Live Reports

With the delicate fine mechanics of their gentle collages, flawless organic engravings, džeZZva effortlessly, softly, fluidly and willingly conjured up a special magic world, spoiling a dozen "survivors" among the music lovers of the…

This wasn't the first metal gig at the Royal Albert Hall, but it was definitely the first one where testicles strolled across the stage. Priceless.

"Pure magic" is way too small a label to capture the unsuspected quality behind the name and essence of this band. On their new mini Slovenian tour, we caught Šinobusi in Škofja Loka.

As part of this year's Ortofesta, they also swung by Orto bar, specifically the new concert space on the ground floor.

As part of this year's traditional edition of Ortofest, Zoran Čalić stepped onto the Orto bar stage, the former guitarist of the Croatian band Majke and the well-known guitar player of Big Foot Mama. He recently formed his own band and…

A Russian Circles show is something special, with calm passages blending beautifully into heavy, distorted ones, so the crowd gets to experience something out of the ordinary.

Steven Wilson and his seasoned crew of super-virtuosos took us on a wonderful journey through the many sonic twists and turns of Wilson's current studio masterpiece during an outstanding Vienna show. Along the way they threw in a few…

This time, Slovenian art rock veterans Avtomobili steered their eternal rock'n'roll ride into the intimate little cabaret room in the middle of Kavarna Slamič. Kersnikova 1, Ljubljana! They treated the crowd to another great night of music!

"The performance proved the timelessness of this striking Gorica band and their work, and every one of their shows remains a chapter of its own. They're still masters of the perfect sound."

"Mr. Parsons once again showed off flawless sonic perfection and delivered a practically spotless show, where, besides some of the most famous The Alan Parsons Project standards, we also heard a few lesser-known tracks that stirred up…

On April Fools' Day, three out-of-this-world musical virtuosos stopped by the revived Bluesiana. Over rich careers, they've left their mark on countless top-notch albums by all kinds of artists, especially the eclectic ones.

"Despite the lousy sound and monotonous lighting, Gus G. pulled off more than a solid show, though we could definitely have used one more Firewind song"

Mr. Parsons once again showed off flawless sonic perfection and delivered a practically impeccable show, in which, alongside some of the best-known The Alan Parsons Project standards, we also heard a few lesser-known tracks that stirred up…

Elvis Jackson don't show their years. The guys are still full of energy, positivity and surprises. With great lighting and solid sound, the launch of the band's new record was a proper spectacle.

After more than a decade, Majesty are back for their second visit to the Slovenian capital. They've got the new album »Generatuion Steel« in their pocket and two support bands along for the ride: Sweden's Bloodbound and…

Soen headlined here for the first time, but last Sunday at Channel Zero they were somewhat outplayed by French openers Lizzard.

Despite lousy sound and monotonous lighting, Gus G. delivered more than a solid show, though a Firewind song or two more would definitely have been welcome.

These long-lived metal veterans, who have been pecking and biting their way across the planet since 1983, should have played here years ago, but back then they had to cancel the show. So the time had come to keep their promise and finally…

Always-in-a-good-mood Don Airey and his tight band turned Bluesiana into a successful celebration of the last four decades of classic rock, treating us all night long to quality versions of plenty of unforgettable evergreens.

"Overkill served up a fitting cross-section of thirty-five years of making noise, then closed out eight hours of Day of Metal with a classic cover and the perfect send-off for the night: Fuck You!"

The thrash bears of Eruption have finally woken from hibernation, and they're back at Gromka for the first time in a few months with a fresh new recruit.

After the release of the monumental Z2, Devin Townsend has stormed Europe with the same gusto Ziltoid shows for a cup of black coffee!

What do you get when two headliners and all their support acts collide in one hall? A metal marathon, which we just powered through at Day of Metal 2015 in Kino Šiška.

The 2006 Eurovision winners came back to Slovenia for the second time, with their seventh studio album, »Scare Force One«, in their pocket.

On their second visit to the Slovenian capital, the duo Lamb once again shone brightly and enchanted the crowd.

In a set of under an hour and a half in the heart of Bluesiana, Tygers Of Pan Tang showed off brilliant form and, with their uncompromising approach straight out of the unforgettable NWOBHM school, proved they're nowhere near ready for the…

A gig with zero pomp and zero kitsch! Just the glow of fully relived interpretations, which, with the incredible power of Lanegan's poetry, seduce and enchant in the most arrogant way. Boundless trance, black musical elegance.

