Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Channel Zero, Metelkova, Ljubljana
Concert date: 14.05.2009
Attendance: 0
A year and a half of creative downtime, brought on by lineup changes, has finally put Backstage back on the scene, now in an expanded and revamped lineup. The original members, bassist and vocalist Mitja Uhan and drummer Luka Virens, have been joined by guitarists Tomaž Pišlar and Andrej Ogris, who also plays in Out Of Plumb. How do Ljubljana’s punk-rockers sound with a bit more guitar firepower? The crowd at Channel Zero on Metelkova got to find out on Friday, May 15. Melodic hardcore crew Astpai from Austria and the Americans One Win Choice warmed up the stage.
Backstage celebrated their return to the stage right at Ljubljana’s Channel Zero, throwing a punk-rock party that ran about an hour. Their debut album “Backstage” came out in February 2004. Two years later their second-born, “Trends Are Changing”, landed on record store shelves, easily holding its own against bands like Millencolin, No Use For A Name, Bad Religion, NOFX and other Fat Wreck and Epitaph troublemakers. With thirteen songs plus a few repeats, they walked us through both of their albums. Who doesn’t know “Believe In Me”, “Suffer”, “No More Lies”, “Misel nate” and the others that put Backstage on the map? Plenty of people say the last one is their biggest hit. But I have to push back hard on that, since all the ones I just listed (and the ones I didn’t mention) are right on its heels. The crowd proved it (again), tangling themselves up in a slightly subdued “mosh pit” but still going at it at full steam.
Even more exciting than that was the addition of the second guitar, which spices up the arrangements even further. Which of the two new guitarists, Tomaž Pišlar or Andrej Ogris, is the “second” guitar isn’t clearly spelled out, but both are more than excellent “replacements” (though that’s not exactly the best word for it) for former member Miha Brezavšček. And how did the two join Uhan and Virens? Pišlar is an old friend of Uhan and Brezavšček from their primary school days, when they “honed” their instruments in the band No Excuse., while Ogris will be familiar to Slovenian scene insiders as the guitarist of ska-punk outfit Out Of Plumb, who released their comic-book-styled debut “Super Action Heroes” earlier this year. These guys clearly have some musical and gigging mileage under their belts.
And how does the band work as a foursome? Check it out at one of their upcoming shows. A genuine punk-rock party is guaranteed!
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
Backstage: 1. Trust 2. No More Lies 3. Believe In Me 4. Suffer 5. Weak 6. Black vs. White 7. Confused 8. Someday 9. Way Of Life 10. You 11. Misel nate 12. Trenutek 13. Away + encore
Photo gallery
