Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / K4 / Slovenia
Concert date: 16.05.2013
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €8.00 / €10.00
If any band of the new-generation wave is shooting up the ladder in the Balkans, it’s definitely S.A.R.S. (unpack the acronym and you get this gem: »Freshly Amputated Satriani Hand«).
»Kuća časti« is their third studio album, released this March. To celebrate it, S.A.R.S. put together a three-day mini tour of Slovenia. The band’s first stop landed at the newly revived, legendary Ljubljana club K4. Even though the party was announced for ten p.m., we waited until 11:40 p.m. for the doors to the club’s small hall to open. Midweek. No biggie. S.A.R.S. were, after all, discovered by Slovenian students, who are well versed in the laws of nightlife.
Why did the wait turn so many people into bearded, Moses-like figures? Apparently the band kept fine-tuning its sound behind the club’s closed doors until it was 100% sure the sound was good enough to deliver its best show to Ljubljana.
It was worth the wait. The crowd got properly fired up in the meantime! The club was packed to the last corner. Where the hell did they all come from? S.A.R.S. have obviously really caught fire in Slovenia. No two ways about it. It’s a mix of rock, ska and reggae poured into that typical Balkan melos, driven by juicy lines in Serbian that flirt vividly with hip-hop »recitals.« Gleefully blissed out on positive vibes, they call on you to switch off, give in to the party and forget the nuisances that gnaw at you through the daily grind. S.A.R.S. are, in short, the right address for a good time!
Two years have passed since they played the opening act for Elvis Jackson at Križanke in Ljubljana and, to be frank, didn’t exactly leave the impression they could reach a higher level of recognition. Today S.A.R.S. count as one of the most successful music stories to sprout on the territory of the former common state. The hit Buđev lebac from the debut »S.A.R.S.« diligently opened plenty of doors and boosted their profile. To date, the band has a whopping 11 music videos behind them, and this spring in Belgrade they picked up the MTV »Double Platinum Awards« for the video for the song Perspektiva. And the success story rolls on. The freshly released album »Kuća časti« has already been downloaded from the web 50,000 times, while its predecessor »Perspektiva« has racked up 75,000 in total. So S.A.R.S. are smashing records too.
Last year’s November club tour already confirmed that Slovenia is no stranger to S.A.R.S., and the new May show, this time at K4, confirmed the crowd’s enthusiasm for the band. The people knew the lyrics even to the newest songs, and watching the chemistry between the band and the audience was an incredible experience. It’s one more proof of how well traditional Balkan melos catches fire on Slovenian soil. Above all, though, it’s a Balkan outfit with a positive vibe and a thoroughly relaxed touch.
S.A.R.S. are an exceptionally tight, finely tuned live machine. The lineup is made up of excellent musicians who are perfectionists in both sound and performance. The clock had ticked well past one a.m., and the band didn’t drop out of top gear on stage for even a second. The sense of time and space vanished. The interplay between the audience and the band was outstanding. S.A.R.S. enjoy themselves immensely when they’re on stage. You could feel they wanted to deliver the best gig possible. They’re in terrific form, and it’s surely still on the rise. Take in the solo adventures of guitarist Aleksandar Luković, the superb placement of wind parts by Petar Milanović, the softness, warmth and highly juicy melodic activity of Nenad Đorđević’s bass lines, and the filigree precision of drummer Tihomir Hinić, and it’s clear that S.A.R.S. are no joke. Add the core communication gears driving the band’s body, in the tandem of Žarko Kovaćević (lead vocals) and the increasingly self-confident Sanja Lalić (backing vocals), and it’s not hard to see right away that in a short span of time S.A.R.S. have grown into an outstanding stage character and an attraction that delivers the live maximum.
Ratujemo ti i ja, Ana, Rakija, Debeli lad, the folk-anthem-turned »mega« hit Buđev lebac from the debut »S.A.R.S.« (2008), the title track from the album »Perspektiva« (2010), To rade, Mir i ljubav, and from the newest »Kuća časti«, which was heavily represented with the songs Lud, Ti, ti ,ti, Kiša je padala, Mir u svetu, Bojana, Ahilova peta, Lutka, Mitohondrije, Zimski san — with the help of a fully fired-up crowd, all of it blew the roof off Kersnikova 4 that night! With this performance the band confirmed that it’s on an unstoppable rise not just commercially but in character too. Its concerts have become remarkably coherent, well-rounded and convincing in delivery. The chemistry among the members is palpable, and S.A.R.S. keep maturing. And the album »Kuća časti« already hints at a new milestone in the exponential rise of this increasingly popular band, who have effectively managed to knock on the doors of Slovenian souls devoted to Balkan melos, dosed with signature sarcasm on one side and hedonistic carefreeness on the other. At the new Ljubljana show, S.A.R.S. boiled it all down into one hell of a mixer of sonic collages and, above all, an outstanding stage performance!
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