Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Tvrđava KAstel / Banja Luka / Bosnia and Herzegovina
Concert date: June 26, 2010
Attendance: 1,200
Ticket price: €18.00
Who would’ve thought it. Lene kosti. When they got back together after 17 years of silence, the band didn’t just step on stage once and hand out a few sweets of nostalgia to the old, grey-haired fans who never forgot them from their most notorious days of metal might! No. Between November 2008 and 2010, Lene kosti consolidated into a solid unit. In September 2009 they first put out an album of their demo recordings, a month later they headed into the studio, and in March 2010 they self-released the album “Do Or Die”. They crowned it all with countless shows at home and abroad, and especially thanks to their well-honed, energetic stage performances they won plenty of sympathy among younger listeners and fans of hard-edged sound too.
And so the big event arrived. The so-called miracle day, June 26, 2010. It sent the band off to the Banja Luka festival called Banja Luka Rock Open Air. When I glance back for a second, I can’t believe where the past year went, since the festival’s organizer and program director Boško Beuk and I, talking exclusively over email, sealed the deal and arranged everything needed for the creators of Slovenian heavy metal to show up on the festival stage.
| Departure from Ljubljana, at 2:00 a.m. |
Here we are! Jani, the brand-new driver of Lene kosti, pulls up in front of the Mercator parking lot on Šmartinska in the middle of Nove Jarše. So we’re right in the heartland of Lene kosti! Everything’s set. The situation is typical. The Kavaš brothers are shamelessly, not to say provocatively, phlegmatic, and “Dr. Evil” is as usual overloaded with nerves tied in a Gordian knot. The details worried Milan so much that with his iron willpower he managed to convince me that one of the passengers to Banja Luka was surplus. All respect to the genius of the impenetrable power of the mind, the first throat of Lene kosti, but I haven’t been this confused since my last math test in school, sometime around May 1989. Convinced I’d miscounted, I send photographer and former Lene kosti bassist Dare Brenko home. Dare makes peace with his fate and turns back the way his legs brought him, and the rest of us pile into the van. And lo and behold. We count: a quintet (the band), a (verified sober) driver, merch girl Andreja, known to all as the venerable first lady of Lene kosti, aka Mrs. Krušič, and finally the cowed manager whose cheeks were still burning red (good thing it was dark). Five plus three is probably eight! So they say! “Brenkooooooo?!?!??!” What on earth must poor Dare have really been thinking?
A concise overture to an adventure full of great fun and interesting twists sent the crew heading south. Meanwhile a high-pressure system had swept over Slovenia, so the drive south filled us with skepticism. We were driving straight into the arms of heavy rain, in other words chasing the rain we’d barely shaken off in Slovenia. After a few stops at “smoke breaks” we finally stand at the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. So we’re entering Republika Srpska. The ATA carnet papers, which turned my hair properly grey during the prep for the assault on Banja Luka, proved to be a truly necessary evil. Our Jani, meanwhile, took quite a few solid scoldings from the border officials of both countries. On the Croatian side the customs officers even advised us: “Fire him! This one’s incompetent!”, while when entering Republika Srpska the customs officer, inspecting the van, asked us to continue only if we played him “Moravac”.
| Arrival at the venue, 8:00 a.m.: |
The shops had barely opened in Banja Luka and the coffee machines had barely fired up in the cafés when Lene kosti come puffing into town and rush straight to the festival grounds. Kastel Fortress! An idyllic spot in an ancient stronghold. We really couldn’t have wished for a nicer venue. The sun was breaking through the clouds, raising hope that the weather would hold. I dial Boško Beuk’s number. “Be there in 20 minutes!” comes the answer on the other end. The stage had survived the second day of the festival. The meadow in front of it hadn’t been cleaned up yet. But judging by the lonely cups lying in the grass, that was far from a good sign. We could suspect that the second day’s turnout had been downright dismal, which later chatter from the visitors confirmed.
