Tag Archives: PRH

Gig reports, Various

(the great festival report) PUNKROCK HOLIDAY 1.9-Return to punk paradise once again!

1 Comment

PRELUDE

Some people say that year lasts from one Punk Rock Holiday to the other. So from August to August each year, thousands of smiling faces and minds wait for another year to turn around and take you to that dreamy musical place between the mountains under the sunny Slovenian sky. I personally think that this is the festival, the best one, period, no further explanation needed.

Friday finally arrived and I finished my work, got home under awful rain shower, changed my clothes, picked my bag and went to meet with Allegra. Together we got on bus to Zagreb where our Irina patiently waited for us at the bus station to pick us up with her car. Our ten day tour started when we started eating highway kilometers towards Jadranovo, a little place on the Adriatic coast near Rijeka, where we were scheduled to spend a lovely weekend in Irina´s little house. As night fell, the scenery around us driving on the highway was apocalyptic. Lightnings creased the sky, rain fell hard and we arrived at circa ten in the evening, took our things from the car and drank a bottle of wine for the start of our adventure.

Saturday was sunny and warm when we woke up, had a bit of cheese and bread for breakfast and went to the beach. Gosh, the water was so warm I loved it! I don´t like cold water, prefer it lukewarm so I enjoyed the swimming in the sea so much. The day drew on having fun, so in the evening we grabbed some beer in the store and went to the beach to drink a couple. It was one of the evenings I will remember for as long as I live. The starry sky, beer, talking and dreaming, so cool! On Sunday afternoon we went to the nearby Crikvenica to go sightseeing, eat something and have a beer and ice cream hehe. When we got back to Jadranovo, we went to sleep rather early because our trip to Tolmin was planned early in the morning.

DAY ZERO-PUNK ROCK HOLIDAY

When we woke up, had something to eat, the time came to drive towards Rijeka and then Slovenia. According to our gps, Tolmin is 188 kilometers from Jadranovo, so Irina drove, I was a copilot with gps in my hand checking the road. The road through Idrija was closed because of roadwork like almost every year, so we traveled the highway towards Sežana and then Gorica. The road went well, all three of us being excited about coming to paradise again. When we got to Gorica and we needed to cross the last 40 or 50 kilometers, seeing river Soča and the mountains my skin just crawled with goosebumps and I was almost speechless, this fantastic surroundings, this green waters of the mountain river, the Alps, this place of so much spilled blood and suffering in WWI. Just leaves me everytime in awe. This is it! We have arrived in Tolmin! We had two hours to kill before rest of the crew arrives so the first thing we did is go get some coffee in lovely Kavana Kasarna. There we met our friend Kika so we chatted and drank coffee just happy to be there again. Afterwards we did some shopping in the store getting ourselves the things we needed for our week long stay in Tolmin. When Igor and Marina arrived, we entered the lovely house we rented and drank some medica for our traditional toast hehe. Had some shower, drank some beer and wine, got ourselves ready and the time came to go to the show. Upon arriving to the venue we greeted some of our old friends there. drank one or two drinks and MULTIBALL, first band that opened this year´s festival already were in the middle of their set. First three bands were from Slovenia to support the local scene, because there is no global scene without the local. Multiball play their vision of melodic punkrock and this is I think their first gig after some pause as their guitar player told me later. They warmed up the crowd really good. BACKSTAGE is another band from Slovenia, which I already saw in 2016., so I knew what to expect. That being melodic punkrock/skatepunk with a lot of funny talk between the songs, so I loved their show. I am ashamed but I never checked GOLLIWOG live all these years, so this year I corrected that mistake. They play very fast hardcore punk with a lot of socially and politically engaged lyrics and dual vocals, all that sounds really powerful live. They also played couple of old school Nofx covers, but in my opinion they didn´t need to do that because their material speaks enough for the band, and they could have easily squeeze two or three their songs in the set instead covers, but it went well with the crowd, so what? The first international band took fun to the next level, that being TEMPLETON PEK. The music of this band can be described as mid tempo emotional punkrock sometimes reminding me of The Menzingers and similar bands and tonight they were just not my cup of tea, so I found my friend Mike and four of us went to get a couple of drinks and prepare ourselves for the next one, fellows from Pula, Croatia FAKOFBOLAN. They celebrate their 25th anniversary, I saw them in March on headlining gig in Slovenia and knew that I am in for a treat. Saw them live a lot of times in last 20 plus years but I can safely say that this was one of their best shows I ever witnessed. All the hits were there like Da li znaš, Ulica, Ostali smo, Imamo Hrvatsku, Ropstvo je sloboda, Lovci na vjetrenjače…Fakofbolan´s lyrics are all in Croatian language so I was interested to see how the people who don´t speak our language will react to the songs, but the music is universal language and Fakofbolan´s set went fantastic. One more band that I burned to see live is NOT ON TOUR from Israel, who were next to play. I saw a part of their set in 2017.at the Beach stage and immediately knew they were just to big and outgrew the Beach stage, so when they started their set, the crowd just went crazy in non stop pogo, moshing and stage diving frenzy, singing along with NOT´s singer Sima Brami literally every word in every song. The band plays fast, catchy and melodic hardcore with songs lasting no more than a minute and a half. This band has a steady and ever growing fan base, me being one of them. All the hits were there, like Therapy and Daddy from the superb new album, to older Rumours, Maybe One Day and Flip. Sima Brami talked about things she thought are important between the songs, so that is another plus for her, because I still think that hardcore bands should talk about meaning of the songs between singing and deliver a message. This set was for me one of the absolute highlights of the festival. Monday was headlined by PULLEY one of the cult melodic punk bands from the nineties led by Ten Foot Pole´s former singer Scott. I had no expectations from them, since I am not a fan of the band, but the emotions were divided after their set. Scott was visibly drunk and that kinda ruined the set and the experience for many fans, because the band didn´t sound so convincing. Musically they were still okay, but I think all the members of the band were a bit embarrased how Scott tumbled back and front on stage and in couple of moments I was sure he was going to fall off and crash in front. It doesn´t matter, party mode was one. After the gig we went to the Beach stage because our buddies Dirty Skunks had their dj set there and boy, how much I love when they play all the hits, punk, hardcore, skatepunk, ska and we had a wonderful time dancing, drinking and singing along until the very early morning hours when we finally went home to have a couple of hours of well earned sleep.

