Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Kranj / Bazen Kranj / Slovenia
Concert date: 17.10.2015
Attendance: 700
Ticket price: €8.00 / €10.00 / €12.00
Alen Islamović is a name that anyone who knows their YU-rock simply can’t walk past! The man etched himself into the hearts of Divlje Jagode and Bijelo Dugme fans forever with a trademark, passionate voice that graces some of the foundational works of both bands, and later, toward the end of the eighties, he entered a prolific period of solo work. Last year he put out his latest studio album, »Alkatraz«. As luck would have it, Alen finally turned up in Kranj with his backing band too. It was Islamović’s premiere show in the Gorenjska capital.
Here in Slovenia we’ve of course never forgotten the work of Bijelo Dugme, so every now and then it feels good to hit an event that at least smells a little of the days when Bijelo Dugme thundered across the former Yugoslavia. An Alen Islamović concert is more than the right ticket for something like that. The man is known for sold-out shows. In Europe and even America. A hugely popular musician, a name people respect.
Islamović stepped onto the front of the stage with his minions a little after 22:00 in the very well-attended hall of Bazen Kranj, where a fired-up crowd greeted him enthusiastically, impatient for the familiar hits. Islamović played a marathon set. The show was split by an intermission, so it came in two parts, and it ran until almost three in the morning. In that marathon Alen played the bulk of the songs from Bijelo dugme’s catalog, of course didn’t skip Divlje Jagode (Motori), and also played Sve Ove Godine by Indexi and even Zdravko Čolić (Pusti, pusti modu). Among the Biejlo Dugme songs, the biggest surprise was probably the rendition of Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo, and otherwise Alen strolled through the legendary band’s discography over the evening, playing, among others: Da sam pekar, Ne spavaj mala moja muzika dok svira, Zamisli, Napile se ulice, Evo zaklet ču se, Šta ima novo, Nakon svih godina, A i ti me iznevjeri, and for the big finale Tako ti je mala moja kad ljubi Bosanac, Lipe cvatu, Djudjevdan, Hajdemo u planine. Alen also performed a few tracks from his current studio album »Alkatraz« (2014).
Alen’s voice still serves him excellently, and he’s surrounded by a backing crew he can trust to the max. There were a few flubs, which is normal for such a long show, and Alen could maybe have paid a bit more attention to tuning the guitar during the gig. But those are totally painless, unobtrusive remarks. Saturday night was devoted to just one goal. Total switch-off. And the crowd didn’t hold back, carrying Islamović and his crew on its wings through the whole performance. It was a long, long night with no end in sight. A night when the hearts of the rock days of the late, great Yugo caught fire. And burned unstoppably.
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