This round of young thrash metal hopefuls won us over in places, but there were no big surprises …

A black sleaze bash at Transtastion Squat in Kranj with the razor-sharp Swedes Sister, who played their new album "Disguised Vultures" (2014) live!

All these minimalist tricks of endlessly layering instruments, sound-modulation gear and vocal harmonies mark Yann Tiersen as a unique, one-of-a-kind musical painter and acrobat. With all his modesty and down-to-earth warmth, which the…

Location: Graz / PPC / AustriaDate: Monday, 09.02.2015 HammerFall are back at full concert gallop! Nearly two decades have flown by in a stormy, lightning-fast blur since 1997, when the band was formed in Gothenburg, Sweden, and…

"Even live, Fish remains indestructible and rock-solid when it comes to delivering his gut-wrenching messages, and he's still a top-notch entertainer too, so we didn't mind at all that the set list that night leaned mostly on his newer…

An hour and three quarters of HammerFall power metal, brilliantly executed by seasoned, charismatic Swedes who are never short on stage dynamite, made for a sweet concert experience that more than welcomely shook up this February's…

Even live, Fish remains indestructible and rock-solid when it comes to delivering his gut-wrenching messages, and he's still a top-notch entertainer to boot, so we didn't mind one bit that the setlist leaned mostly on his newer stuff.…

"For Sabaton, Monday's show was already their fifth in the Croatian capital."

Sweden's tank division, known as Sabaton, rolled into our neck of the woods once again and proved at Zagreb's Tvornica kulture exactly why they sit at the very top of the popularity charts.

Earth coming to the Slovenian capital is a bit of a biblical event, though we wouldn't be ringing the big bell quite this loudly if the band weren't pioneers, the very ones who basically founded the drone metal genre.

Let's leave aside this country, which would rather collect money »For Europe« than for its own citizens and "Za kombi" ("For the Van"). Faith in rock 'n' roll beats everything, after all!

A concert night of a unique experience, delivered by 4 unique bands! An evening that turned into a tribute to the person and work of Boštjan Cvek, the far-too-early-departed founder of the Jazz Cerkno and Keltika festivals, and one that…

When turbo folk meets metal, you get Pero Defformero – a wild, one-of-a-kind mix of two totally different genres that once again turned a Slovenian hall into a party on the rafts of Ada Ciganlija.

After plenty of stages in Slovenia and abroad, Noctiferia finally brought Pax home to Ljubljana, to Kino Šiška, where the veterans of the local metal scene threw a killer night under the banner Metal za metal (Metal for Metal): three bands…

It wasn't snowing, so we really had no excuse not to drive to Austria on Friday night. This time the road took us to downtown Klagenfurt, to the club ((Stereo)), which hosted a benefit concert raising funds for the rock/blues club Bluesiana…

Rock 'n' roll, screeching tires, the smell of burning motor oil drifting over from the nearby go-kart track, and of course the teasing shimmer of naughty bunnies! All carefully packed and served in one piece. At the pre-New Year bash with…

As bassist Cveto Polak said during the show: Slovenian bands can fill a hall too. He was right – Šank Rock can do that as well. We're looking forward to seeing them pack halls in 2015, too – with new songs that will see the light of day…

Mojo Hand's show just before the end of 2014 heralds the rebirth of one of Slovenia's most respected and most recognizable bands, devoted to keeping the world heritage of the blues and its closest genre relatives alive. Going strong since…

With the Deicide show, it's safe to say this year's death metal season was a really varied one.

With At War With Reality, one of the most serious contenders for album of the year, the legendary At the Gates made a triumphant return to the world of studio-active bands, then crowned it with a hurricane of a show at Vienna's Arena!

Bryan's show at Stožice was one of those big concert spectacles that happen far too rarely on Slovenian soil, with the energy between stage and crowd in perfect sync, so everyone there will be fondly remembering it for a long time.

When Audrey Horne turn Vienna into Pure Heavy for one night!

A great night at Koper's Snack Bar, seasoned with the pure-blooded rock'n'roll mission of Divlje Jagode. Let's hope they're back in our neck of the woods very soon!

What happens when you toss Icelanders, Russians and Swiss into a cauldron, season them with their native tongues and stir the whole thing up with whistles and pipes?