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The bad weather contributed some, and the rest came from the late cancellation of all the headliners who had confirmed they’d play the festival. Among them were MM Classic Whitesnake (feat. Stefan Berggren), a lineup of ex-Whitesnake members made up of Micky Moody, Bernie Marsden and Neil Murray, then Ray Wilson (ex-Genesis), who was supposed to present Genesis classics in an orchestral form, and good old “Yugoslav” Dado Topić with his Time. Boško turns up and serves us the news that the lineup has been shuffled, that Lene kosti are playing half an hour later than announced, and that they’ll be followed by the Serbian punks Ritam nereda, who, given their popularity in this part of the world, are literally sworn brothers with Banja Luka. Why did all this happen? The festival got no support whatsoever, not from the municipality, not from the city of Banja Luka, not from the state (Ministry of Culture). But all is fine as long as Boško Beuk is around. Boško is one hell of a man. A man of his word and his deeds. In the spirit of professionalism he sent us off to the Merriot hotel and invited us to a soundcheck at 1:00 p.m.
| Hotel check-in, soundcheck (10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) |
We get to the Merriot at 10:00. And lo and behold! Sleepless bones are not allowed in. The guests of the packed three-star hotel haven’t been kicked out of their rooms yet, and the deadline for that is noon! Fried heads set off on foot into the city center and camp out in one of the fast-food joints. The sky turns dangerously dark. At 12:30 we finally close our eyes for half an hour, but a bit past 1:00 we’re already scaring people at the soundcheck. Simke the security guy, who we became friends with in an instant, fascinated by Milan’s “screaming”, killed it with this line: “Who’s this guy? Halford again, just a bit smaller and chubbier?” What can anyone even say to a remark like that: “This is just our warm-up!” That was a good sign. Meanwhile the sky started pissing down. And it never stopped. When it rains, it pours!
Eating again! This time on the festival’s tab. Thanks, Boško. They hid the Le Coq restaurant from us really well, and as we wandered around Banja Luka looking for it, the locals could only stare helplessly and bewildered at these total creatures from another dimension, offending a healthy view of the world: “Lene kosti? Who? A stroll? Never heard of them.” Stomachs loaded to critical capacity, ready for lounging around, we have about two hours left to rest.
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| Arrival at the festival, press conference and concert (8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.) |
Sweating it out on stage are Raskršće, young Serbian lads playing hard rock, from Zrenjanin. A few originals, into which they mixed covers of bands like Europe and Whitesnake, among others. Guys with talent, but not enough mileage. A pretty static set with quite a few nasty mistakes didn’t shake up the crowd, which barely stirred along the stage barrier to mixing desk stretch.
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Next up are the hometown boys from Banja Luka, Four Roses. They showed a lot more stage experience and got more of the crowd involved. During the Banja Luka band’s set it even stopped raining altogether. The softer rockers, who lean heavily on a naturally shaped sound of acoustic origin, got a bit boring with a few drawn-out jam numbers. They tried to warm up the crowd with them, but no earthquakes were registered.
Now it was getting real. Four Roses leave the stage at 9:30 sharp, the very hour when our “Dr. Evil” sits down at the press conference table with Boško and two members of Ritam nereda. The rest of Lene kosti boarded the stage. 15 minutes to set up the sound is pure paradise. And that was ideal for sorting out all the details. The guys got the sound together, with only the main bass guitar amp acting up, which had been mercilessly rumbling and farting the whole time (during the soundcheck too) and thus mentally derailing the sound techs. They really did give it their absolute best and offered the band fantastic support, and the band hit it full throttle at the announced time. At 15 minutes to ten in the evening the bones cut loose with I got the… A short warm-up gives way to the fiery Nightmare, and the view from the stage is unbelievable. Where did all these people come from? The barrier was shaking dangerously. Would it hold? All that crush against the barrier, barely 1,000 people. Well, no more could fit. And it was still pissing down from the sky. And what does the crowd do? In Slovenia they usually scurry under a safe roof where they pour beer (even 100 m from the stage or more, if need be), but in Banja Luka? They don’t let it bother them. “Dr. Evil,” with his boxy frame, won the crowd over in an instant so they were eating out of his hand, took absolute control of the venue, and from then on everyone danced to his tune. Talking to them in Serbian, constant eye contact, efficient use of the “cat-walk” runway, where “Dr. Evil” showed there’s a real little circus acrobat hiding inside him. If your stage role model is Ronnie James Dio, and for clothes you go with Rob Halford (Judas Priest), you can easily morph into a true iron dictator.
