Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Etno klub Zlati zob / Slovenia
Concert date: November 27, 2014
Attendance: 130
Ticket price: €12.00
Evergreen Avtomobili at one of their rare gigs this year, right in 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 their second Ljubljana show of the year.
The venue, where the guys had never played before that day, boasts a spacious stage with excellent acoustics, which suits the artistic fine-tuning of the musical dossier of this legendary Nova Gorica band, one of the most special, yet also most respected, and historically the most important for the Slovenian music scene.
That very famous, instantly recognizable musical dossier is considered one of the greatest delights of listening to Avtomobili. Turnout was great and the tables in the hall were filled to the last seat. The band hit the stage around half past eight in the evening. At Zlati zob, Avtomobili played an almost identical setlist to the one at this year’s Ortofest! In fact, they moved the rousing lead single of the current album »Pozna pomlad«, Poslušaj, up from the tail end of the set to the very start of the show, opening the new concert with it.
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 from its rich discography. Once again we got a performance in which the band instantly charms and wins over the listener. The reason lies in the exceptional camaraderie of the five musicians who make up the lineup, thoroughly refreshed since around 2008. The eternal, seasoned and experienced duo of the Vuksanovič brothers, backed by the rigorous perfectionism of three younger companions led by the versatile Boštjan Andrejc Buši on guitar and the remarkably well-matched feel of the rhythm pairing of the two Davids, has never sounded as convincing and polished as it does in these new times. Tightness and chemistry are facts dictated by long mileage, great knowledge and rich experience.
The band was somewhat surprised to be playing for a seated audience, since they’re used to more intense banter with their crowd, so you could miss a bit more spontaneity from the audience, the much-needed dot on the »i« that would have further contrasted and intensified the passions and emotions the band’s musical message draws out of the crowd. Somewhere in the middle of the show, during one of the breaks between songs, Zlati zob boss Nenad suddenly jumped on stage and warned one of the guests to move their car, which was blocking the parking lot, before the guys in the lineup had to be roped in to help. Marko deftly turned that into a quip: »See now! Wherever Avtomobili show up, trouble follows!«
An Avtomobili concert remains an experience of total fascination! The rich arsenal of evergreen hits is exceptional, both in its motivic variety and strength of character, and in the expressive power of Marko’s poetry, which the great wizard on vocals brings to life on stage with proud, deeply lived-in conviction and his recognizable, soulful vocal stamp. The quintet’s energy once again effortlessly created a singular, one-of-a-kind musical world that you only get when you meet Avtomobili. Before the end of the show one of the strings on Buši’s red Telecaster snapped, but the seasoned master didn’t sweat it and simply pulled out a spare guitar for the encore.
The two-hour show once again confirmed the firm conviction that in Slovenia, Avtomobili remain a byword for great artistic brilliance, the kind that only a band with a clearly worked-out musical vision can develop over time, backed by a refined feel for the grand and subtle aesthetics of striking artistic notes and devoted to artistic perfectionism. So another magical musical evening happened at Zlati zob, in the company of the one-of-a-kind Avtomobili.
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
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