DAY ONE-PUNK ROCK HOLIDAY

Aach! Tuesdays on Punk Rock Holiday are one of the best days of the festival. Why? I wake up and realize that this is first real day of the festival, whole four days of fun, friends and great music ahead of you and also there is, at least for me, no hangover at PRH. Ever! I don´t know why, but that is the fact. When we woke up and drank some coffee, we went for a walk in lovely Tolmin and to drink a beer in one fantastic place where the terrace is all made of wood and punks occupy it during the festival. The weather was kinda murky, but still Sun was the order of the day. We baked lovely meat and non meat home made pizza for lunch and in the afternoon hours went to the festival area. On Tuesday bands start to play at the Beach stage already around noon, but we missed most of them because we had some press work scheduled doing some interviews with the bands, so the only band we checked out at the Beach stage were superb Slovenians THE MOR(R)ONS  who delivered crushing half an hour set of speed, melody, cool choruses and great musicianship. I listened to their record, but never saw them play live, now I am a total fan of their music and would love to check them out again soon somewhere. The day drew on, so we went home to have a shower, drink something and get ready for the evening party on the Main stage, so we missed the first band THE BENNIES. I am sorry, but we will do our best to catch them somewhere when we can. USELESS ID was a band that I burned to see live, having missed them when they played last in 2016. I am a great fan of their music, so it was cool to see Yotam Ben Horin, Ishay Berger and rest of the crew play their hearts out on the stage. What is fascinating for me while listening and watching this band, how easy they transform in their music from pure hardcore to emotional melodic pop punk and then back again from indie parts to fast forward hardcore, not losing the energy, melody and not being boring for one second. They played all their hits from State is Burning and older albums, like Night shift, Generic, How to dismantle an atom bomb and all the others. The set list was great, the talk between the songs cool, the only song I lacked is We don´t want the airwaves, guess they didn´t feel like playing it. GOOD RIDDANCE were next. I was kinda disappointed when they headlined one day in 2017.with their set and this was my second time seeing them live. They blew me away. They played four new songs from the fantastic new record Thoughts and Prayers and the rest of their setlist was made of old classics and we all sang along, danced and stagedived to Mother superior, Salt, Jeannie, A Credit To His Gender and all the rest. Russ Rankin was in a very good mood and he almost smiled a couple of times hehe! This band is for me one of the musically tightest hardcore punk bands from California, being kinda atypical from the rest of the scene there. Rankin was one of my kidhood role models, so it is always a pleasure to see and hear him perform live along with the others. Good Riddance ended their set with Weight Of The World as the rain started pouring down. The rain fell for almost whole evening more or less, but this time it really started to pour seriously. Luckily, for FRANK TURNER and his set I couldn´t care less so I went to grab a couple of drinks with my friends and chat a bit since we didn´t see each other for a year and missed Turner´s set. It is my opinion that bands or performers like this have no place at the festival as Punk Rock Holiday. His place is in mainstream pop festivals, like he played on In Music Festival in Zagreb, Croatia this year. This music is no punk by any means, so I don´t see the purpose of booking him at this festival. But, that just made me rest for the headliners-legendary DESCENDENTS. The last time they played PRH was in 2016.and the rain and thunder just shook the ground during their set. Guess they bring rain with them haha. This time was similar. Thunder in the sky, rain pouring and Milo, Stephen, Karl and Bill playing their hearts out with their set made of all the important songs that touch heart so much. The guys in the band were in good mood, the crowd too and no rain stopped us from rocking and singing along to Clean Sheets, Without Love, I´m the One, When I Get Old, Get The Time, Thank You, Hope and all the other songs we love so much. I was alone out there, closed my eyes, my heart, voice, every fiber in my body was happy and singing along with Descendents just feeling happy and feeling alive and enjoying this moment that I will remember as long as I live, kinda catharsis of everything bad that happened to me in the year between PRH´s. This was one of the best sets and best performances I have ever witnessed at Punk Rock Holiday and it will be burned into my memory forever. When the show ended, we were too wet to go to the Beach stage and party, so we went to the house to dry ourselves and drink a beer or two prior falling to well earned sleep.

