Location: Briščiki (Opčine – Trieste), Italy
Concert date: October 20, 2006
Attendance: 2,000
Ticket price: 1,700.00 SIT
Opčine and Riblja Čorba. Italy and Riblja Čorba? Huh? Sounds pretty far-fetched, especially when you remember that Riblja Čorba and we Slovenes once lived in the same country. Or was it sabotage again, a right hook from the current wreckers of the Slovenian establishment, that forced the fish stew to be cooked in the Slovenian borderlands instead of in the Slovenian capital? Ah, let’s drop the gossip… gossip that’s light years away from healthy music and healthy, down-to-earth merrymaking, which we Slovenes are so often bloody short on.
Opčine is without a doubt a lovely hay-meadow home turf, and for the second half of October an especially welcome spot, whenever a warm Littoral-Karst breeze blows over it and delivers a visit from the legends of yu-rock. It was more of a mini festival under a big tent canopy, where some 2,000 people warmed up and partied together. We were very late. We were switched off, hungry for grill, party, grease (what the hell, bre, you idiot!!!), beer (come on, bro!) and yet too switched off to catch Outsider and Šank Rock. They had long since said their own mass. And on top of that, the accreditation got a bit tangled. Anyway, when you find out everything at the last minute, it usually comes down to the wire. Somehow we squeezed through the eye of the backstage needle anyway, for which I have the big support of Miškot – the boss of Outsider – and of course the organizer’s generosity to thank. Our big Yoda was practically melting with joy that he’d finally get to go nuts in front of Bora Đorđević. Quite a few acquaintances I hadn’t seen in a trillion years surprised me by showing up. Italians, of course, were nowhere to be seen. You could even pay in Slovenian tolars and order a Union. Gorgeous.
Riblja Čorba played for two hours. Two full hours and a full 20 songs, a repertoire that was of course a guaranteed recipe for an all-out party. People were jumping below the stage, and the tent was practically carried off every time the crowd joined in on Bora’s singing.
Standard stuff! The juicy jokes Bora has been using at gigs for a good decade kept the energy high. An approach of optimal cynicism you don’t run into every day at shows in our parts, and Riblja Čorba’s protected, instantly recognizable trademark was brought back to life. The old-timers tight, routine, in a good mood, and Bora planted in the center like a true mafia godfather. Gray mane, baseball cap on top, sunken, tired eyes that have seen a lot and lived through a lot, many a cigarette smoked carefully down to the tip of the filter, a few thick glittering chains and crusader obelisks around his neck hanging almost down to his belt buckle, and what’s the heart of it all? Magical charisma. The cheeky charisma of the great leader kept pulling flattering responses out of the audience: “Bora majstore, Bora majstore,…!!!” The man left nobody short. With his banter between songs he scored a bullseye every single time!
The party flew by extremely fast. Through air saturated with the smoke of all sorts of brews, from mass cigarette puffing to singing joints, scorched pljeskavicas and deep-fried oil, swarms of differently colored spotlight beams flashed and kept the legendary band’s excellent stage show on its feet. Bora of course didn’t stay indifferent to his Montenegrin brothers and the gentler sex. In dedication to the latter he once more explained the meaning of the word P.I.Ć.K.A. (Partija Iskrenih Ćastitelja Kulture Alkohola). So nothing bad at all, dear ladies! As an encore, with the sounds of Ostani đubre do kraja and Lutka sa naslovne strane the solid Riblja Čorba was finally forced to say goodbye to the heated crowd, which was loudly demanding another legendary classic from the band.
Bora and the band stayed available to everyone after the gig too, when a whole procession of fans squeezed in front of Bora wanting to take a photo with him. I don’t know how it went from there, we were wrecked and craving rest, so we headed back to Ljubljana, but it was surely still blazing hot, it’s always hot when authentic Balkan energy hits our parts, the only question is how much of it you actually get out of it. It would definitely have been popping at way higher frequencies if we’d caught Riblja Čorba down south. So pretty routine, with Bora & co. saving their energy, but for a party you’d struggle to find a better location when Riblja Čorba happens to be on it. In short, satisfied. Everybody raving. We want more!
Setlist
1. Zvezda potkrovlja i suterena
2. Nojeva barka
3. Srbin je lud
4. Sponzori
5. Jedino moje
6. Poslednja pesma
7. Zelena trava
8. Dva dinara druže
9. Nemoj srećo, nemoj danas
10. Dobro jutro
11. Gdje si u ovom glupom hotelu
12. Odlazak u grad
13. Ja ću da pevam
14. Amsterdam
15. Avione slomiću ti krila
16. Kad padne noć (upomoć)
17. Anđele
—encore—
18. Kad sam bio mlad
19. Ostani đubre do kraja
20. Lutka sa naslovne strane
