Author: Sebastijan Videc
Photos: Jerneja Jerak, Sebastijan Videc
Venue: Bazen, Kranj
Concert date: 15.02.2014
Attendance: 200
Ticket price: €7 (presale), €9 (day of show)
For most people Saturdays are days off, so it’s not hard to find a good time to recharge the batteries before the coming work week. Concerts are obviously part of that. The day after the imported lovers’ holiday, and on a historic Olympic day for Slovenes, especially for fans of the fastest team game in the world and of course ski jumping fans too, the Upper Carniola capital promised a quality night out. The location – Kranj’s Bazen. Kranj has always been a rock town, but with the slow decline of the scene at Downtown, things kind of died down. Luckily the Gorenjci have started to wake up, first with Trainstation, and now it seems Bazen is stirring too.
Positive vibes and a rock-and-metal catharsis were promised this evening by Italy’s Animalhouse and probably one of the best Iron Maiden cover bands around – Slovenia’s Iron Median. On this extremely warm February evening, live shows were happening all over Upper Carniola as well as in Ljubljana, and walking into the hall felt like walking into a haunted house. The floor was »packed« with just enough people to play a hockey game, though at least there was no crowd at the bar. Luckily the hall only filled up slowly, and the start of the shows understandably slid toward ten o’clock.
Animalhouse are an Italian cover band from Gradisca d’Isonzo, just a few kilometers from the Slovenian border. A look at their slightly outdated website shows that most of their gigs are in towns right along the Slovenian-Italian border; and since the borders »fell« when Slovenia joined the big happy European family, the guys and the girl play on both the western and eastern sides of that political divide. The band was a complete unknown to me and an internet search didn’t turn up much, so I relied on the info from the event announcement. Animalhouse supposedly play covers of legendary acts like Motorhead, Metallica, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and so on. That sounded like a recipe for a great party. The opening bars of the Motorhead classic Ace of Spades made it clear that Animalhouse weren’t going to let the crowd stand still, though they still had to put in quite a bit of effort to actually pull it off. Maybe the slightly stiff start and the half-empty floor were to blame, but the Italians kept at it, and with every following song they got more people moving and joining in. If I understood correctly, this was the band’s first show with the new lineup. Photos on their website show three guitarists and a male singer, while in Kranj they showed up with two guitarists, which, to be honest, is plenty, and this time the mic was warmed up by a blonde female singer. Maybe the lineup change is why Metallica and Deep Purple dropped out of the setlist, or maybe it was just the limited stage time. Either way, after a few songs the guys and the girl really started enjoying the show, and the crowd below the stage went wild as a result. The guitarist with the Brian May hairdo used a Zlatorog beer can instead of a slide ring on the neck, the singer used the instrumental parts to loosen up her neck, and the bald, charismatic bassist took on the role of chief entertainer and the one talking to the crowd. Technically not the tightest performance, but an energetic one all the same, and they wrapped it up with the Rage Against the Machine classic Killing in the Name Of. From what they showed, Animalhouse are a thoroughly solid cover band, one you’ll most likely run into at rocker and biker parties, and their next gig is also in Slovenia, on Saturday, February 22, at the motorcycle club in Preserje nad Branikom.
With a well-warmed-up and bigger crowd, Iron Median took the stage a little before eleven. The band only plays a few shows a year since its members come from other bands, but given the quality of the performance, I recommend constantly checking gig listings and making it to a show at the first chance you get. The lineup is drummer Tine Horvat (The Bananas), bassist Alen Steržaj (Big Foot Mama), guitarist Matjaž Tozon (Billysi), guitarist Helmut Frangeš – Maco (Sausages) and singer Sergej Škofljanec (San Di EGO). You could call it an all-star lineup with plenty of experience under its belt and a shared love for one of the most important bands in heavy metal – Iron Maiden.
This was my third time meeting Iron Median; last time we were together at Metelkova, a good year ago, waiting in vain for the end of the world two minutes before midnight. No surprises this time either. You can tell the guys aren’t up there just to make the crowd happy, but that playing Iron Maiden covers makes them really happy too. As a result the mood on stage is completely relaxed, you could even say euphoric, and of course that spreads contagiously to everyone below the stage, and there wasn’t a single person in the hall who just stood and watched. The Maiden classics have become part of the national songbook anyway, and the roaring crowd singalong went on for the whole show, just like at the gigs of their role models. Since no Maiden show can go by without Eddie, he kept everyone company on stage this time too, mostly Matjaž, and quite a few times it looked like Eddie himself was playing the guitar! Maco was totally in his element, thrashing his Charvel like a madman, with a little glowing figure keeping him company on the headstock – at moments he seemed to fall completely into a trance and play his parts hypnotically. Tine, though seated highest, was the least visible member of the band, but made himself heard with rhythmic drumming and punchy fills, sparing no piece of his kit, while Alen shook up everyone’s internal organs with his Fender. And Sergej, as always, Sergej! Between songs he deftly slipped from authentic Trbovlje dialect into Dickinson’s vocals and delivered a top-notch imitation and interpretation of them; quite a few times, in already high vocal parts, he sang them even higher than the original, proving the power and precision of his vocal cords. On top of it all he was as ripped as only he can be, and as a bonus he served up the intro to Sinatra’s legendary Delilah. In my book, one of the best Slovenian frontmen! If I really had to nitpick, I’d maybe wish the guys had studied a few more songs from their idols’ huge repertoire. Both the lights and the sound were excellent for both bands, and we can only hope Bazen becomes a more frequent host of rock events.
Up the Irons!
Setlist
Animalhouse
01 – Ace of Spades (Motorhead)
02 – Dirty Deeds (AC/DC)
03 – Welcome to the Jungle (Guns ‘n’ Roses)
04 – Highway to Hell (AC/DC)
05 – Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin)
06 – Break on Through (The Doors)
07 – Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin)
08 – You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC)
09 – Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin)
10 – Iron Fist (Motorhead)
11 – Whole Lotta Rosie (AC/DC)
12 – Killing in the Name Of (Rage Against The Machine)
Iron Median
01 – Aces High
02 – Trooper
03 – Flight of the Icarus
04 – Die With Your Boots On
05 – Hallowed Be Thy Name
06 – The Evil That Men Do
07 – Can I Play With Madness
08 – Powerslave
09 – Wasted Years
10 – 2 Minutes To Midnight
11 – Fear of the Dark
12 – Running Free
13 – The Wickerman
14 – Iron Maiden
15 – Run to the Hills
Photo Gallery