DAY TWO-PUNK ROCK HOLIDAY

Wednesday morning came in all its glory and the enthusiasm grew even bigger because the line-up today is one of the strongest on this year´s festival. We ate delicious risotto that we cooked ourselves for lunch and went to the festival area to do some press work there so we unfortunately missed all the Beach stage bands on that day. But, evening brought the strong line-up on the Main stage starting with BUSTER SHUFFLE. The Britts were scheduled to play last year but cancelled the show and tour due to some problems, so this year was just fine for them to visit Tolmin for the first time. Their unusual combination of ska, punkrock and vocalist playing piano at the same time worked fine with me. They sounded to me like a combination between Madness and Toy Dolls haha, maybe that is just me. MASKED INTRUDER is definitely for us one of the best performances on this festival. Their studio albums are okay for me, but too pop punk, somehow they lack the power and force, but live this band just destroyed playing their melodic punkrock anthems having their colour masks on and no one knows their faces hahah since they met in prison and formed the band there haha. The guy dressed as policeman just adds to the show and keeps the energy on high level. It was nice to see how they called all the girls in the crowd on stage to sing an entire song with them. This was definitely a set to remember! I saw PENNYWISE two years ago when they played for the first time here and Fletcher Dragge pretty much ruined the show back them for me being to drunk and too redneck. This year they were a lot better, though the set list was not much different from the one two years ago, only this time they played less covers thank god. It was nice to see Nofx´s Fat Mike singing along Bad Religion cover on stage and playing bass to epic ending with Bro Hymn. Too bad they played only Live While You Can from the new album Never Gonna Die, because they have such a strong album and it would be nice if they played more songs from the new record and less covers in their set. I was interested how SICK OF IT ALL were going to play after mayhem and chaos of Pennywise set, but NYHC legends only picked up the party even more. This was my third time watching this band and I should say they were the best this time. The set was made from all the jewels from their 30+ years lifetime like Injustice System, My Life, Scratch the Surface with obligatory wall of death, Us Vs Them, Good Looking Out, Sanctuary, Take the Night Off…plus couple of songs from their actual brand new album which is fantastic. Of course, SOIA finished their set with Step Down having a stage full of smiling kids, singing along, moshing and pogoing. Total triumph! The last band of the night were LESS THAN JAKE. I missed them when they played in 2017.so this time it was a pleasure for me to party to their melodic ska punk songs with horn section, confetti, dual vocals of Chris and Roger and smiling faces all around. It was nice to see Fat Mike sitting at the side of the stage and trying to juggle with some balls smiling all the time. This set reminded me what Punk Rock Holiday is all about, meaning love, brother/sisterhood, smiles, great music, fun, dancing and party. I love this festival so, so much. After the gig, we went to house to have a couple of beers and then went so sleep.

DAY THREE-PUNK ROCK HOLIDAY

Thursday morning shines  in all its glory as the protagonists of this story brave on, going to store to fetch some things and also have a beer or two. Irina cooked some really delicious pasta with tuna, salad style for lunch as we agreed to go to the festival area pretty early do some interviews for our zine and then stay there the whole rest of the afternoon and the evening. There was a brief thunder rain storm in the afternoon hours just as CF98 from Poland were playing Beach stage, but no matter, tons of people were singing along and dancing and rain only put some well deserved cold freshness on the hot heads there hahaha. The band braved on with their cool melodic hardcore and I tell you this they are a force to be recognized in the scene. STRAIGHTLINE delivered their best of set to the punters at Beach stage with melodic hardcore punk with a lot of metal influences. Frontman/guitarist Bart was in a good mood, also the rest of the band, so it was fun to hear all the hits and the band couldn´t avoid Vengaboys cover, since what happens at Punk Rock Holiday, stays at Punk Rock Holiday, right? Then, one of the bands I was so happy to see playing again and headlining Beach stage took their place with their superb set. Yes, MUCH THE SAME are back with a blast, having an excellent new record and the band took the stage with energetic storm which brought tears of joy to my eyes, seeing how much fun guitarist Dan O´Gorman had playing after fighting the wicked health problems, his smile didn´t come off his face for the duration of their set. They played the mix of older goodies and new stuff with You Used To Have A Garden being a highlight of the set with Karolina from CF98 providing guest backing vocals. Shit, that song reminds me so much of Tony Sly that it always brings goosebumps on my skin and tears to my eyes. After the events on the Beach stage finished, my girls went to the house to have a snack, I braved on with a beer in my hand talking to some old and new friends and strolling around until the events on Main stage for the evening started. Like Frank Turner the other day, I think DAVE HAUSE has nothing to do with this festival and this pop disguised in quasi punkrock is no material for Punk Rock Holiday. To my wonder, there was a lot of people checking the show, but to anyone I know and I talked to, this music is just not for PRH. I was eager to see how BOOZE & GLORY will sound like after recent line up changes, turmoils in the band and changing their style of newer songs to more melodic approach and leaving old streetpunk skinhead music style behind. Frontman Mark, bassist Chema, drummer Frank and others were in a good mood and delivered a fine set of mixed older favorites and some new songs and the crowd enjoyed it. I watched the set from the higher top, drinking some beer along with my buddies from Serbia and what can I say? Their set was good, but it didn´t wake up no emotions in me, like listening to the record at home. I saw half of the IRON REAGAN set and what I saw I liked, there was fast,  thrash metal/crossover/hardcore similar to the singer´s main band Municipal Waste, yet a bit different in some parts. My friends teased me that I was the only one of our crew who actually liked this band, because the others just felt they were too metal for them. I liked it, but went to grab a couple of cold ones prior to IGNITE. What to say about Zoli and company? This was my fourth Ignite gig in last four years, so I knew what to expect. Like in January when they played in Zagreb, this time they also brought second guitarist who adds a lot to the richness of the band providing fantastic harmonic backing vocals. The setlist was fine, all the hits were there, no surprises, including Bad Religion cover and Sunday Bloody Sunday cover. Fortunately, Zoli didn´t blabber this time his usual stuff fighting his demons hahah. Good one, but not as good as that set they played two years ago. NOFX headlined Thursday this year. Everyone who saw them at least once, knows what to expect. Plenty of funny talk, songs, then talking, again some songs and then the show ends. Somehow, they never disappoint me with their set. They played all the important songs in their set and I am not sure, but I think they smuggled one brand new song that night hehe. For me, the highlight of the set was I´m so sorry Tony which I sang with all my lungs because I had our recently fallen brother Ivek in my mind and tears just flew down my cheeks during that song. Fat Mike was pretty in a good mood and he told us that Punk Rock Holiday is for sure the best punkrock festival in Europe and coming from his mouth, that is really a great thing. It was also Hefe´s birthday that night so the guys in the band wished him all the best on stage in a bit different Nofx way hehe. In all, a great way to end the events on Main stage on Thursday night. I was just to smashed tired after the gig to go partying on, so I went straight to sleep.

