Location: Ljubljana / Etno klub Zlati zob / Slovenia
Date: Thursday, 27.11.2014
The evergreen Avtomobili, on one of their rare concert appearances this year, and right in the heart of the Slovenian capital. A must-see! After the traditional April show that Avtomobili have been playing for years as part of the annual Ortofest at Orto bar, the announced gig at Zlati zob was in fact only the band’s second Ljubljana concert this year.
The venue, where the guys had never played before, boasts a spacious hall with excellent acoustics, which suits the artistic fine-tuning of the musical catalog of this legendary band from Nova Gorica perfectly. They’re considered one of the most special and most respected acts around, and historically one of the most important for the Slovenian music scene.
It’s precisely this famous, instantly recognizable musical catalog that is one of the biggest joys of listening to Avtomobili. Attendance was great and the tables in the hall were filled to the last seat. The band took the stage at around half past eight in the evening. At Zlati zob, Avtomobili played an almost identical setlist to the one they performed at this year’s Ortofest! In fact, they moved the wake-up-call single from the current album “Pozna pomlad”, Poslušaj, from the tail end up to the very start of the concert, using it to open a brand new live show.
The hefty setlist covered newer songs from the albums “Mesta železniških postaj” (2006) and the current “Večna pomlad” (2012), and, as expected, the band filled out its repertoire with the must-play standards and hits of its rich discography. Once again we got the kind of performance with which the band instantly charms and captivates the listener. The reason lies in the exceptional camaraderie of the five musicians who make up the lineup, which has also been thoroughly refreshed since around 2008. The eternal, seasoned and experienced duo of the Vuksanovič brothers, backed by the superb perfectionism of three younger companions led by the versatile Boštjan Andrejc Buši on guitar, along with the remarkably compatible rhythmic sense of the two Davids, has never sounded as convincing and polished as it does in these new times. Being tight and having that chemistry are simply facts dictated by long mileage, plenty of know-how and rich experience.
The band was a bit surprised to be playing for a seated audience, since they’re used to more intense banter with the crowd, so you could miss a little more spontaneity from the audience, which would have added that much-needed dot on the “i” and further contrasted and intensified the passions and emotions the band’s musical message draws out of the crowd. Around the middle of the show, during one of the breaks between songs, Nenad, the boss of Zlati zob, shot onto the stage and warned one of the guests to move his car, which was blocking the parking lot, before the guys in the lineup would have to be called in to help, which Marko cleverly turned into a joke: “See now! Wherever Avtomobili show up, trouble follows!”
An Avtomobili concert remains an experience full of fascination! The character of their rich arsenal of evergreen hits is outstanding, both in its variety of motifs and distinct personality, and in the expressive power of Marko’s poetry, which the great vocal wizard brings to life on stage, proud and deeply felt, with his unmistakable soulful vocal stamp. The quintet’s energy, with no special effort, once again created a single, one-of-a-kind musical world that you only find at an Avtomobili show. Before the end of the concert, one of the strings on Buši’s red Telecaster snapped, but the seasoned master didn’t lose any sleep over it and simply reached for the spare guitar in the encore.
The two-hour concert experience once again confirmed the firm conviction that Avtomobili remain the Slovenian byword for great artistic brilliance, the kind that only a band with a clearly honed musical vision can develop over time, backed by a refined sense of grand, subtle aesthetics in making its artistic moves and devoted to artistic perfectionism. So at Zlati zob, another magical musical evening happened, in the company of the one-of-a-kind Avtomobili.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
p.s. “Edne sploh ni blo”
Setlist:
1. Poslušaj
2. Kaj si hotel
3. Drugačno nebo
4. Gorica
5. Prljavi jezik
6. Skozi leta
7. Mraz
8. Nekaj let
9. Ljubezen ne stanuje tu
10. Proti luni
11. Pot domov
12. Sama
13. Navaden dan
14. Argentina
15. April
16. Netopir
17. Enkrat v življenju
18. Gospodar
19. Hvala za pisma
20. V mrzlih dvoranah
21. Enakonočje
22. Bar pozabe
23. Ona nosi uniformu
