Venue: Orto bar, Ljubljana
Concert date: 25.04.2008
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €16 in advance
Ljubljana’s Orto bar was roaring again. This time the culprits were France’s Straightaway and California’s Strung Out. After last year’s sold-out show at Gala Hala and Strung Out vocalist Jason Cruz’s promise, they came back to Slovenia on Saturday, April 26 and played as part of Orto Fest. Straightaway were actually supposed to support Strung Out last July, but that fell through because of illness in the band. The second invitation finally bore fruit, and we got to witness it on Saturday.
For the skate-punkers Straightaway, Saturday’s gig at Orto was their first on Slovenian soil. They took the stage a little after nine p.m. in front of a not-so-big crowd, but there were more people with every song. The guys put out their debut record, “Democracy Of Spreading Poverty”, last November, and we got “Bitter Pill”, “Never Surrender” and “Had Your Chance” from it. The most recognizable tracks are definitely the title track “Democracy Of Spreading” and “Thousand Miles Away”. You can feel the strong influence of the giants of the genre in their songs, like No Use For A Name, Ten Foot Pole, Bad Religion, A Wilhem Scream, Strung Out, Satanic Surfers and others, but the Parisians still show plenty of promise. Even though you could tell the Slovenian crowd doesn’t know them that well yet, they still managed to build some atmosphere. Still, a bit of a bitter aftertaste lingered, since everyone was waiting for the ones who sold out Orto bar – Strung Out.
They didn’t kick off their set with one of the potential hits from their latest (already seventh) album “Blackhawks Over Los Angeles”, which came out last June on “Fat Wreck Chords”, the label run by NOFX’s Fat Mike, but with “Too Close To See” (Twisted By Design, 1998), and the madness began. It’s wild how a seemingly calm crowd can turn into total beasts. Luckily, all within normal limits. “Blackhawks Over Los Angeles” was the first song they played from the new record and the second of the night at Orto. Mmmm, sounds good! And what did the crowd “say” about it? Madness, madness, madness! The first stagedivers showed up right there. Plenty of people felt the hard floor under them at first, but it didn’t stop anybody. Strung Out carried on with another older hit, “Kill Your Scene”. Quite a few people sang that one along with Jason right into the mic. The heat kept climbing from note to note. Jason gave it everything and after just the first few songs he was so soaked that sweat was literally pouring off him. “No Voice Of Mine” drove the crowd even crazier, and they were already getting a bit better at catching the stagedivers. The song also appeared on the compilation “Rock Against Bush Vol. 1”, where alongside Strung Out you can find Anti-Flag, Against Me!, The Offspring and other well-known bands. Bruises and bumps started piling up, and by the end there were too many to count. They continued with another older track, “Ice Burn”. Even though the guys are on a promo tour, nothing suggested they were there to promote the songs from the new record. Maybe they’re afraid of getting a mixed reception. The crowd didn’t mind, since they were enjoying the older songs, and here came another one – “Ultimate Devotion”. Unconditional devotion. Could you say that about Strung Out, who’ve stopped in Slovenia twice in less than a year? Probably so. “Analog” was another older hit the guys put in Saturday’s set. Then finally time for something new – “Mission Statement”, which is their typical product. Excellent! Just when you start craving something fresh, you don’t get it, and so they served us “Exhumation Of Virginia Madison”. We were barely halfway through the show, but the guys were already pretty tired. Still, they dug out even more and took us up to a new level again with “Letter Home”. Insane!
Then came another jump back to the older tracks. “Velvet Alley” is one of those. The crowd went nuts, the stagedivers were busy leaping off the stage, and everyone else was busy collecting bruises. “Solitaire”, “Firecracker” and “Matchbook” did their part too. I doubt there was anyone in the crowd who didn’t take home at least one bruise from this wild night at Orto.
The crowd begged for a short encore, and at last we heard the first single from the new record – “Calling”, whose video you can check out on their Myspace. The guys couldn’t skip a cover of “Got The Time”, originally by Anthrax. Visibly exhausted, Strung Out closed out the night with “Bring Out Your Dead”, handed out picks, drumsticks and setlists to the crowd, and said goodbye after about an hour.
Once again we witnessed one seriously good gig. And even though Jason didn’t make a promise this time, we’ll surely see each other again soon.
Text and photos: Lea Lesar
Setlist
Strung Out setlist:
1. Too Close To See
2. Blackhawks Over Los Angeles
3. Kill Your Scene
4. No Voice Of Mine
5. Ice Burn
6. Ultimate Devotion
7. Analog
8. Mission Statement
9. Exhumation Of Virginia Madison
10. Letter Home
11. Velvet Alley
12. Solitaire
13. Firecracker
14. Matchbook
15. Calling
16. Got The Time
17. Bring Out Your Dead
Photo Gallery