DAY FOUR-PUNK ROCK HOLIDAY

Friday is always special for me at PRH, because I am kind of sad inside knowing that the show is about to be over for this year and the counting until next one starts all over again. Okay, not that my life revolves around that festival, but  it is for sure the highlight of every Summer for me. With that in mind we decided to have a nice lunch and then go to the festival area, try to do some more press work and check out couple of Beach stage bands we were interested in. So, we baked in an oven a delicious chicken along with mlinci(kind of pasta) and afterwards went to the festival area. At the Beach my friend Dalin and his 69ENFERMOS were about to play so we went there. There was more than enough people there and only when Dalin addressed the crowd between the songs I realized that most of the crowd are people from South America and that is great, this festival is for sure spreading the good word worldwide. 69Enfermos played here in 2017.and were unfortunate when the storm ruined their set on Thursday, so they played Friday again. This time there was no storm and the new and old favorites went well with the crowd until technical problems that Dalin had with his strings and tuner which made the guys shorten their set. Too bad, but that´s life! ANTI-LAM FRONT played next and I was awed with their wild and active frontman delivering screams and singing melodic clean voice. These Norwegians are definitely original and a bit different band from the most on this festival, playing a mixture of more raw hardcore punk with some melodic punches thrown in the song structures for good measure. Great set, great band! We finished this year´s collection of Beach stage bands with KRANG from Czech Republic whom I wanted to see play live very much. Wow! Their set was fantastic with a mix of hardcore punk and skatepunk, triple vocal harmonies, fast and energetic songs. What I also love it that they talked about some serious issues between the songs along with joke stuff, the way real hardcore punk band should, especially when they mentioned the scam thief from Bird Attack Records who ripped off so many people and like they said, we are all family, closer or wider and you do not steal from your family. Way to go, Krang! So, we went to grab some drinks, hung around and talked to each other, cherished the moments, and the final day on the Main stage started. This was going to be non sponsored show due to Propagandhi headlining, so the promoters took off all the sponsor logos from the stage and around. Prior to the shows we went so see skate contest and enjoyed the skaters doing their tricks and stuff on the ramp. Nice times! The first band that played Main stage were CIGAR. This is another band that recently reformed and they have a cult following, now I know why they have so much fans. They play very fast and melodic hardcore with guitarist and the drummer singing and they reminded me a bit of technically poorer version of Mute so I love them. The drummer is probably one of the best drummers out there, the guy killed it on the drum set. PEARS from New Orleans were next. I saw them for the first time in 2017.and was awed with the energy of their performance and their music. They play an original mixture of melodic hardcore with old school Cali hardcore and some of their hometown sludge thrown in here and there. Frontman Zach is a real beast being more in the air than on stage and he looks really intimidating while performing, but we had a chance to meet him and do an interview with him two years ago and I can safely say that he is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. PUP is one of the bands on this festival that we were not interested to see much, due to their music which is really not our cup of tea, so we watched only a couple of songs and then we left to grab a couple of drinks at the bar to prepare ourselves for TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET the band which was for us the highlight of this evening. Punk Rock Holiday is one of those festivals where you can meet members of your favorite bands walking around in the crowd so it was a pleasure to see Ray Carlisle playing with a baseball with his kid in the afternoon. He introduced us to his son Milo hehe. We also met Kody again after interviewing him last year when his other band The Lillingtons played here. So, Teenage Bottlerocket have a great new album out, and they played a couple of songs off that record in their set. Ray´s son Milo played drum solo as a kind of intro to their set and later on crowd surfed and dressed as a bear for Why The Big Pause song. The setlist was fantastic, their Ramones core is really great choice for party and Ray´s and Kody´s vocals were just interplaying better than ever. The crowd just ate from their hands, so to say hehe. Fantastic band, fantastic set, fantastic show! PROPAGANDHI is just not one of those bands to mosh, singalong and stage dive and party, so I don´t think that they should headline and close off the year at the festival. Much respect to the band, their playing abilities are probably the best in the scene, but Dream Theater also plays fantastic, but they are boring and that is just what Propagandhi were this evening for me. I love the first three albums, also some songs from the last one Victory Lap, but their set was just too complicated and too boring for me, only to stand and watch. Also, I love how they hang onto their ideals, okay the promoters take off the sponsor logos, but the band does get paid, doesn´t it? Do they take unmarked money? How do they know that the money they get paid is not coming from the sponsors of the festival? Does it say so on the bills? I love the politics in hardcore and it should be there, but I just don´t like the guys who take themselves too seriously. No matter, this is only my opinion, the fact is that Propagandhi held a quality gig and many people there enjoyed it very much. That is what´s important. After the gig we went to the Beach stage for annual punk karaoke party with Pigs Parlament and partied until the official end of the festival. Thus, another curtain fell on Punk Rock Holiday 1.9

