Author: Sebastijan Videc
Photos: Jerneja Jerak
Venue: Cvetličarna, Ljubljana
Concert date: 19.10.2013
Ticket price: 18€
A packed parking lot in front of Cvetličarna, the familiar bearded guy with the cheap T-shirts, little clusters of people indulging in booze, and the smell of burning weed in the air – scenes that probably stirred up everything from disgust to sweet memories of those long-gone rebel years in a random passerby. But the people waiting knew the world isn’t as black and white as the state, the media and moral charlatans try to paint it. Only through art can a person experience true cathartic freedom, and there haven’t been many in rock music who came closer to it than Jim Morrison. Listening to The Doors, you have to wonder: was Jim actually a singer or a poet? In his short career with The Doors, Morrison recorded a whole six studio albums in just four years and left a mark on rock music like few others, leaving behind literally generations of fans of the band.
The gig kicked off with an academic 20 minutes of delay, but it wasn’t the headliners who took the stage first – it was, if I may say so, this year’s discovery, the young rockers Top Stripper. The guys showed up in an unplugged acoustic setup this time, with a sax player jumping in to help on some of the tracks. The half-full hall responded rather lukewarm, at least at the start, but Jaš’s charisma managed to get it to make some noise. While the band and the audience were still getting to know each other and sniffing around during the first two blues numbers, the brakes and blockades came off with the third pick on the menu – a cover of Led Zeppelin’s well-known and hugely popular rock anthem, Stairway to Heaven. The guys really put in the effort and lured a few smokers in from the cold evening into the hall, and the response matched the choice. Sadly, the rest of the set focused on less punchy, blues-tinged songs that cooled the crowd down a bit, despite the good playing and the chemistry between the members on stage, and gave the smokers an extended cig break. The acoustic set on bar stools gave off a club-gig vibe but unfortunately missed its mark – I hope the guys repeat it at some smaller venue in a more intimate setting.
The view of the crowd before the main act was a real surprise – I’d expected an older audience, but the young ones dominated; for many of them, Jim Morrison could even be a great-grandfather. Proof of how alive and ahead of its time the music these guys made almost half a century ago still is, and at the same time a reassuring sign that there’s nothing to fear for the rock scene here at home. When The Doors Alive finally took the stage, the packed Cvetličarna walked through the doors of perception into a time machine that launched us into the late ’60s of the last century. Right from the start, the band showed why it’s considered the best Doors cover/tribute band. It would be hard to find anyone who wasn’t won over by the sound or the band’s image, and any last doubters were surely convinced by the charismatic singer William, who got so deep into Jim’s role that the girls below the stage were almost fainting and waiting for that moment to touch his highness. The voice, the build, the leather pants with a richly decorated belt, the white shirt and the moves typical of Morrison psychedelically led the crowd from hit to hit over the hypnotic, repeating keyboard sounds. As authentic as it can possibly be all these decades later – only the beer replaced the drugs in the performance, and despite a few minor slip-ups, Will played the tough role of a character like Morrison well. Hey, even the couple of flubs that happened while playing seemed authentic. So it’s no surprise that after seventeen songs at the end of the regular set, they could only grab a few moments of rest amid the roaring calls to come back on stage. With an encore made up of Touch me, Love Street and People Are Strange, they bid farewell to the Slovenian audience with the legendary The End, followed by a standing ovation. Well deserved!
Setlist
1 Back Door Man
2 Break on Through
3 Love Me Two Times
4 Hello I Love You
5 When the Music’s Over
6 Soul Kitchen
7 Been Down So Long
8 Riders On The Storm
9 Not To Touch The Earth
10 Light My Fire
11 Roadhouse Blues
12 Alabama song (Whiskey Bar)
13 Peace Frog
14 Five To One
15 Gloria
16 The Changeling
17 LA Woman
18 Touch Me
19 Love Street
20 People Are Strange
21 The End
Photo Gallery
