Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Laško, Pivo in cvetje
Concert date: 13.07.2017
Over the past few years, the Pivo in cvetje festival has seriously expanded and upgraded its concert lineup. Fans of heavier rhythms and big-name acts have gotten their money’s worth (and so have we). In 2014 Laško was rocked by the supertrio The Winery Dogs and guitarist Steve Stevens, in 2015 by Swedish giants Europe, and last year by the guitar god Joe Satriani. The festival organizer stayed true to this concept this year too, and surprised everyone by bringing, alongside Australia’s Airbourne, the legendary Ugly Kid Joe to Slovenia for the first time in twenty-one years. They rocketed to the top of the alt-rock heap in the nineties with the mega hits Everything About You and Cat’s in the Cradle. But UKJ are of course way more than those two radio hits.
But first things first. In Laško, the Pivo in cvetje festival takes place at numerous venues, with four concert stages at the heart of it all. Judging by the lineup, rock souls are cemented in front of the biggest stage, Zlatorog, which sits right by the Savinja on Trubarjevo nabrežje, while visitors hungry for other kinds of music will rather give the other stages a wide berth. That said, everyone can find something for themselves in Laško. On the first day of the festival the Zlatorog stage was taken over, in order, by Nude, Riblja čorba, Dan D, and, for a killer finish, Ugly Kid Joe.
We skipped Nude because we were hanging out with the Ugly Kid Joe trio of Whitfield Crane, Klaus Eichstadt and Dave Fortman at the press conference, and made it to the front of the stage for some beer and a bit less flowers just as Bora Đorđević was putting the fish soup on the stove. Riblja čorba, an institution of ex-Yu rock, have a massive fan base here, and that was more than obvious in Laško too. Despite his health problems, Bora had no trouble getting the crowd to sing along to hits like Draga, ne budi peder, Nemoj da ideš mojom ulicom, Volim, volim, volim, volim žene and Kako je lepo biti glup, while the solos from the maestro Vidoja Božinović flowed like butter. Interesting, but only for a few songs. Personally, the soup didn’t fill me up all that well in the long run.
Dan D, heroes of the home crowd, landed on even more fertile ground, and with their hits they probably convinced the already convinced, but not exactly anyone new. There’s really nothing to blame the guys for, since they know their craft, but genre-wise they’re not even close to my cup of tea, so I’ll leave the in-depth critique to others.
A good fifteen minutes past midnight, the stage finally lit up in the form of the nasty brat, a cross between the classic Motörhead logo and the Ugly Kid Joe mascot, the snot-nosed kid in a baseball cap. The legendary Californians, who conquered the world in the nineties with the help of MTV, back when it still diligently played quality music videos (including Everything About You and Cats in the Cradle), returned to Slovenian soil after almost a quarter of a century. They last played here in 1996 at Primskovo, right before they called it quits for a good thirteen years. Six years ago the American brat rose from the dead, and soon after the comeback we caught Ugly Kid Joe at the Belgrade Calling festival, but half an hour of playing was decidedly not enough. Not long after that, UKJ gave birth to the long-awaited »come-back« album Uglier Than They Used Ta Be, which is missing a few of the goofier, lighter songs, but is still a decent successor to the nineties albums. Anyway, UKJ greeted Laško with the legendary Neighbor, the crowd exploded, and the guys immediately proved they’re in outstanding form. The charismatic Whitfield Crane kept the crowd in check with no trouble at all, and showed off a superbly preserved voice that still serves him perfectly, whether in ballad moments like Cats in the Cradle or the devilish Goddamn Devil, where he nailed the high screams that Metal God Rob Halford himself contributed on the album version. On top of that, Crane was a total whirlwind on stage the whole time, and there was no shortage of energy from the other members either; the excellent riff duo of Klaus Eichstadt and Dave Fortman blasted off to every corner of the stage, bassist Cordell Crockett didn’t stay behind, and the band’s newcomer Zac Morris surprised and thrilled with downright maniacal drumming. Even though the newer songs, especially the darker No One Survives and Devil’s Paradise, have a gloomier vibe, the jokers in Ugly Kid Joe are still alive and kicking. Crane proved it on stage in a shirt reading »I’m the real Milli Vanilli, where’s my Grammy?« and Eichstadt in one reading Britney Spears in the style of the Black Sabbath logo. And the songs were, one and all, pure ear candy, from Jesus Rode a Harley, So Damn Cool, the divine Milkman’s Son, to the epic Tomorrow’s World and the punchy V.I.P. After a good hour, judging by the volume of the crowd, Crane announced an encore of three songs, which they kicked off with a roaring cover of the iron Motörhead classic Ace of Spades and wrapped up, naturally, with the ultra hit Everything About You. After an hour and a quarter, saying goodbye to the superb UKJ came way too soon, but it’s good to hear Whitfield’s hint that they might be back in Slovenia in October as part of a European tour.
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