THE AFTERMATH

This year we chose to rent the house a day more than festival, so we stayed in Tolmin the whole Saturday and when we woke up, we went to check out the festival area how it looks kinda sad when most of the people are gone or nearly gone, so it is kinda depressive to see that, but it is a kind of closure for this year. Punk Rock Holiday brings out the best in us, brings out special feelings that one does not know they exist in your persona. So, we will see all our family next year. Thanks again to Andrej, Klara, Niko, all the workers, sound guys, bouncers and all other people who made this heaven possible for nine years now and I know how much hard work an nerves you put into making all this possible.

On Sunday we went back to Zagreb and stayed an afternoon and evening at Irina´s place. We went out to eat delicious food in one restaurant near river Sava in Zagreb, watched a movie, drank some red wine and slept. Monday was the day when our little trip tour officially ended when we got back to our hometown, a little tired but proud of everything we saw and did.

 

 

 

 

Gig reports, Various

(the festival report)PUNK ROCK HOLIDAY 1.8-Back to paradise with the best festival in the world!

1 Comment

As I am writing this report my memories are still fresh with the beauty, positive energy, friendship and awesome music, so I will try to pass it on to you in this report. It is long, but it is the way I like it, so if you don´t like to read long articles, skip to the parts you are interested in, or go do something you would like to do rather than read this.

DSCN0046

Punk Rock Holiday is like a New Year celebration to us, so all of us are measuring the year from one Punk Rock Holiday to the other. This year´s combination for the festival was a bit different than the previous since we rented the house apartment for the first time along with our friends.

MONDAY-06.08.2018.

The day before the festival started me and Allegra went by bus from our town to the capitol of Croatia, Zagreb. It is approximately 90 kilometers from our hometown to Zagreb. There we slept over at our friend´s Željka flat and I just couldn´t sleep well from all the excitement. The morning coffee and breakfast passed quickly and our friend Irina from Zagreb picked us up with her car and the journey started. Irina is our friend who lives in Zagreb, part of the Kraykulla Webzine crew and an awesome girl. The ride to the border passed quickly and we met the other half of the crew at the petrol station in Slovenia. Our friends Zoki and Petra arrived soon, we joked a little, drank coffee and continued the journey.

The hours passed, it took us about three and a half hours to get to the beautiful Gorica area. We missed the turn, so we entered Italy briefly he-he, but it doesn´t matter. We can say that we traveled through three countries to get to the festival. As Tolmin drew nearer, the awesome mountains and river Soča brought smiles on our faces knowing that we are almost there. When we entered Tolmin, we first went to the festival area to deal with the formalities with the acreditations and the festival wristbands. Afterwards we bought some food we needed, booze of course and then Irina took us to the house she rented for the five of us.

DSCN0271

When we got there we were awed by the look of the awesome apartment house hosted by the nicest couple I met. We unpacked, relaxed a little, ate  delicious pasta, showered and then the games were about to begin. We headed towards the festival area.

The return to the stage and festival area every year is for me like a return to some sanctity, some shrine to the dimension of beauty to which we are taken every time at Punk Rock Holiday. The smells, the noise, the people, the music, that brings goosebumps to my skin.

We unfortunately missed the first two bands, meaning Ducking Punches and Union 13.

DSCN0057

When we entered the main stage area, the American veterans Dog Eat Dog started their set. Those guys and their music were just ideal for the start of PRH. Their fun core with saxophone, melodic and rap parts, groove, made us all dancing in front of the stage. John Connor looks like he hasn´t aged one bit since the 90-ies and the rest of the band just ruled on stage. They played all of their hits like No Fronts, Isms, Rocky, If These Are Good Times and all the others. The sun was still pretty much up in the sky and it was hot, but no matter, Dog Eat Dog and their set brought smiles upon our faces.

