Območje medveda: Peter Lovšin Celebrates 40 Years of Rock’n’Roll in Style (2017)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Aleš Podbrežnik

Location: Ljubljana / Cankarjev dom (Gallusova dvorana) / Slovenia
Concert date: 27.03.2017
Attendance: 1500
Ticket price: 18,00€ / 22,00€ / 26,00€ / 31,00€

No two ways about it. You’re left speechless. 40 years of Peter Lovšin, the living rock’n’roll fossil and a man who has seen every era of Slovenian rock’n’roll and then some. And this very March he also notched up his tenth studio album, »Območje medveda«. Plenty of good reasons to mark it all with a proper event! And celebrate they did, in a packed, sold-out Gallusova dvorana at Cankarjev dom.

About a quarter past eight in the evening, the Croatian publicist, journalist and musician Branko Kostelnik appeared in front of the darkened stage and, in a heartfelt speech, thanked Peter Lovšin for his contribution to the growth of the punk rock scene across the territory of the former shared country, and for everything with which Pankrti, with their march and breakthrough back then, changed Branko’s world forever.

Then came the concert, of course. To kick things off, Peter strode onto the stage backed by his usual crew, Španski borci, along with guest guitarist Matej Mršnik, who played the lion’s share in shaping the new album Območje medveda, and “borrowed” keyboardist Dejan Horvat from the band Hamo & Tribute to Love. The latter actually spent the entire show without leaving the stage. The performance stretched past three hours, a marathon get-together indeed.

Peter put the setlist together cunningly. He wove the new songs into the historical carousel of his career, and the crowd, all generations of it, had plenty to hear and see. Peter and the Španski borci crew warmed things up with tracks from the new album. They closed the first part of the show with the slightly older Angel iz nekje vmes and Tečaj romantike. Then the first guests jumped on stage, Prismojeni profesorji bluesa, who played the new Na dobri poti with Peter, and that was followed by a proper little devilish rock’n’roll frenzy and a tribute to the recently departed rock’n’roll icon Chuck Berry with a cover of Johnny B. Goode. Prismojeni profesorji bluesa scattered a whole sackful of broad rock energy, with the stage dancing over a mighty helping of improvisation between the Erič brothers. Peter himself also tried his hand at harmonica in Johnny B. Goode. The crowd absolutely erupted with excitement, and Prismojenci teaming up with Peter brought one of the highlights of the evening into the hall.

Next came a new triad with the Španski borci, opened by the new Ko gre vse k vragu, which probably has the best line of the night: »Ko gre vse k vragu, država razpada, ona pa doma še vedno trdno vlada…«. Then Vrtnica, then the big hit from Greva punca v južne kraje rang out, with Peter repeatedly thrusting his outstretched arms up high in clenched fists, as if calling for a real uprising. Hand on heart, it’s high time.

During one of the breaks, Peter mischievously asked all the couples in the audience tonight to make some noise. Then he nailed it down by saying he actually prefers to see singles. The ladies, of course, whom he didn’t forget to invite to Krakovec for the “afterparty”.

Big Foot Mama jumped on stage. This time without Skočir, about whom Peter, no less wittily, observed that Grega wouldn’t be there for the vocal duet because he’d caught a cold and, luckily for (Peter), stayed home. Above all, though, they brought another superb moment of the night with the hugely entertaining Najboljši par, which still counts as a moment of Lovšin’s career and boasts one of the most inspired lyrics.

After a new trio of songs and an interlude with the Španski borci (Drugi svet, Taka taka, Dobri profesor), there was yet another one-of-a-kind mini spectacle. Pankrti joined Pero, and the band cut loose with the new (To ni več) Slovenija and the prehistoric Ostan rajš pr men, which hadn’t been played live in 35 years. Marc Kavaš (Lene kosti, ex-Requiem), who was part of the Pankrti lineup in the era of the album »Osmi dan«, stepped into the role of lead guitarist, and it’s a shame this superb guitarist was set just a touch too quiet in the sound mix. Alongside Peter and Marc, the revived Pankrti are rounded out by drummer Slavko Colnarič, bassist Kramberger and guitarist Bogo Pretnar.

The highlights of the early era of Lovšin’s career followed (in Julita, accordionist Riki Zadravec joined on stage), along with the ultimate hits he recorded with Sokoli, and the crowd went wilder with every song. By the end the whole hall was on its feet, through both encores too. Peter wouldn’t let them sit back down. It wouldn’t have worked anyway. Lovšin lifted the whole house far above the clouds this time, and Gallusova dvorana was bursting at the seams with excitement and sheer joy!

Peter Lovšin remains thunderous of voice and incredibly punchy. His vocals undeniably pair best with rock’n’roll of a determined punk bent. That’s why he fired up the most when jamming with Pankrti, Big Foot Mama, Prismojenci and those evergreen moments of his career that he enshrined with Sokoli. Surprisingly, though, the ones I just listed were mostly the special guests of this spectacle of more than three hours. That realization practically begs for joint concerts of Peter with Pankrti, and now is the right time for it.

Clearly our Perči isn’t stopping anytime soon! He even announced that Magnifico, who was missing for the performance of Vrtnica, will join him at the 50th anniversary and make up for the lost time. So Pero remains the holy wild man of rock’n’roll in Slovenia. He stays young, the voice of the people, the voice of the street. Defiance and truthfulness of a lion’s heart live in him. After all, as he explained in one of the closing moments of the get-together at Cankarjev dom, what counts in the end, when everything falls apart, is only the relationships between people. Humanity. That was also one of the most important messages of his show that night, and in these truly strange and unpredictable times of global chaos it landed all the better.

photos and video: Klemen Udovč