Šank Rock Chase Away the Dark Clouds Over Cerknica With Reborn Energy and One Hell of a Show! (2026)
Šank Rock
Friday, 12 June 2026, 9:55 PM – 11:55 PM
Cerknica // Parkirišče Trikotnik // Slovenia
Šank Rock – Cerknica. Their first gig since Bor Zuljan’s departure. Coming hot on the heels of the storm the band had just weathered. And yet, none of it put a dent in their already-announced tour schedule. Hand on heart, the band didn’t waver. If some people thought a mountain had trembled, all that came out was a mouse — or maybe just a louse. Whatever was brewing got sorted out, the tangled mess unraveled into a single thread. And down that thread, Šank Rock marches on. Unburdened. More precisely — unburdened of a burden. They proved it at the Cerknica show, where they stepped out with a refreshed, rejuvenated lineup — in a word, revitalized.
Marko Zorec and Andrej Rot. Two guitarists. Two new faces — with the added bonus that the (classically trained) Zorec also handles keyboards, something the band wasted no time putting to use (Pravljica o mavričnih ljudeh, Metulj, and so on). A Gibson and a Fender have joined the fold; the Ibanez has left the building. The sound is harder. Tighter, sharper, meatier — and yet Šank Rock come across as somehow more retro, almost classic. They’ve looked back to their roots. And when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll, the music is never too loud for what it has to say. Volume and rock ‘n’ roll coexist in perfect positive correlation, each amplifying the other. If you find rock ‘n’ roll too loud, that can only mean one thing: you’re too old for it and ripe for retirement — as the iron chancellor and the world’s first rock ‘n’ roll ambassador Ian Lemmy Kilmister used to say back in the day. The riffs, in short, grab you in a way that’s considerably more monstrous than anything before the last lineup change. Šank Rock kicked off the Cerknica show — their premiere in this new lineup — a few minutes before ten in the evening and played a full two hours. That means they delivered. As it should be.
In the first set the drums were seriously too loud, and Matjaž was barely audible in the front rows — right up until Poišči me, a genuine catalogue classic that Matjaž reworked on his debut solo record “100x lažje” (2001). When the band reached that ballad, Sergej Škofljanec jumped onstage for a guest duet! This came shortly after the band had torn through the opening one-two with the beloved crowd-chargers Rockerji and Maček, then poured more fuel on the fire with the eternally uplifting Ni sreče brez rokenrola. Up to that point the drums were bulldozing everything. So much so that before launching into Poišči me, Uranjek climbed out from behind the kit — a mildly irritated look on his face — and flashed a few gestures at the sound crew to please turn them down. At first it looked like Sergej wasn’t going to show; Matjaž had announced him, Sergej didn’t appear, and Matjaž had already apologized to the crowd. But before the first chorus, Sergej joined the quintet and lit up the evening. Whether it was a planned gag or pure spontaneity, the whole thing came off brilliantly.
The band had done a thorough reshuffle of the setlist. Tih’ bod’ in igraj was back in the mix, and Šank Rock pulled off a genuine surprise by dusting off the ancient Manijak, which hadn’t seen a stage in years. Hočeš Nočeš was also back on the list, and for the grand finale: Zabava, the track with which the band paved their road to success back in the early eighties! The acoustic set, meanwhile, has been dropped entirely. The band ripped through 26 songs in a ferocious two-hour rock tornado. Both new guys — the two young newcomers — came in fully committed and professional. They handled their solos with skill and precision. With real conviction. They convinced. Which means the gap left by their predecessor has been filled. Having two guitarists also takes a load off each of them and off the band as a whole. The ‘Šankoti’ aren’t just harder and more fired up now — splitting duties between two guitar players means everyone can focus more sharply on what they’re doing between songs, and the chance of a slip-up on stage drops considerably.
Matjaž once again left jaws on the floor with his vocal firepower and vocal staying power — which holds up impressively even at the very, very top of his range. Throughout the show he kept the atmosphere bright in his own inimitable way, rallying his bandmates too — in short, Matjaž remains exactly the same old, great Matjaž. A true frontman, head to toe. By the time they hit Tih’ bod’ in igraj the band was fully in the zone, and the venue had filled up properly — the parking-lot tent pulling in a solid crowd of around 600.
That Šank Rock have become a Slovenian institution is a fact not worth debating. The crowd knows every word, sings along with the band, and that’s the special magic that keeps people coming back to their shows. Their fans didn’t leave them hanging when the lineup shake-up went down. Not for a second. And they never will. One voice. All of them. United as one. Pravljica o mavričnih ljudeh and Metulj do what they always do — conjure that singular Šank Rock atmosphere at every show, one that hits hardest when the entire audience merges into one with the band.
As mentioned, the band delivered right from the off! Opening with two tracks that are top-shelf compositions — ones they’d normally held back for the end of their sets! Utterly assured! No hesitation, just a full-on charge — delivering and silencing every doubter who had questioned whether the events the band had just lived through on their long journey could somehow stop or slow them down. Both young guys are outstanding musicians. They’re different guitarists and they approach solos in their own individual ways, which is exactly as it should be. They do still need to rack up a bit more live mileage to fully loosen up, at which point the new lineup will be completely consolidated.
Šank Rock delivered exactly what we came for. A new, brilliant party. New original music is coming soon, with a new studio album to follow. So? Do yourself a favor and catch one of the dates on their current summer tour, and see for yourself everything you’ve just read (assuming you made it this far). The Šank Rock world is younger, fresher, stronger, and hungry for new victories! Commitment, drive, and pure dynamite remain the band’s allies onstage — a band that, through a run of their beloved rock ‘n’ roll classics, put on a genuinely outstanding show and blew away every doubt and every lingering question, which withered into nothing the instant they stepped onto the stage.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Šank Rock – setlist:
1. Intro
2. Rockerji
3. Maček
4. Ni sreče brez rokenrola
5. Poišči me
6. Tih bod in igraj
7. Delam kar paše mi
8. Danes je dan
9. Hvala za vse
10. Lahka dama
11. Restart
12. TV
13. Želim da si tu
14. Manijak
15. Laški pir
17. Le 17
18. Ker te ljubim
19. Hočeš nočeš
20. Dej bolj naglas radio
21. Puščava sna
22. Jaz nimam noč za spanje
23. Zabava
24. Pravljica o mavričnih ljudeh
—encore—
25. Nekaj več
26. Pridite na žur
27. Metulj
