodic hardcore punk band from Slavonski Brod/Zagreb. They are very fast, energetic and powerful band with political and smart lyrics. They reminded me a lot of maybe a little less technical version of Propagandhi.

They played a mix of new songs from the coming long awaited new album and old ones like “Jedna obitelj” and “Dok nas smrt ne rastavi”. The guitarist/vocalist didn´t talk a lot between the songs but enough to explain what every song is about. The drummer also sings second vocals and I always admire the drummers who manage to play fast and also sing. I loved every minute of their show and Kriva Istina were one of my personal favorite bands on this festival. Another band that I waited for years to see and hear live are Austrian trio MISSSTAND from Klagenfurt and they were up next. I met the guys and talked to them prior to the show in the afternoon hours and they are one of the nicest guys I met. Missstand play melodic and fast punkrock with lyrics in German language and they also spread the message of positive, antifascism, antihomophobia, antixenophobia and against sexism and those  messages are much needed and there is never enough of them especially in the nowadays growing right wing xenophobia and fascism all over Europe. Missstand were  having really fun playing their set, and the punks in front of the stage went wild, me included, I was jumping, singing and having a smile on my wicked face all through their 45 minute set.

I always love to feel hardcore force energy flowing through every atom of my body and I felt it when those guys played. Also, one of the best bands for me on this two day festival. I was tired after the two bands I loved, so I went to drink something, refresh myself a bit and so I missed RISK IT from Germany. Also, I am not a fan of the kind of hardcore they play. But, from what I saw and heard the people loved their show, moshing, dancing, singing along and supporting every minute of their hardcore set. Slowly but surely, the time came for the last band of this year´s festival KREŠO I KISELE KIŠE from Rijeka, Croatia. Can not say that I am a fan of theirs, but I never saw the guys play live, so I wanted to check out their show because I knew that they will make a true party and tear the stage apart.

For those who don˙t know, KKK play melodic party ska punk with seven band members jumping, singing and having fun on stage. They are really musically tight, and they made one hell of a party for the end of this year festival, playing songs from all of their releases. The show ended after circa 50 minutes and the party continued long into the morning hours.

In the end, to sum i all up, Tepih na paleti 9 was a real blast! We enjoyed it really much and we know how great effort and work the crew put into this year and every year before that. So, hats off guys! We want to thank you for keeping it real, for being friendly and awesome diy small but big hardcore punk festival and see you next year at Tepih number ten!