Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Hala Tivoli / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 18.09.2009
Attendance: 60
Ticket price: €5.00
The Drinkers, Hala Tivoli! Doesn’t that look good on paper? Slovenia’s boozy beauties of party punk’n’roll rarely sit on their hands. If nothing else, they always pull off something juicy. Hala Tivoli and the entrance to the west stand! Like heading out to the clash of the incomparable duo Olimpija : Jesenice in ice hockey. A friendly steward hands me my ticket, but where are the people, and where’s the door leading to the stand? Where’s all the commotion and crowd? Instead, the friendly staff of the organizer, none other than The Drinkers themselves – in person (!), kindly send me down the stairs. Down toward the gigantic Tivoli underground, lavishly decked out in gleaming ceramics, the home of emptying out. What emptying out might mean in human physiology doesn’t belong in a report, but the obligatory props like toilet paper, the left hand (for the Hindus), the toilet duck and so on… probably already give you a hint that, instead of a cleaning lady picking up the “WC-rina” (read: “vay-tsay-ree-na”), The Drinkers set up their own “customs booth” at the entrance to the Tivoli WC this time, that is, the stage and everything that goes with it, so they could get their concert business done.
The Drinkers playing the Tivoli WC, with the debauched support of a good 50 heads in front of the stage and the famous alcohol rhapsody, which in their own production paid tribute to Lepi in trezni, Miss Lee, I Love Alkohol, Deset majhnih jagrov, Pijemo ga radi, Hura, Jawohl, Stari mož, Litr vina, Fa fa fa, Alkohol, Lep dan za smrt, Vijolice, Hajdi and Ko to tamo peva, delivered a one-of-a-kind experience. Leading the charge was that famous The Drinkers trump card: the band’s great knack for throwing a perfect party for the crowd on a Friday night, when the brakes in everyone’s heads give out completely.
The guys are still total positivity machines who, hanging out with them, make you forget the aches and troubles of everyday life in an instant, with a reminder that you’ve got to take “life a bit more easy.” The restroom filled up with a mixed crowd, from long-haired kids in metal gear (!) to sugary posers, and among them popped up a few very interesting faces who have, one way or another, left their mark on the Slovenian rock scene since the early seventies and beyond (Borut Činč, Dragan Bulič,…).
And The Drinkers? Don’t worry. They’re still cut from the right cloth. The quintet, which recently picked up a new drummer in Klemen Markelj (Klemen actually belongs to his main band Obidil), dry, relaxed and sawing out decibels of booze and buzzsaw, with authentic punk n’ roll connotations, just as it should be. Maki once again proved himself a true stage performer, in a provocative combo of spandex and an officer’s “Josip Stalin” cap, and even tried out some lap running up the spacious restroom stairs, which this time led to the concert venue. His vocals serve him brilliantly and the man sang the repertoire in top form. The remaining four, including newcomer Klemen, once again proved that they simply don’t know how, and can’t bring themselves, to say no. So The Drinkers aren’t letting up.
The tribute to joy and wine lasted an hour and ten minutes, and we had only just acclimatized well and warmed our throats to proper working temperature when they slowly started “tidying” us, along with the equipment, out into the open. The hall supposedly closes at 11:00 p.m. and wraps up activities so the noise doesn’t pollute the forest or disturb the forest dwellers of Šišenski hrib, such as shrews, finches, ants and earthworms, in their hard and bloodily earned sleep.
So The Drinkers’ concert at Hala Tivoli will go down in the annals of Slovenian rock music. They managed to fill the Tivoli WC to the last corner. Wit, a sparkling mind that always has a surprise behind it (this time a concert in the WC of Hala Tivoli), a deep understanding of, respect for and commitment to the fact that rock n’ roll was made first and foremost to entertain us: those are the “small” yet all-important factors that give the band a weight and meaning worthy of respect. They’re holding up well. Nobody slipped while “skating” across the restroom “parquet,” nobody got their head stuck in the toilet bowl or sniffed the mothballs hoping to accidentally quench their thirst there. It would be a shame to waste alcohol flushing anything other than throats. Drink on, boys!
photos: Robi Lipej
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