Venue: Klub Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana
Concert date: 05.10.2009
Attendance: 0
Bratko Bibič is one of those musicians who has done a lot to put Slovenian music on the map. He started out doing that with Begnagrad, who are still sung about among those rascals who call themselves experimental music fans. Now he’s doing it with his band The Madleys, where he’s joined by nothing but established names. Bibič alone is a legend in his own right, but when you’ve got people like Vasko Atanasovski and Boštjan Gombač playing with him, that just cements his authority in innovative music.
The show opened with the classic intro “Zvonovi”, where we hear sampled bells that the drummer later joins in on. After that come nothing but staples of this band’s live sets, at least until the new song with the working title “No Logo, No Fame”. With the song “Ableitung” (or “odvod” in Slovenian, “derivative” in English), Bibič pays tribute to mathematics. That’s all the more fitting, because the band sometimes really does run like a well-oiled machine, with mathematical precision. After a good hour the show wrapped up with the usual closer (“Petelinje”), and the musicians got a thunderous ovation from the crowd on stage.
Most rock fans know Bratko Bibič as a founding member of Begnagrad, who were always very strong compositionally and always came with a heaping dose of humor. Still, it seems that Bibič has now, in his more mature years, found an even better balance between the serious stuff and the more playful, cheerful side. The compositions are incredibly tight and polished, yet you always get the feeling there’s a huge amount of freedom in them.
I probably hardly need to single out the individual members and their contributions at this point, since they always deliver at the highest level. This time again we could hear just how tightly locked-in all the guys are, but a couple of times they also threw in some improvised parts, which brought a bit of freshness for a veteran of Bibič’s shows (and I count myself among them), and that’s always welcome.
Another top-notch performance from what is, for me right now, the best Slovenian band (especially after the rumors that Miusow Quartet have split up). Maybe the set could have been a touch longer, but better short and sweet than rambling on too much. This is definitely a band that serves you a full bowl of feelings with every gig. At their shows you can get goosebumps, dread, joy, confusion – in short, they know how to satisfy every shade of the human personality.
Photos: Rok Podgrajšek
Setlist
1. Zvonovi 2. Gallusovina 3. Encore 2W 4. Encore 1W 5. Labis Carniolus 6. Nerodnjak 7. No Logo, No Fame 8. Ableitung 9. Petelinje
Photo Gallery