The dying year 2014 served up the second-to-last death metal assault of the year, and veterans Dying Fetus showed up with a goblet full of goodies.

»Vojna in mir«, brought to life by the musical vision of Larry Coryell, is a magnificent piece of work. Stage sets, backdrop projections, theatrical contemporary dance interludes and crisp operetta moments from male and female vocal…

Jure »J.J.« Jurca and Matevž Pavčnik are two musicians whom the wheel of fate has thrown together into an acoustic guitar-and-vocals duo called Vagabunda. These two are watchful perfectionists who bet everything on the authentic sound of a…

On Thursday, 4.12., Channel Zero hosted »Bring on the vanguards« and »The Hoax Program«.

Suicide Silence's comeback went over well despite the poor turnout. Plenty of doubts were put to rest. On the flip side, the band will need a bit more time before fans get used to the new vocalist.

"The two-hour concert experience once again confirmed the firm conviction that Avtomobili remain the Slovenian byword for great artistic brilliance, the kind that only a band with a clearly honed musical vision can develop over time, backed…

The Rockline.si crew wrapped up a packed November of gigs in the Littoral region, where we kept coming back through the late autumn days. This time, though, we stepped across the border to Trieste. The Trieste iz rock crew lured two bands…

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…

Location: Graz / Stadthalle / AustriaDate: Sunday, 23.11.2014 This time around, Graz's Stadthalle played host to Peter Gabriel, one of the most colorful musical artists and vocal icons of all time. The hugely charismatic Gabriel…

The Grandmothers of Invention delivered on the sky-high expectations of fans of unbridled musical experimentation and satire. They put on a truly dreamlike show in the main hall of Kino Šiška, with plenty of laughs along the way, and every…

One night is of course nowhere near enough to satisfy the appetite for an Eric Sardinas show, no matter how good the previous night's gig was. We always want more, and this time we got it. Another Eric Sardinas show on our home turf – this…

It doesn't happen often that we get the chance to see and hear a trio as good as Eric Sardinas & Big Motor inside our country's borders. This fall, our coast (once again) delivered exactly that, two nights in a row no less. But let's…

Peter Gabriel's show in Graz was in every way one of this year's concert highlights, especially for those of us who were seeing him live for the first time that night and got to witness his incredible stage charisma and musical timelessness…

"Clubs, axes, cloaks and masks came and went like on a conveyor belt, the ominous content fitting right in with the motifs of the classics Notorius, Rod of Iron and Eyes of a Stranger."

If we're going for the cliché, we can say Machine Head age like wine, getting better with every year.

Watching Salas play his own material and soaking up the highlights of his album »Colorcode« is pure indulgence.

Only the second show this year from the great godfathers of the Slovenian metal and rock scene, the legendary boogie metallers Lene kosti, announced at the former Scratch Bar (recently renamed Strings Bar), was that little tickling sweet of…

For a tour celebrating their thirtieth anniversary, we got a good hour less of theatrical Lizzy Borden fun than we expected.

There was no shortage of eruptive energy, boosted and shaped above all by the ferocious reactions of a crowd gone mad and wild, and nobody could really complain about the show or the night as a whole, dedicated to reviving the true,…

A meticulously rehearsed and crafted show of outstanding rock energy, polished charisma and a one-of-a-kind artistic musical identity, it conjured up one of the finest concert spectacles in this year's Cvetličarna program, and let's hope…

Noctiferia are racing toward the release of their new album PAX, and this time they brought the torch of Noctiferian peace to Kranj's Trainstation Squot!

Vienna's Gasometer witnessed a flawless showcase of the formula that has carried Gotthard, over a quarter century of existence, to the status of one of the most beloved (younger) bands around, at least when we're talking classically built…

Croatia's Parni Valjak helped round out a packed November of gigs. The band loves playing here and tours Slovenia often. They've hit our big arenas a number of times, but this time they went for a more intimate show at Cvetličarna, and they…

Stef Burns' show is pure guitar poetry! Everything is in its place. Sound, playing, presence. This time around, the man presented his new studio album "Roots & Wings" for the second time this year, right next door to us!

There's a well-known Slovenian saying: little money, little music. But last Thursday the guys in San Di Ego proved that's not always true, throwing a free release party at Biljardna hiša in Ljubljana for their self-titled debut, San Di Ego.

