Location: Cvetličarna Mediapark/ Ljubljana/ Slovenia
Concert date: 23.01.2008
Attendance: 900
Ticket price: 15€ on the day of the show
On Thursday, January 24, Cvetličarna Mediapark hosted a big launch show for Tide, who presented their new record “Nothing to Lose”. Critics say it’s better and more mature than its predecessor “Seven days”, which came out in 2005. The presentation was spiced up with hits from the first record and with guests Tomislav Jovanovič – Tokac (Dan D), Grega Skočir (Big Foot Mama) and Zoran Čalič – Zoki (Big Foot Mama, Majke), plus a surprise of the night.
After an hour of waiting (which annoyed quite a few people), the guys picked up their instruments at exactly 10 PM (that’s also when the hall started filling up much faster than it had an hour earlier) and kicked off the show with Leaving It All Behind. Two tracks from the first record followed – Release My Gun and Misunderstood. After just the first three songs, the crowd (heads bobbing at every age, from fifteen- to fifty-year-olds) made it clear that this was shaping up to be another unforgettable rock event, and the nervousness you could spot in the band from the front row soon settled down too.
Next came Fair Enough, then a jump back to an older track, Leave This Place. The guys carried on with one of the bigger tracks from the new record – No Place Left To Go. During Do You Know The Sound, plenty of people probably wondered whether they know their own way … or whether they’re maybe Lost Inside.
Then came a run of the newest songs, kicked off with The Urge. Fade Away was loaded with emotion, as singer Kevin Koradin dedicated it (in his words) to “one of the best bass players I’ve ever known”. After that they played Like It Slow. If it seemed at first like the crowd wasn’t keeping up with the band (probably also because most people there didn’t know the songs yet), that changed as the night went on, and the crowd started swaying along to the rhythms the guys were pulling out of their instruments. Two great musicians joined Tide on stage – Grega Skočir and Zoran Čalič – Zoki – and left a special mark on Shooting Straight. Even though Grega was (once again) totally in his own world, you could see he was enjoying the show like crazy and backing a band that has plenty more to offer. For Following, Tomislav Jovanovič – Tokac replaced Grega and Zoki, and what can I say, that was another winning combination. Definitely the highlight of the night! After the show, the guys said they picked these guests because they’re the real rockers of our beloved little country.
At the riffs of the first single from the new record, Waiting for the rain, the crowd literally lost it, and the song earned the biggest applause up to that point. The madness continued with an excellent cover of My Generation by The Who. After one last jump back to the first record with Evolution, the guys played Something Else. Tide closed the show with another cover, which they put on the new record alongside their own songs – Kick Out The Jams by MC5. Zoki joined them on stage for this one too, and we finally got the surprise of the night – Lado Bizovičar, who rushed onto the stage in the last gasps of the song and sang it out to the end with Tide. Sadly, Lado didn’t win the crowd over, and questions were popping up about what he was actually there for – did he just come to show off, or …? Quite a few of us agreed, though, that he was a welcome bit of spice.
After more than an hour and a half of superb rock’n’roll partying in a packed Ljubljana Cvetličarna, the guys will continue the launch tour with shows in Slovenian clubs, and you’ll also be able to catch them beyond Slovenia’s borders, in Italy and Croatia. All night long the air was filled with that genuine positive energy that made it clear Tide really work as a unit and love the music they make.
Our photographer and I were outside Cvetličarna at 8 PM, probably the only ones there, and honestly my heart nearly stopped when I heard sound coming from the hall and not a single soul anywhere outside. Yeah, my heart skipped a beat, because I thought the guys had already started the show… Luckily my fear faded when a security guard told me the concert would start a bit later today and they weren’t letting anyone in yet. What a relief, I could finally breathe, but on the other hand it was freezing outside and we were doomed to a wintry “open air” shiver. We tried to shake off the discomfort by wandering around the POP TV and VPK buildings looking for a bar. That mission paid off too, and soon quite a few of us were sitting over tea and coffee, wondering what was going on.
Tide’s concert promoting their second studio record “Nothing To Lose” (2007), announced for 8 PM, ended up starting at 10 PM. I think there’s only one reason – to get as many people in as possible. Given the delay, the hall did fill up quite nicely. I’ve seen it more packed before, but still, an enviable result.
The guys stepped on stage around 10 PM, full of confidence but a bit too reserved. Like they weren’t used to such a big crowd, or were scared of promoting the new album. Out of the first three songs, Release My Gun stood out the most, where the guys loosened up for a moment, and the hungry crowd shook their butts too, because that song has really caught on with Slovenian audiences so far. The sound in the hall was optimal. It’s been ages since I heard a sound this punchy and clean at the same time, and the four on stage played without a single mistake, which is a big plus.
So why was the crowd so cold? I get the feeling Kevin hadn’t found the right way to talk to the audience, while the audience didn’t let itself be led, since only a handful of people knew the new album. There were hardly any true fans to be seen, but plenty of people who came to Cvetličarna just to hang out a bit and be seen, though in the end that’s a kind of support too. Still, it’s a shame people didn’t give Tide a chance, as right now they’re one of the most melodic bands on our turf.
A big surprise followed when Grega Skočir (Big Foot Mama) and Zoran Čalič- Zoki (Big Foot Mama, Majke) joined the four talented guys from the coast as guests. Not only was it a surprise, Like It Slow was played with all the feeling and truly incredible energy, not to mention the sound coming out of the speakers. The highlight of the night! For the next song, none other than Tomislav Jovanovič – Tokac (Dan D) took the mic, and the Tokac-Kevin combination is seriously toxic. Even though Tokac pulled a cheat sheet out of his pocket with the lyrics written on it, probably nobody held it against him, because he did his job really splendidly and with dignity.
Time flew, the new record had largely been presented, and the encore followed. Sadly the guys got too meager an encore, or you could call it a quasi-encore, but luckily that had exactly the opposite effect on them. After the encore they came back on stage like they’d been reborn, brand new and relaxed… The closer it got to the end, the rougher and more merciless the guys were with their instruments, and as a result the distance between the crowd and the band shrank considerably. Toward the end of the show most of the hall was jumping in the air and throwing themselves left and right.
As a final treat, the guys had one more surprise in store: right at the end of Kick Out The Jams, originally by MC5, the great musical master (better known from TV screens) – Lado Bizovičar – joined them on stage. He also did his job very confidently, and we girls drooled a little too .
And so the guys successfully brought another show home, and the launch of their freshly baked album “Nothing To Lose” (2007) went great for them. We’ll definitely see each other at some club, where I hope they’ll be a little more relaxed.
Setlist
1. Leaving It All Behind
2. Release My Gun
3. Misunderstood
4. Fair Enough
5. Leave This Place
6. No Place Left To Go
7. Do You Know The Sound
8. Lost Inside
9. The Urge
10. Fade Away
11. Like It Slow
12. Shooting Straight
13. Following
14. Waiting For The Rain
15. My Generation
16. Evolution
17. Something Else
18. Kick Out The Jams
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