Location: Hala Tivoli / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 27.06.2007
Attendance: 1606
Ticket price: 1200
The big day has finally arrived: our faithful lifelong travel companion from the airwaves, Val 202, just turned 35. You can’t shrug at a number like that, especially when it dangerously reminds you of the age when you’re ripe for retirement and a member of the Val 202 team at the same time! Holy Mary, the years fly! This was a party for two Val generations! The one that witnessed the birth of rock music and the one that’s still learning from it. A colorful bunch of legendary faces from the music scene of the whole wide universe of Slovenia, the kind you don’t exactly bump into at every meeting of the Society of Grannies Who Own Poodles, and above all, voices! Yes, voices! Those charming, soothingly melodic voices that, when you’re sitting half-conscious behind the wheel on your way to work with the radio on, yawning miserably because your sweet sleep was violently cut short, delicately caress your ears and help you switch from hibernation mode to daily working temperature.
The organization was top-notch. First: free entry for the crowd! Second: a varied lineup of Slovenian pop acts who currently play a prominent role on the local music scene, or who enjoy a nearly unassailable status that’s creeping toward legendary! Third (for the very important guests): a gigantic juicy cake, rivers of wine, mountains of food,…
Our crew was shamefully late. We rolled in right at the end of Dan D’s set, and so we missed (with the exception of our hot-footed Jani, who’d long since been dutifully dangling under the stage with his “clicker toy”) Zablujena generacija, Da Phenomena, Gušti in Polona and (oh, the damned horror!) our “darlings” Šank Rock, who had two gigs that night, so they popped up right at the start of the Val 202 anniversary lineup.
Here’s what everyone we didn’t catch at Rockline played for the crowd:
ZABLUJENA GENERACIJA setlist:
1. Metulj
2. Kdo hoče plesati z menoj?
3. Sonce nabija
4. Totaln debil
5. Ekstrasupermegafakinujno
DA PHENOMENA setlist:
1. Silvija
2. Phenomena
3. Punce Fantje
4. Skupaj sva
5. Pejdap
GUŠTI in POLONA setlist:
1. Trip
2. Sanje
3. Moški čaj
4. Vedno zame
5. D-dan
ŠANK ROCK setlist:
1. Nekaj pod kožo
2. Nebeška vrata
3. Dež
4. Senca sebe
5. Jaz nimam noč za spanje
Now let’s finally get to the heart of the action with Dan D! Wise, seasoned guys, with carefully and rationally measured short and punchy “rock” moves, highly melodic and ear-pleasing tones. The current Dan D “hitlet” Voda came babbling through, there was no getting around the question of what Čas is, there were warnings to humanity to, for God’s sake, hurry up Počasi, and invitations to dance (Plešeš). They definitely surprised everyone by including Lep dan za smrt in their five-song pick, a cover of the band Niet. The crowd was visibly satisfied. Dan D just can’t help being themselves on stage!
DAN D setlist:
1. Lep dan…
2. Počasi
3. Katere barve je tvoj dan
4. Plešeš
5. Voda
The crowd’s excitement stayed high, because Mi2 were already up on stage. A band famous for a brilliantly crafted, healthy dose of humor and for burning it down fantastically in their chosen rock n’ roll style, they poured oil on the fire that Dan D had so nicely lit. This time the guys put the perfectly chosen Slovenija into their repertoire, originally by the legendary Slovenian old farts Buldožer, who could, by the way, have honored the Val 202 celebration with a visit. Speaking of which, Bele was spotted lurking around the VIP area. Another song dangerously soaked in mothballs showed up too, Sve ove godine (orig. Indexi), and the excellent rock n’ roll burlesque Tarzan stood out as well. Mi2 are hot and the crowd knew it!
MI2 setlist:
1. Maybe baby
2. Slovenija
3. Sve ove godine
4. Sv. Margareta
5. Tarzan
6. Pojdi z menoj v toplice
Lara-B, a black panther, if I may be a little naughty. A rowdy girl with a rowdy backing crew who simply wouldn’t slow down on stage, and so even the legendary pop number by Pepel in kri, Dan neskončnih sanj, fell victim to her this time, souped up “rocker style” of course, and Lara used it to open her set. Slovenia could use more naughty rock girls like Lara-B. We’ve had more than enough good little girls!!!