38851750_252349038932111_3156244841604579328_n

The only Croatian band this year Hladno Pivo began their set with Utjeha Kose, the song we never thought we will hear live. That gave us hope they will play only old punk stuff and not new ballads and pop/rock songs that take main places in the band´s setlist nowadays. The band played most of their older opus, songs like Pjevajte Nešto Ljubavno, Fur Immer Punk, Bubašvabe, Ne Volim Te, Šank…but they still had to fuck up their set closing it with Superman, sleazy ballad. Hladno Pivo set left us with bittersweet taste in our mouths, personally, I don´t think they are the band for Punk Rock Holiday, but the crowd in front of the stage, mainly Slovenians and Croats had fun during their set.

38916108_770897309968437_7048631203544432640_n

After the brief stage makeover the two Slovenian bands on tonight´s bill were ready to tear the stage apart. First of them, Happy Ol McWeasel threw the crowd in the frantic dancing with their mix of melodic punk and celtic punk and I swear I have heard some Slovenian polka in there hehe. For a brief period, but I heard it. I am not a big fan of celtic punk, so after hearing a couple of songs, I went to get a couple of drinks.

DSCN0170

Elvis Jackson deliver their set for years having the same confetti, crowdsurfing, similar stage show, but they manage to do it every time. Hats off lads! Somehow, they always make the crowd eat out of their palms. I saw them couple of moths ago at another festival in Slovenia and they played basically the same set, but this one was a bit even more energetic and made people stage dive, dance, smile and that is what matters the most. All of us had fun!

DSCN0195

The Living End crossed half of the globe to play here. The guys are from Australia and this trio plays a mixture of punk, rock n roll and psychobilly, the bassist even plays upright bass. I almost died laughing during their set because the guitar/singer looked to me like Campino of Die Toten Hosen. I loved the faster stuff, almost psychobilly, but the slower songs were too rock n roll and the show lacked the energy in my opinion. Don´t get me wrong, it is high quality music, but it simply lacked energy for me.

38834113_682191508798359_3327023676280274944_n

The headliners of Monday night were Vandals. The California punk veterans just blew me away with their high octane energetic punkrock show. Joe Escalante and the rest of the fellows delivered blows from all parts of their long time career playing hits like Live Fast Diarrhea, My Girlfriend´s Dead, Oi To The World and they joked a lot in between the songs which only added to the awesome show. Vandals show was for me the highlight of Monday at Punk Rock Holiday. We were tired from the trip and from all of the excitement and drinks, so we didn´t go to the beach party after the shows, sleeping was necessary.

TUESDAY-07.08.2018.

We slept like babies inhaling the mountain clean air, so when we woke up, had some late breakfast and went for a walk through Tolmin to see the military graveyard from World War I.

DSCN0236

Tolmin and surrounding towns like for example Kobarid are perfect not only for mountain climbing, but also for history tourism. The WWI front between Austro Hungarians and Germans on one side and Italians on the other side went through the area and there are many museums, places to see, graveyards, bunkers and trenches if you are into that stuff. The day was so hot that we turned around half the way to the graveyard and returned to Tolmin to have a beer somewhere to cool off. We found a perfect bar with the beautiful wooden terrace and had a beer there, talked, joked and cooled off a while prior to going to the beach.

DSCN0245

The beaches around the festival area are something special. The beautiful colour of rivers Soča and Tolminka are so pleasing for the eye. The air is nice and the water is really cold. I personally can´t bathe in such cold water, but only standing in there was enough to cool me off for a while. We chose Tolminka/Soča estuary for our beach, so it was freezing in the water, but also nice.

DSCN0252

I decided to go and see what´s going on and who is playing at the Beach stage, so I went up there and the rest of the guys soon joined me to check out Dead Neck from UK playing at the Beach stage in the early afternoon hours. Led by Andy Dazzler, Dead Neck delivered their fast paced, energetic and melodic punk hardcore and the crowd was very pleased despite the heat and Sun.

DSCN0262

We were so hungry, so we wanted to get back to the house, prepare our meal, drink something and make ourselves ready for the evening shows, so we returned to the house. This time we baked chicken in the oven, along with tasty vegetables. The chicken looked big, but afterwards we attacked it, not much was left he-he.

Little by little, the time has come for the evening shows to start at the main stage. We drank a little, met with the people who we didn´t see a long time, so we came to the stage just when The Menzingers played their last song of the set, so we didn´t get to see much of their show.

I saw Comeback Kid from Canada for the first time there and they practically blew me away with their fantastic mixture of energetic melody and more aggressive hardcore. They gave a high energy show with a lot of jumping, moshing, stage diving and the rest of hardcore punk folklore. Their show was shadowed with one unfortunate incident when one guy got hurt by stage diving and the ambulance had to take him away. Fortunately the guy is okay, I saw him the day after at the festival. I have an impression that this year some stage divers just did not look after themselves and the people in the crowd enough. Comeback Kid finished their set with one of their most beloved anthems Wake the Dead.

Terror was just too angry for us and too metal for us to watch, so we went to have a look at the merch and drink a couple of drinks while they played.

I saw No Fun At All at PRH in 2016.for the first time. Now, with some changes in the lineup and new album out, their show was even better in my opinion than that one in 2016. The Swedes delivered the fantastic setlist of the old favorites like Out of Bounds, Master Celebrator, Beat Em Down, but also the favorites from the new album like Spirit went along well with the crowd. It was very heartwarming to see how both the band and us in front of the stage enjoy their show so much.

