Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Concert date: April 26, 2018
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €13.00
The famous standard-bearers of the third wave of SKA music, aka the “post 2-Tone SKA” era, The Toasters, are back in Ljubljana. They last played here at last year’s reggae festival in Tolmin. The tireless SKA crew have set off on another huge world tour that’s supposed to take in not just Europe but also China, Japan, Central and South America and Russia, with a hop over to Hawaii, and of course the obligatory run of shows across North America. It was the evening we stepped into the holidays and into time for a total switch-off. Even though you might have expected a somewhat bigger crowd, some 150 supporters of the band still found a good reason that night to swing by Orto bar for a guaranteed red-hot SKA party. And the esteemed quintet led by the tireless Robert Hingley (nicknamed »Bucket«) did exactly what you’d expect, crowning its return to Ljubljana with another excellent show.
The lineup, which has been going for over 37 years and has more than 5,000 shows behind it, naturally features the irreplaceable Hingley, joined by a rotating cast of musicians he swaps out very often. What was especially nice to see was the bass spot, held down by a homegrown Slovenian, Gašper Gantar of Red Five Point Star. So Hingley hasn’t forgotten us since 2011, when Red Five Point Star opened the shows on the joint tour with The Toasters. Gašper’s bass seemed to be cast from the musical essence of every era of the band, and while he came across as a little reserved in his stage movement next to the rest of the frontline trio (sax, trombone and of course Hingley), his superb playing showed nothing of the sort. He was in the right place at the right moment all night long, with his smoothness and highly dynamic kinetics, which radiate from the deeply musical tightness of his playing, and of course a warm, full-bodied bass »groove«.
The band definitely played the repertoire the crowd came for. A famous bouquet of career highlights, and in their playing and showmanship they simply couldn’t disappoint. Hingley is too seasoned, with his hand-picked crew of top-notch musicians, and the band itself has become too »folk-ified« — well, let’s just say legendary. Among other things we got Decisions at Midnight, the song about Madonna Go Girl, 2-Toine Army, Weekend In L.A., which Hingley of course rebaptized as »weekend in Ljubljana«, Dog Eat Dog, East Side Beat, Sitting on the Top of the World, House of Soul, Social Security, Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down,…
The excellent mix of classic SKA rhythms and bubbling vibes, plus hard-hitting socially critical messages, gets salted at The Toasters with plenty of small and not-so-small detours into other genres and rhythms. You can even catch some flirting with Afro and Latin grooves, and now and then Hingley’s guitar really »growls«, which logically deepens the punk and rock’n’roll outline. The Toasters are definitely not a textbook SKA band: they often season the openings so heavily that you can’t predict where a given song will end up. Hingley, in more than good vocal spirits, strapped into a Fender Telecaster and topped with a baseball cap, kept a common thread running throughout by telling humorous anecdotes and the stories behind the individual songs The Toasters played at Orto bar. In short: cheerfulness, punchy, high-bubbling energy of positive vibes, and superbly tight, potent playing. The Toasters remain a band you never miss when they roll through our neighborhood. They’re still distinctive and, of course, about as infectious live as it gets. And let me say it again: this time the Ljubljana show was »saved« by superb Slovenian bassist Gašper Gantar.
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