Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Cvetličarna Mediapark, Ljubljana
Concert date: January 28, 2009
Attendance: 1,000
Ticket price: €20/€25
Gigs by bands from our former shared homeland have long drawn good crowds in Slovenia. But the five musicians under Damir Urban’s baton aren’t populist crowd-pleasers like Tony Cetinski, Lepa Brena or Ceca. They’re quality players who make good music, stay true to their own path, and still keep up with the times, and people love listening to them for good reason. You could feel it in the air at Thursday’s show in a jam-packed Cvetličarna.
The Croatian musicians served up a two-hour set that included songs from the albums Otrovna kiša (1996), Žena dijete (1998) and Retro (2004). They didn’t leave out those of us who were secretly hoping for something from the era of Damir’s former band Laufer, either. And sure enough, the fifth song in crept into our ears and under our skin: Moja voda, this time in an almost acoustic version, with the crowd in the lead a cappella role. Thank you, guys! Maybe you had to push yourselves a bit for that one, but trust me, you made plenty of us very happy. The next track, Astronaut, didn’t disappoint either. My mind wandered to Bowie’s Major Tom, helped along by Damir’s stage presence, which is very much that of a magical extraterrestrial who just happens to get his fashion advice from the lady we all know well, Mrs. Josipa Lisac. But this wizard knows exactly what he’s doing and what’s going on around him. He’s managed to draw the right people into his orbit, people who realize his musical vision brilliantly: quality pop rock with the occasional dash of exciting electronic loops.
It also has to be said that the songs of Urban & 4 get an extra spark live. Guitarist Luka Toman and bassist Sandi Bratonja make a wonderful tandem, diving into improvisation with real passion and creating that concert extra that only top-notch musicians can pull off. Sandi gladly joins Urban on the vocal parts, while the frontman makes no secret of being a former bassist himself. He just couldn’t help putting his fingers on Sandi’s bass for a few bars. And let’s not forget Saša Markovski on keyboards, whose parts added the atmospheric cherry on top, or drummer Marko Bradaschia, who lost quite a few drops of sweat and megajoules of energy over the two-hour show, and helped out with backing vocals too.
So, a concert that was definitely worth catching. Their performance wasn’t just a replay of the studio recordings but a kind of sonic journey through the different periods of their work. At times you couldn’t even tell where one song ended and the next began, which only added to the sense that the whole event was a concept piece.
At the end, it wasn’t only the audience who were satisfied but the musicians themselves, who shared a buddy-style hug before leaving the stage. The knowing response of the mostly Slovenian crowd had clearly filled them with positive energy.
Photos: Tanja Goršič
Setlist
1. Uvod 2. Ruke 3. Samo 4. Glas 5. Kauboji 6. Moja voda 7. Astronaut 8. Nebo 9. Moja 10. Spelujem ti 11. Robot 12. Mala truba 13. Mjesto za mene 14. Odlučio sam ENCORE: 15. Otrovna kiša 16. Nuclear baby 17. Black tatoo
Photo Gallery