Mad Caddies from California headlined the Tuesday main stage. I saw them live for the first time and their show really made my heart warm. They played their mixture of punkrock, reggae and ska with all of their hits from their long time album catalog being there. The fans just enjoyed the hits Monkeys, Contraband, couple of songs from the new cover album and of course the awesome ballad Drinking for 11. Mad Caddies played the longer set of the day with the crowd just not letting them off the stage and nobody wanted the magic to end. Mad Caddies were absolutely one of the best performances on this festival. After the shows we had a couple of drinks and went to sleep and get some rest.

WEDNESDAY-08.08.2018.

It was the middle of the week and of the festival, so we had somewhat different plans for that day. Since we had scheduled interviews for the afternoon, we went to town to buy stuff for delicious pizza. We had some really good fun in the town and then went back home to prepare for the interviews.

Me and Allegra ran to the press area, did No Fun At All, Chaser and Satanic Surfers interviews. Then in the heat and sweat we ran back home to eat some pizza that our beautiful friends baked in the oven and left us. I was so excited with the interviews and meeting all those awesome bands, that I couldn´t eat really much. Then we ran back to the press area, because we were scheduled for H2O interview at 19:00 hrs. I was very nervous but all the guys from all the bands we interviewed were nicest guys on this planet.

38824973_10214907781641065_208869383500464128_n

Meanwhile the show on the main stage started, so we managed to see and hear only the last three songs The Bombpops performed and we were surprised how this band sounded great. I wasn˙t impressed with their records, but the melodic punk music those two girls and two guys make on stage is pure love.

38885453_10214925267838209_9073622607600812032_n

We missed Voodoo Glow Skulls set, because we went to grab a couple of drinks after all the excitement with the interviews that afternoon. We needed a couple of drinks with our beautiful friends.

H2O played in Zagreb about a little more than a year ago, but this set at Punk Rock Holiday and the energy they provided was way better than the gig in Croatia.

38817203_246913629273621_8684698299447377920_n

They played the songs from all of their releases except the cover album, so we were blessed to hear Sunday, Fairweather Friend, Still Here, Five Year Plan, Guilty By Association, Everready and more. Toby´s son Maximus played drums on Nothing To Prove and he did it superb! Of course, What Happened To The Passion was the grand finale with crowd invading the stage and everyone singing along loud. Toby Morse and company gave us the show full of hardcore positivity, friendship, stagediving and moshing and above all positive mental attitude! One of the best shows of this year˙s PRH for sure!

I was really excited I am gonna see and hear Satanic Surfers for the first time in my life. Those Swedish guys were really big among our crew in the 90-ies and we knew their albums by heart back then. The singer Rodrigo was also drumming and singing first after 16 years because the original drummer stayed back home because he became a father couple of days ago. Although they have a new album out and it is awesome, they didn´t include the songs from the new album in the set, they only played the old and legendary stuff like Armless Skater, And the Cheese Fell Down, leaving Don´t Skate On My Ramp and Head Under Water for the grand finale. I was totally impressed with the speed these guys play with and with the amount of delivered hardcore force and the melody mixed with positive political messages like antifascism, antihomophobia and antixenophobia. I love these guys and I love their music. For the end of their set, No Fun At All bassist took the bass guitar, Andy went on drums, so Rodrigo could sing and crowd surf. Awesome memory for us!

38790244_10214907793001349_517200335446474752_n

Headlining main stage were Beatsteaks from Germany. I once saw those guys at Mind Over Matter festival in Austria in 1999.and I wasn´t impressed. Nowadays, they sound more like a noise/alternative indie band than punk band they were in their beginnings. The people, mainly Germans, had much fun during their set but to me they sounded boring with all the electronica, double drumkits, too experimental and they played way too many covers. Just not my cup of tea.

38872333_10214907794441385_2377425472494501888_n

After the shows we went to the Beach stage where we joined the party. First, American Socks had their party with dancing, fooling around, even some of us break danced hehe and later on Dirty Skunks continued to DJ punk and hardcore and we partied there till the early morning hours drinking, singing and dancing. Great times!

THURSDAY-09.08.2018.

We slept longer that day and when we woke up, we decided to have a big and rich breakfast to regain some energy for another awesome day with awesome lineup.

38924288_10214915093743863_446904953605193728_n

After regaining our strength me and Allegra went to the press area to do The Lillingtons and Misconduct interviews and the rest of the crew went to the Beach Stage to check out the music there.

When we got there Adrenalized from Spain were playing an awesome set with high speed energetic metalised hardcore punk. The impressive crowd danced, sang along and stage dived with the Spaniards playing their hearts out.

As the Sun was still up and burning, there was something special going on at American Socks acoustic stage and that was Misconduct acoustic show. Who was there will know what I am writing about, that show was all about love, unity, friendship, singing and dancing and all of us had tears of joy in our eyes and the urge to hug the person standing next to you.

Main stage shows started and the first ones to open it were Mute from Canada. I love their music which is a mixture of metal and skatepunk and they play technically superb yet catchy fast songs with melodic guitar solos and I literally saw thunder from their instruments and amps while watching them stomp all over the stage. All of the hits were there Fill the Void, Dagger, and for the end of their set awesome Bates Motel and then they invited the crowd to join them on stage for the cover Be With You. Loved their show!