LARA-B setlist:
1. Dan neskočnih sanj
2. Zrcalni odsev
3. Meja v glavi
4. Kletka želja
5. Kje se vse ustavi
After that, the partying in the hall died down a bit. Maybe Neisha and Aleksander Mežek are just a little too serious for the mostly hot-blooded youth, who are mainly looking for inspiration for all sorts of mischief, the kind you get from music built on a hot riff and the glam of rebellion. Neisha’s and Aleksander Mežek’s sets practically merged into one, since Mežek joined the young lady on stage just for her last song, Slab dan, and she returned the favor and stayed on with the legendary singer-songwriter for a joint take on the now-folk-classic Julija. Aleksander’s still got it, with a fascinating sensuality in his vocals that slyly intoxicates you before you even notice. A set for all the nostalgic souls! Of course there was no skipping Siva pot, which brought the hall suddenly (as expected) fully back to life.
NEISHA setlist:
1. Planet za zadet
2. Le kaj se skriva
3. Malo tu malo tam
4. Najlepša pot
5. Slab dan
ALEKSANDER MEŽEK setlist:
1. Julija
2. Krila
3. Prepih
4. Polet 2
5. Siva Pot
The focal point of our attention was Leeloojamais, who took the stage for their christening gig with a brand-new member, Kristina Zadnikar! A blonde (yeah baby!) who hasn’t even turned 20 yet. She filled the gap in the band left by the departure of her charismatic predecessor Lara Šiljevinac. The performance of the revamped “Leeloos” showed that the replacement was anything but easy. Young Kristina gave it her all, no doubt about it, and the band came at it the way they always do, no inhibitions, full of confidence. But somehow it couldn’t make up for Lara. Kristina, who proved she’s got real vocal chops, just isn’t on her predecessor’s level in that department. The crowd cooled off a lot too, which for Leeloojamais is a dangerous new realization. Let’s wait and see what time brings, but judging by first impressions, Lara could well be back with Leeloojamais before long. It’s worth mentioning, though, that Kristina brought the required amount of alluring feminine wiggling to the stage. The girl has a solid starting dose of charge, which let’s hope gets built up. Anyway, I wish the band all the best with Kristina!
LEELOOJAMAIS setlist:
1. Signal
2. Ne zameri mi
3. Bicikl
4. Tik – Tak
5. (Ti bi) k’r takoj
Gal in galeristi, with leader and “conductor” Gal Gjurin as the central figure and a dozen proven, excellent musicians, were definitely a reason to rejoice, especially for the slightly more demanding part of the audience. Gal naturally held on to his primacy with great composure and an authoritatively powerful voice; he could trade “gallerist” for “excavator operator”! The Galeristi’s lively repertoire package definitely stood out on the day’s lineup! The guys brought a dose of higher musical complexity to the stage, which lulled the crowd a bit, but we were very happy with how they delivered the material!
GAL IN GALERISTI setlist:
1. Ko ljubim, ne ljubim
2. A štekaš
3. Tanzanija
4. Poglej ven, dežuje
5. Fužinski blues
The most popular act, as is only proper, plays at the end. This time that honor went to Big Foot Mama. How the crowd instantly “thawed” and went wild was hard to believe, given how bored it had looked during the previous act. Like night and day! It went without saying that the hall sang in one voice with Big Foot Mama. So the round of performers peaked at the very end, which was also the organizer’s idea: to keep the audience awake and upright the whole time, ready for the consumption mania and in constant contact with the bar counters.
BIG FOOT MAMA setlist:
1. Moja mama
2. Črn tulipan
3. Nisem več s tabo
4. Rola se
5. Vrn’ se k men’
We spent most of the evening in the VIP area, so the whole report comes a little “beer-packaged”. In those rooms for the chosen few, some of us only exchanged glances from afar, others cheerfully stuffed themselves with cake, drank the rowdy young wine, laughed at nonsense, and above all laughed a lot, a whole lot. Many guests were soon swaying way too much under the weight of alcohol derivatives. But even all these damned orgies finally came to an end, so we set off wandering on to Metelkova… The night was still young and long…
On this occasion I’d like to sincerely thank, on behalf of the RockLine team, the bosses and editors at Val 202, who let us live through and share some truly lovely, unforgettable moments of this evening and experience this truly big anniversary up close, not just for Val 202, but, we can say, for a whole hen of our noble Šentflorjan breed.
Setlist
ZABLUJENA GENERACIJA DA PHENOMENA ŠANK ROCK GUŠTI IN POLONA DAN D MI2 LARA-B NEISHA ALEKSANDER MEŽEK LEELOOJAMAIS GAL IN GALERISTI BIG FOOT MAMA