" After a studio drought of almost a decade, Fates Warning dropped their long-awaited comeback album "Darkness in a Different Light" last year, and promoting it is still the backbone of their current European tour."

By playing one of his most beloved classics, Mr. McLaughlin gave his practically flawless show a near-perfect finish, after we'd feasted on a heaping helping of jazz-fusion lucidity and the John's quartet's boundless knack for building and…

The fascination of music's expressive magic is a wonderful feeling, and you rarely get to experience it at a gig in all its intensity. Level 42 are the right address for that kind of temptation. And believe me, there aren't many like them…

Fates Warning are pure magic that casts a full-on spell, as long as you let it carry you away!

Horisont were a bit of a breath of fresh air compared to today's glut of sterile, overpolished bands. With Gibson guitars, Orange amps and "natural" drums (and their outfits, of course), they let the crowd know that seventies rock might…

Alen Brentini – a guitar virtuoso from Rijeka, Croatia. Ingredients of the Adriatic climate, a hard rock heart, and a mellower blues-funk soul make up the charismatic image of this musical talent from our southern neighbors

We finally got to see this big moment. One of the most important Slovenian bands of the late sixties and the turn of the seventies, back together! The reunion and rebirth of the legendary Mladi levi.

"Zak was, as expected, a chapter all his own. With his beautifully preserved vocal cords he sounds almost identical to twenty years ago, and with his enviable stage charisma he carried half of this rather demanding, acoustic-flavored Circle…

Channel Zero got a good dose of today's metalcore with Bury Tomorrow, one that stresses the melodic side. Only the support act was out of context, but these days odd genre combos on tours are standard practice.

On the evening of one of the most popular imported holidays, Halloween, American prog-metal up-and-comers Circle II Circle, under the superb leadership of (former) Savatage singer Zachary 'Zak' Stevens, rolled into Bluesiana, Austria's…

Tide burned Channel Zero to the ground with their tightness, huge confidence, a great feel for the new lineup, and the chemistry between the four of them. With the punchy, expressive power of their trademark modern hard rock sound, which…

The classic rock grazing ground by Kranj's railway station has sprung back to life! Naughty Swedes Sister Sin rolled in, with Slovenian heavy rock assault troops Tomcat standing beside them this time as support.

It was great the first time, it was great the second time, so there was no reason not to catch a Šank Rock show for the third time this year. Quite a few musical treats tend to go down in the western half of the country, and this time was…

Last Friday, New York riff minimalists Helmet stopped by Kino Šiška. The show was part of a tour marking the twentieth anniversary of the album Betty. The record came out in 1994 and is the third in Helmet's discography, which currently…

The idea of combining two (super)important events on the Slovenian music scene worked brilliantly when it came to life on October 23, 2014, in the middle of Ljubljana's Cvetličarna. One was the return of the compilation CD under the slogan…

So Liars gave the crowd exactly what it came for that night. A great stage show. A one-of-a-kind catapult blast into a parallel world of electro-punk dance extravagance with the charm of neurotic nihilism.

At Maribor's KGB on Saturday night, the crowd got an intimate, killer flow of sound, rhythm and energy from the freshly revived On in njegovi!

The new Accept show flew by in just under two hours, like the blink of an eye. Great sound, great execution! The primal face of metal, forged on the old European continent at the turn of the seventies into the eighties, still works as if it…

A new concert marathon with the innovative sonic usurpers and New York "no wave" veterans Swans served up another near-three-hour, trance-inducing live feast.

"The hearty fun and sunny mood of this evening in Bistrica pri Tržiču just wouldn't quit. HELP! literally won the crowd over, and even when it was definitely over, the audience still refused to leave the amphitheater."

After The Aristocrats' gig in March, those adventurous progressive-eclectic "slippery eels", this was surely one of the sweetest concert spectacles Bluesiana Rock Cafe hosted this year, in Vrba na Koroškem, Austria.

A band from Norway's Sognafjord offered a unique chance to hear the songs of cult heroes Windir live again for the first time in ten years, and probably for the last time!

Another great gig night just across the Slovenian border, devoted to reviving classic British-school heavy metal in a mini-festival format, with Absolva as the headliners leading the charge!

HELP! A Beatles Tribute Band is tailor-made to satisfy what most Beatles fans are after, and they pull it off convincingly and with plenty of heart!