The crowd literally followed Lene kosti through every exhale and inhale of the set. The peak of the show was the band’s gesture of giving a brand-new electric guitar to a lucky member of the crowd. For that purpose Dr. Evil blindly flung a plastic egg off the stage, and a girl caught it below the stage. Surprised? Girls always grab everything. Picks, drumsticks, sweatbands, set lists, you name it… Anyway, the girl could hardly come to after the rapid sequence of events. Milan sent a security guard to get her and ordered him to bring her up on stage. Wish granted, guitar handed over! But so that nobody else would feel left out, the bones thought of them too. “Dr. Evil” tossed a sackful of official band T-shirts into the crowd. And he didn’t forget to tuck signed autograph cards into the bundles with the shirts. In short. No joking around! Playing all out. In the rhythm of “Do or Die”!
Lene kosti had already shown exceptional tightness in a few rehearsals in May and June. The jump in form to the highest level was owed especially to W.U.K.O. joining the band. And it wasn’t just the stage chemistry: Dr. Evil stunned with the power of his vocals, which he kept up through the whole hour-long set. He sang all out and totally relaxed, like I’d never had the chance to watch him from below the stage. He was hotter than ever! Level-headed on the inside, holding on to that sliver of a need to stay in control of events, but outwardly fired up like the hottest embers! W.U.K.O. went completely nuts on the drums. He wound the rhythm up to a higher speed. The band hadn’t yet played the songs this fast since the reunion. The Kavaš brothers suffered most from it, especially Marc, who had to solo even faster. This time Lene kosti played without their horror show theater. They were testing the Banja Luka ground. If they’re accepted this time around, I’d be shocked if they didn’t come back one day with the full stage show of lovely bleeding!
The hour flies by in a blink. By now almost naked, “Dr. Evil” pulls off a theatrical drop to his knees in the style of a proper “power slide” on the closing “tongue” of the “cat-walk” runway, and the people below the stage are going fanatically wild! The band slowly wraps up the set with “Do Or Die”, and in the outro Marc, Giovanni, W.U.K.O. and Grega switch to a variation on Chuck Berry’s Johny B. Goode, which they always weave into Do Or Die! That’s when Dr. Evil leaves the stage, the “sworn-brother” security guard Simke shoots off like an arrow from a catapult and escorts Milan as the singer shakes hands with the front rows below the stage.
It’s over. A pack of autograph cards still makes its way among the fans. Yes. Now we can talk about fans. People didn’t hide their good mood and enthusiasm. Lene kosti are theirs now. After the show a whole line of people gathered in front of Milan, wanting to take pictures with the singer. You don’t get that everywhere. Of course the singer was swarmed like flies by media reps, to whom he gave a few short statements after the concert.
