The Offspring, Savršeni Marginalci, Luzeri
Sunday, 14 June 2026
Velesajam, Zagreb, Croatia
“Tonac, fuck it all, turn this up!”
This time I set off from Ajdovščina (which is, as you know, a metropolis) with my daughters in tow, destination: a punk rock getaway in Zagreb. Not to ramble on too much, but the most memorable moment happened when, in the underpass between the parking garage and Velesajam, we ran into a street musician playing — while simultaneously torturing his vocal cords — none other than the Manowar classic Thor (The Powerhead). Legend! He earned himself a few euros from my wallet, which he later happily spent on beer at the concert.
I had no idea the Velesajam grounds had decayed this much since I was last there (1998 or ’99). It’s a proper post-apocalyptic wasteland now. The plateau where the concert took place is riddled with manholes, potholes, and random bits of pavement — ideal conditions for snapping an ankle or two under the influence of super melodic punk rock and a couple of beers.
Luzeri were up first. Their post-punk jump-da-fuck-up combo with autotuned vocals from no fewer than three “vocalists” convinced nobody except a handful of suffering teenage girls. Moving on.
Savršeni Marginalci were a different story altogether. The veteran lineup of the guitarist, bassist, and drummer from the defunct legends Hladno Pivo, aided by the ultra-energetic vocalist Hrvoje Krmpotić (“Krmpa”) from hardcore punk outfit Deafness By Noise, absolutely destroyed the place. Great sound, a fantastic setlist mixing Hladno Pivo hits with original material, and an enthusiastic crowd all conjured up the spirit of the Zagreb HC punk scene of the nineties. Not that I had any part in that scene or know its ins and outs in any detail, but it reads well, right? Bottom line: they’re great, their debut album is out, and from what I’ve heard it carries on Mile Kekin‘s legacy (the original Hladno Pivo vocalist) rather nicely — the man who waded into the fetid, stinking waters of politics. Krmpa sounds like a furious Mile being dragged out of bed by his wife at seven in the morning after a rough night out, just to go to mass. Pjevajte nešto ljubavno, Fur Immer Punk and Buba Švabe are of course timeless classics, so it hit like a shot to the head!
The Offspring. We all know them, so I’ll skip the history lesson. The breakthrough album Smash (1994) and the album housing the intergalactic hit Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) — Americana (1998) — made up the bulk of a noticeably short setlist. The whole thing clocked in at about 75 minutes, padded with a generous amount of mildly amusing banter in between. Apparently Dexter and Noodles took a few lessons from Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) on how to organize a show and put together a setlist.
Instead of having our guts rattled, the opening one-two of Come Out and Play and the razor-sharp All I Want delivered the audio fidelity of Bluetooth speakers, and my neighbor turned to the sound guy in desperation with the shout from the subtitle. The sound guy slowly came out of his coma and by the fourth track, Looking Out for #1, had somehow got things to a passable level. After that we got an utterly autopilot performance with well-rehearsed pseudo-humorous asides. The setlist was calibrated for the average fan, which suited me just fine. What genuinely bothered me was the sterility of the whole thing — relieved only by Brandon Pertzborn‘s monstrously feral drumming (a drumming fixture who in the last ten years has played for countless bands, Suicidal Tendencies and Limp Bizkit among them), who was an absolute joy to watch on the big screens.
Like it or not, I have to give credit to Dexter Holland‘s vocals. His vocal style has always lived on the edge of vocal cord destruction, and apparently the man’s got steel cords, because the voice is still as recognizable and angrily nasty as ever. The show was OK for me — nice to finally catch the masters live — but the truth is, Savršeni Marginalci stole the night, for themselves and for the crowd. “Attitude” is what The Offspring were missing. Not even the anthem about the outcasts of American society (see what I did there?) The Kids Aren’t Alright fully broke the autopilot spell or cut through the brain the way the studio version does. Oh, yes.
One last thing: 20 toilets for around 15,000 attendees. Seriously?
Final standings: 1. Savršeni Marginalci, 2. The Offspring, 17. Luzeri.
Author: Igorac
Photos: Coming soon(ish).
