Živi! Festival Finally Wakes Up Sleepy Rock-Starved Domžale! (2013)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik

Location: Groblje pri Domžalah / Slovenia
Concert date: September 13, 2013
Attendance: 300
Ticket price: €0.00 (free admission)

On Friday the 13th this year, Domžale finally came alive with rock. We’d been waiting for this moment without much hope. We’d forgotten about Domžale. Written it off, saying: “They’ve got no ear for rock music there!” Truth be told, the only regular guest in the festival hall of the former Napredek department store in Domžale is the “dapper” Oliver Dragojević, and probably some Dalmatian klapa along with him. Ahhh…..

Thank God there are die-hard rockers in this corner of Slovenia too, and the festival »Živi!« was born, which, let’s hope, will keep up its yearly tradition. It’d be only fair! Groblje pri Domžalah. Rodica, that is. Home to the departments of the zootechnical faculty – that “unfortunate institution” that doesn’t guarantee its graduates any job afterward. In Slovenia, at least. Enough sarcasm, let’s go to the festival!

The bands on the bill ranged from the short-pants imitators of Siddharta and Big Foot Mama called Imset, through the clearly original world :: within (sadly we had to skip them again), then Roundsquare, followed by Solnce, up to the night’s headliners, the ever-so-attractive beer-soaked rock ‘n’ roll clowns Ana Pupedan. And for those who hadn’t had enough after that rock shower, trio D’Plagiators spoiled them with “unplugged” treatments after the Ana Pupedan set. Late into the night and early into the morning!

This time we swam out of the daily grind into the lively evening switch-off of the thirteenth day of the month, a Friday, a bit later than usual! Solnce were on stage. A band that started out inspired by the nineties, when grunge set the trends. In the last 20 minutes of the show, as much as my ear managed to catch, the guys deliver a very listenable, I’d even say earwormy and invasively catchy combination that slyly sails along a light, radio-friendly, softer rock groove. Especially when the acoustic backbone likes to flirt even with world music elements. Word is the guys are recording a studio debut. We wish them lots of pleasant hours in the studio and lots of success. Solnce come across as convincing; you can feel that experienced musicians hold the reins, with a clear vision and a great sense for delivering a listenable compactness that’s still clearly driven by rock.

The festival organizer had been advertising a special surprise of the night all along – a special guest. This time the honor went to Jaka Vižintin – a familiar face from the battle of the talents. The youngster had some early trouble getting his acoustic guitar plugged in at a volume suited to a festival gig. It all felt as if Jaka was hooked up to the wrong channel of the mixing desk. After a short burlesque, the so-called »sound masters« fixed things up and the kid showed off his talent with original songs The Only One, Perfume and Never Again. The singer-songwriter writes his music in English and it works remarkably well for him. A nice-sounding voice, a nice-sounding timbre and very pleasant use of English. Something even MTV would fall for without much hiccuping. We’ll see how far the kid goes. Good luck to him! Very decent and thoroughly confident. So, the surprise worked.

The main attraction, of course, was the concert delirium with the boundless beer-loving jokers Ana Pupedan. In Domžale, too, Ana Pupedan opened the show with a similar song order as 14 days ago in Postojna. They kicked off with Cigodrom from the current album »Na domači brjači« (2010), followed right away by a ride in the red jalopy from Pivka to Koper (Rdeča kočija). In the first two songs Simon made sure to explain the laws of physics governing balloons.

The brave lads from Pivka stole the crowd’s sympathy in an instant. Already during the fifth song, Popivški Rap, one of the audience’s gallant tough guys brought four whiskeys up to the stage so the guys could wet their parched throats, and Simon accompanied the gesture with something like: »Damn, this stuff is so good,… It’s only the next day that’s bad!« By the eighth song, Nase in vase, the guys were already on to Union. Simon, throughout his hilarious performance, kept conscientiously rubbing and stroking a can of Union with his hands like a little child. The band slowly stepped on the gas. The show was building toward its peak.

If anything grabs you while watching Ana Pupedan live, it’s surely the incredible looseness and spontaneity they’re able to deliver to the crowd. Simon’s sharpness and sparkle know no bounds in his quips while addressing the audience. Complementing him with grimaces is the pint-sized guitarist Boštjan, who could play the Mexican Čikota in a movie about Zagorje, or Bob Rock if they ever made a film about Alan Ford and »Grupa TNT«. From that description alone it’s clear the band has no shortage of charisma. But none of it would work if Ana Pupedan were bluffing. No. This is playing full throttle. The rhythm section is outstanding. Solid, angular, active, dynamic, nothing derails it. And it’s a joy to watch Boštjan’s incredible inventiveness on guitar, especially the finesse with which he covers a huge amount of sonic space in the accompaniment and his agility in filling the transitions with all sorts of tasty ornaments. He’s an exceptionally fast guitarist. And he can play anything. From jazz, to a full-blown punk tornado, all the way to country speed-picking. On top of all that, there’s no shortage of lucid shenanigans with swings of Balkan rock melos. If I may lay it on a bit thicker, with the dizzying speed his fingers reach during the show, he could double the harmonies of the lead lines of the Šumadija rock accordion of the band Rockeri s Moravu.

With their voices and presence, and their refined serving of »rebellion against those who take from us«, Ana Pupedan deliver a one-of-a-kind helping of full-blooded rock ‘n’ roll entertainment that carries the little guy far away for an hour and a half. Far from the everyday troubles. It’s lovely to listen to poetry that, through a brilliantly juicy metaphor seasoned with a unique beer-and-booze dialect, confirms your point of view, the one you have to silently hold down inside you every day so the eye of Big Brother doesn’t happen to spot you, like a random software bug in his carefully staged, conspiracy-style matrix of the »perfect world«! If anyone, it’s Ana Pupedan who, in today’s times, have taken over, repackaged and served up a nice chunk of the preaching style inherited from one of the most intelligent bands under the Slovenian sun – Buldožer!

As expected, the band closed the show by rummaging through plastic hats and wigs. In the middle of the general closing silliness, Marko Doles took over as lead vocalist again, as he has so many times before. Simon meanwhile sat behind the drums, and later Boštjan and Simon swapped positions too, while Pero kept carefree rubbing his bass the whole time. Fun at full yield, fun with the one and only Ana Pupedan. Unforgettable once again! Ana Pupedan are a boundless source of positive energy. Even though at heart they’re no less boundlessly sarcastic and cynical, they know how to serve up that cynicism and rebellious anger so smoothly that with their authentic charisma they cast a spell on you in an instant.

After Ana Pupedan, half of the crowd left the venue. But the hardiest ones, who refused to be driven off and kept enjoying the festival’s unfolding, were entertained next by D’Plagiators, as a trio lineup of: percussion, electric guitar, and one person on vocals and acoustic guitar. Evergreen classics reworked “unplugged” in a world-music vein with a wise integration of ethnic elements. The D’Plagiators set rounded out the organizer’s rainbow selection, which brought a nicely varied genre palette of bands under the festival’s roof. All in all, the very first edition of the »Živi!« festival was a success at full yield. As said. Let it not end here, because we’d attend a festival run like this every year with great pleasure!