When the excellent Serbian alternative rockers Ritam nereda took the stage around midnight, it was no less packed. Ritam nereda delivered the best sound of the night. They also have a loyal and sizable fan base in this part of the country, and the festival, nearing its end, was fulfilling its purpose despite the weather horror show. There was no shortage of positive energy, relaxed switching off and laughter. Wherever you looked. And that’s the point of rock music. A party across all borders. And that’s what the festival delivered. For all the praise, there’s just one minus. In the “backstage” you couldn’t find a single lonely bottle of water, so the band just had to gasp like fish out of water for a while.
| Aftershow party in Banja Luka (2:00 a.m. to 4:30 a.m.) |
By the time Ritam nereda played, Lene kosti had already thoroughly mingled with the crowd. Milan, who somehow managed to shake off all the curious fans, headed straight to the hotel, while the rest of the crew carried on with their after show party in the Banja Luka nightclub City Pub. Time and space disappeared. We were carried along by a post-orgasmic energy of joy and carefreeness, the feeling of a job well done. They say that’s when the happiness hormone carries you. The devil knows. After all that grinding, going all out on fun really hits the spot. Nobody counted the mugs of beer, and a 10 out of 10 surely went to the club’s DJ, who provided a truly tasty musical repertoire. The Kavaš brothers invented a new dance step that could be christened the “Lene kosti tango”.
| Morning of June 27, 2010, and the trip back to Slovenia: |
A morning farewell to Boško and Raskršće (with whom we shared the hotel services), settling the bills, best wishes. And we’re sitting in a restaurant again. This time it’s the Jezero restaurant. Tasty, cheap food. I recommend it to everyone who ever heads to Banja Luka: swing by this restaurant.
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At the border a huge line greets us. A “modest” two hours of waiting to fight our way into Croatia and carry on with a trip on which Dare happily survived a deadly arrow shot to the forehead (silly, I know), Milan needlessly searched for personal items of pure prestige (sunglasses, cigarettes), Grega smeared ear wax on Milan’s iPod earphones and ruined them, and W.U.K.O. morphed into a horned grasshopper with antennae…. Just when everything pointed to us sitting down together in Ljubljana for a farewell round, Jani swung the wheel onto the hard shoulder in the middle of the highway a few kilometers before the Krško exit. The driver was instantly drenched in sweat, bathing in a sea of perspiration. Guess why? Have you ever run out of gas? You can’t believe it! That’s clearly the road of fate for Lene kosti. Just when everything’s running calm as oil on water, the cards get shuffled, and just as a Lene kosti show is always unpredictable, so is the band’s daily biorhythm. That’s why you can never be bored with Lene kosti.
The police greet us, and we promise them we’ll move on within half an hour. And still we wait a full two hours! Neither excessive botanizing, owl hooting, nor a pack of smoked cigarettes helps. We’re all waiting for Fico! Fico? What’s Fico got to do with it? Good old Lene kosti’s first drummer Igor Kremenšek, aka Fico, had been driving behind us. He’d come to the festival! Good thing he was behind us, even if we’d have waited for him till morning. With a ten-liter can of fuel and Heineken beer he caught up with us happily, and the rest of the explanation you don’t need from here on, right?
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How to draw a line under it all? You can’t praise enough the hospitality, openness, positivity and good faith of the people of Banja Luka. Sadly, this year didn’t go exactly as the festival organizer planned, but he assures us the festival will stick around and keep the tradition alive. And since it all comes down to money, we have to keep our fingers crossed that the festival, which slid into the red this year, climbs back onto the green branch and breathes again. People in Banja Luka and the surrounding area are hungry for rock, and that’s indisputable. Mission accomplished! Just as Lene kosti enchanted Banja Luka, Banja Luka has enchanted Lene kosti for good. Love at first sight, and may it last.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik (and Lene kosti – archive, Dare Brenko, Milan Krušič, Andreja Krušič)
Setlist
Day two of the festival, June 26, 2010: HUMAN RASKRŠÄ†E FOUR ROSES LENE KOSTI RITAM NEREDA Set list LENE KOSTI: 1. I Got The… 2. Stones Of Death 3. Diamonds And Rust 4. Nightmare 5. Tube Snake Boogie 6. Time For Love 7. Iron Dragon 8. Uninvited Guest 9. Play With Fire 10. Russian Girl 11. Sunrise 12. Warrior 13. Rock Power 14. Do Or Die
Photo Gallery
