Venue: Gala Hala, Metelkova, Ljubljana
Concert date: 09.05.2008
Attendance: 350
Ticket price: €6 with reservation, €8 on the day of the show
Mlade pištole, a.k.a. YounGunZ, closed out this year’s tour of the bigger Slovenian clubs (already the fifth one in a row) on Saturday, May 10 at Gala Hala. Sixty-eight bands from Slovenia and neighboring Croatia entered the contest, but only fifteen made the shortlist. Backed by the already established YounGunZ bands, they played five qualifying nights. The winners of each night then went head to head at the final showdown in Ljubljana’s K4 club, where both the crowd and the jury crowned Celje alternative metallers LastDayHere and Croatia’s Ruiz, a mix of alternative, big beat and danceable pop rhythms, as the winners. The contest winners then joined Munich stars Emil Bulls on a mini tour. Besides the grand finale in Ljubljana, all three bands also played Maribor and Kranj.
Celje’s LastDayHere were the first to take the Gala Hala stage, at 9:35 p.m. They self-released their debut “From Pieces Created” last October, and they kicked off the Ljubljana show with “Burned Inside”, which is also the opening track on that record. The crowd then got to hear their two newest tracks, “Made Mistakes” and “Memories Undone”, which are a notch “harder” than the songs on the debut. Excellent! Even though Gala Hala was still half empty at that hour, the guys didn’t hold back one bit. Sure, the Gala Hala stage is tiny, but vocalist Marko still managed to pull off quite a few spectacular jumps. His energy “infected” the whole crowd, and you couldn’t spot a single person who wasn’t moving. Next came another track from the debut, “Never Coming Around”. You don’t see this kind of tightness from young Slovenian bands at every gig. LastDayHere clearly know what they’re about, and the result is brilliantly executed performances. “Deep Down Surrounded” and “Coming Alive” were two more older songs. Gala Hala had filled up a bit more by now, which made for a more upbeat continuation of the night. Even though it was a Saturday, there were remarkably few people around the whole of Metelkova. The guys played one more older track, “With Opened Eyes”. It’s hard to stand still! One of their newest tunes is “Saved From Falling”, during which they called their friend Matjaž Gorič, singer and guitarist of Dweal, up on stage. He sang the last few lines with them. A welcome little twist that went down well. After roughly forty-five minutes, LastDayHere wrapped up their set with “Standing In Dark”. Their new record is definitely going to sound even better than its predecessor.
Zagreb’s Ruiz! formed in mid-2005 with the aim of making “hard” yet still danceable music. At the end of 2006 they self-released the EP “Taste!”, which has six tracks on it. A debut album will see the light of day soon.
Ruiz! hit the Gala Hala stage at 10:30 p.m. The set opened with “Save Yourself”. You could tell the guys had stage fright, and they didn’t start out as confidently as LastDayHere before them. Although a few heads were bobbing in the crowd, more people were standing still. LastDayHere had clearly spoiled us a bit too much from the start of the night. Next up was “Search”. The nerves still hadn’t let up. The guys already have more than thirty gigs behind them, so the only excuse is that Saturday’s show was their first abroad. “Pornstars From Mars” is an interesting tune, but at times it reminds you of gypsy punks Gogol Bordello, whom we’ve already had the chance to see in Slovenia, including at Cvetličarna Mediapark on April 11 this year (you can read the report from that gig HERE). “I Talk When You Speak” was the next song played. Sadly, Gala Hala emptied out a bit, since folks weren’t getting the action they got during LastDayHere’s set. The stage fright visibly faded for Ruiz!, though, and the guys got into it and showed it. “Rio” and “I Can`t Believe” were the next two tracks. But unfortunately the crowd wasn’t really feeling it. After “You Can`t Have”, Ruiz! served us their newest track, “Lying On The Porch”. Solid. After a good forty minutes, the guys closed their set with “So Around” and “Lets Dance”. Ruiz! are a promising Croatian band, but sadly the Gala Hala crowd wasn’t ready for their dance rhythms.
Everyone, though, was ready for Munich’s Emil Bulls. Gala Hala filled up to the last corner, and the moment the guys walked on stage at half past midnight, the crowd greeted them with a roar. Emil Bulls are pretty well known among Slovenian audiences, having headlined the Rock Otočec festival back in 2005. On April 4, their fifth studio album “The Black Path” came out on the eminent label Sony BMG. The guys kicked things off with an “intro” and then went straight into the first single from that record, “The Most Evil Spell”, whose video you can check out on their Myspace page. “All In Tune” and “To End All Wars” followed. The crowd went wild, and the guys got tangled up in a moshpit. Crazy and painful. But that’s part of gigs like this. “Mirror” was another one of their bigger tracks. The guys played “Cocoon” and “Nothingness” back to back without a break. The heat in Gala was unbearable, sweat was pouring down in streams, but that didn’t stop the eager moshpitters. You could even spot a few girls in the “revelry”. Brave, no doubt about it! After “Symphony”, “Close To The Wind” and “Collapsed”, we were treated to Emil Bulls’ excellent Slovenian. The guys expanded their vocabulary with the words “Zdravo” (hello), “Hvala” (thanks) and “Pivo je dobro” (the beer is good). Well, at least in the context of the evening, it was. Then came “Newborn”, “Smells” and “Worlds Apart”, followed by a short encore break. The crowd didn’t even call them back that eagerly, since it was clear there were still a few songs left on the setlist. They carried on the night with “Volxsundä”. Then came the most anticipated track, “Take On Me”, originally by A-ha. The guys even shot a really interesting video for the song (click HERE to watch). To finish, they played “Leaving You” and brought the show to a close after about an hour and fifteen minutes. The reunion may have been fairly short, but it was all the sweeter.
The Mlade pištole tour is over for this year, and all the bands hungry for success can compete in the contest again next year. And we’ll get to see Emil Bulls in Slovenia again soon, on June 30 at Lent in Maribor.
Words: Lea Lesar
Setlist
LastDayHere:
1. Burned Inside
2. Made Mistakes
3. Memories Undone
4. Never Coming Around
5. Deep Down Surrounded
6. Coming Alive
7. With Opened Eyes
8. Saved From Falling
9. Standing In Dark
Ruiz!:
1. Save Yourself
2. Search
3. Pornstars From Mars
4. I Talk When You Speak
5. Rio
6. I Can`t Believe
7. You Can`t Have
8. Lying On The Porch
9. So Around
10. Let`s Dance
Emil Bulls:
1. Intro
2. The Most Evil Spell
3. All In Tune
4. To End All Wars
5. Mirror
6. Cocoon
7. Nothingness
8. Symphony
9. Close To The Wind
10. Collapsed
11. Newborn
12. Smells
13. Worlds Apart
—– encore —–
14. Volxstundä
15. Take On Me
16. Leaving You