We went to grab something to eat while stage makeover and we just got back in time for Bad Cop/Bad Cop set. The four girls played PRH for the first time and were awed by the reception of the crowd. They play melodic punkrock, but with the lyrics against wife beaters, how to help prevent suicide, feminism and their set ruled. All of the gems like Victoria, Sugarcane, Nigtmare, Womanarchist along with Cheers and many others were their in their set and we danced, sang and it was an awesome premiere for girls at PRH.

One of the reasons we waited Thursday eagerly were The Lillingtons. It was also their premiere at Punk Rock Holiday although Kody played there already with Teenage Bottlerocket. Their show was really something different and special compared to the others meaning it was cold, grim and ritualistic. The band came out under red lights with candles and Baphomet´s head placed on stage and there was almost no interaction between the band and the crowd during their set. Their set included the older Ramones core songs along with newer, different material from my personal favorite new album Stella Sapiente. I still get goosebumps when I remember this show!

After the awesome three sets, we needed rest so we went to drink something, so we missed Talco set but as far as we could hear, the Italians provided the awesome party for which their gigs are known.

Lagwagon headlined Thursday night and I was really looking forward to their show, remembering an awesome set they played two years ago in the same place. When they entered the stage and started to play into the first couple of songs, it was obvious that something was wrong. After playing couple of songs like Violins, Island of Shame, Coffee and Cigarettes, they performed the album Let´s Talk About Feelings in its entirety celebrating the 20th birthday of that album. I am personally not the fan of that album so it was pretty boring for me while they played it. Also, musically was everything okay, but Joey Cape´s performance was just under all average levels. Totally broken voice, too long pauses between the songs and this Lagwagon set was just not on the headliner level for Punk Rock Holiday main stage.

Afterwards, we went to grab a couple of drinks and went home to sleep and prepare for Friday and the grand finale.

FRIDAY-10.08.2018.

The final PRH day is always somehow a little bit sad, because deep in your mind you know that the fun will soon end and you will have to wait for another year to be there again.

We decided to get out there in the afternoon to check out some of the Beach stage bands, have a beer and once again cool ourselves off in Soča river. When we got there Young Hearts from Belgium just started to play their set.

 

I must admit that I have never heard of these guys prior to their set at PRH, but I am glad that I discovered this band. They play an excellent mix of melodic skatepunk and hardcore and the crowd including me were very pleased with their superb set they delivered in the early afternoon hours.

I have seen Trash Candy from Slovenia play at another festival in Slovenia like two years ago and I was eager to see and hear how they sound now. Trash Candy play powerful pop punk similar to the Croatian band Kraj Programa and to me they are a bit too poppy but that´s only me. The people there enjoyed their show and their music was great despite the nervousness the singer showed in the first two or three songs. Hey, nobody should be nervous, it´s PRH, we are all family there!

Afterwards we returned home to eat delicious tuna/pasta/vegetables salad and to have a couple of drinks prior to returning to the main stage for the grand festival finale. So, we drank a bit and joked, so we missed the Rebuke show and returned to the main stage just in time for the last two songs by Adhesive.

38879502_10214925272478325_2919899663253372928_n

Now was the time for Misconduct to take their place on the stage. The Swedes are one of the bands that we waited eagerly since we heard who was playing this year, and their acoustic show the previous day was a very emotional and beautiful experience.  Despite some problems during their set, they played all the hits like Blood On My Hands, Ready To Go, We Are As One, Solution…

38955274_2056692174644172_4790634323281707008_n

Singer/guitar player Fredrik talked a lot betweeen the songs about love, unity, friendship and importance of staying and fighting together, keeping our planet safe and taking care of each other. That is the whole meaning of philosophy behind the hardcore movement isn´t it? They triumphantly finished their set with Never Going Down with Fredrik singing and crowdsurfing. For me, it was a very emotional experience and my old hardcore heart was full of pride and joy after their set.

After such energetic show we had to get our impressions together, drink a couple of drinks, hang out some more with some people that we don´t see very often, so we missed Authority Zero and Lawrence Arms shows.

38908256_10214925286238669_1835310624469417984_n

Grand finale was upon us and that finale was coming to us in shape of Bad Religion. I have never seen the legends live and I was so happy that finally I will be enjoying their show. Indeed, they didn´t disappoint when they started their set with Generator, the first song I personally heard back in the days when I was a kid. They threw hits like You, 21st Century Digital Boy, Punkrock Song, Anesthesia, I Want To Conquer The World, American Jesus, Recipe For Hate and many others.

38984964_461347931033764_4466277207676813312_n

Somewhere at the half of their set, the banner with the band logo fell down and beneath lay the banner with the cover of Suffer, the legendary album which celebrates 30th birthday this year. So, Bad Religion played the second half of their set that album in its entirety. I am still impressed how this band does it. Every note, every sound is correct, they sound like a well oiled giant machine.

All good things come to an end, so PRH ended leaving us hungry for more and packing for our journey back home. Once more this festival proved that there is none like it, none better and this is the place where everyone can be happy and it is the most beautiful place in the world. See you next year at PRH 1.9.