Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Tolmin / MINK / Slovenia
Concert date: 11.05.2018
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: 7,00€
If there’s one band anywhere on the planet, or in Slovenia, that I’d literally order to play at every party, whatever the occasion, that flattering title would surely go to Ana Pupedan. These Pivka rock’n’roll clowns serve up two to three hours of an outrageous mix of every genre imaginable, built on a base of homegrown alternative rock attitude, the kind that life in Pivka and its surroundings generates. Ana Pupedan. The deeper the world sinks into absurdity and apathy, the more stubbornly Ana Pupedan cling to their positive outlook, even while keeping a rebellious stance. Their gigs and their poetry are always accompanied by great cheerfulness, a mischievous sense for a good laugh and black humor. Ana Pupedan are a constant. An outstanding lineup that, when needed, is born for the definition of top-notch parody too.
So the stars finally aligned and we got to meet up again with the quintet, represented as always by four superb musicians and stage performers: Simon Avsec (vocals), Boštjan Požar (guitar), Peter Žnidaršič (bass) and Marko Doles (drums). The show at MINK kicked off, as usual, at a time that was leaning well toward eleven in the evening. Great turnout, a crowd hungry for good energy and good rock’n’roll debauchery. Ana Pupedan are obviously a firmly rooted band in Northern Primorska, and so they got incredibly strong support from the crowd. The people knew the songs inside out, ate out of Avsec’s hand the whole time, and faithfully carried out his commands too (at his request, at one point a whole bunch of people were dancing a kolo in front of the stage, and so on…). Anyway. The last time I saw a proper headline show by the band, with no Jani Kovačič combo or acoustic set, was in 2013. So what we had in front of us was 100% electric Ana Pupedan, and five years since my last show of theirs is no small gap. The guys have evidently switched from booze to water in the meantime, even though during the show they »comforted« everyone by telling them to pour themselves some wine. Clearly, the proverbial saying holds up over the years: it’s not only the tooth of time that gnaws, but the tooth of the glass too.
The Ana Pupedan party was split into two parts, the second one considerably longer, and in it the guys went all the way and there was no sign of restraint anywhere.. Great playing as always. All four building blocks of the show were exactly where they need to be. Ana Pupedan are superb showmen. Avsec is an excellent commander, slick as they come, a born stage entertainer, backed by great company in Boštjan, who once again blew me away with his guitar playing, and in Marko and Peter, rock-solid masters of timing, who give the band firm support in the outstanding rhythmic drive that Ana Pupedan take their run-up and wind beneath their wings from. Pivka punk and rock, heaps of parody! Popivški Rap, and of course a whole repertoire of strong numbers that have become folk favorites among the people. The band opened the show with Cigodrom, and the unbelievably fun Nase in vase soon turned up on the set list, then Rdeča kočija and on to Do neba, then Na domači brjači, and later also Zločin in kazen, with its story of a remorseful hunter who shot a bear but became the victim of misdemeanor proceedings. Of course, the other favorites couldn’t be missed: the reggae/ska party Wat Kan Aj Du?, then the no less reggae Up Against th e Wall (where Požar tried to »dub-ify« it on guitar but didn’t have the right effects at hand, which was incredibly funny), and there were also Moja domovina, Erotični song, Didly Dudly, Vsaka rwža jma trn (an excellent parody of Poison), Pwštr, Bla, bala, bla, Is dis lov, Pijan, Kalafonija, Lublana, Prvomajska, Afrika, Resničen dan, Četrtek, Ana Pupedan, Vrtičkarji,… and quite a few more that I can’t remember. Anyway. An evening that seemed to have no end. The band sweated an ocean, delivered their concert maximum, an excellent party, and the crowd, with all this stage mayhem going on, tore it up just as honestly! An excellent experience with the phenomenal Ana Pupedan!
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