Author: Urban Bolta
Artist: Riblja Čorba
Label: City Records
Release: 2007
Length: 145 minutes
Rating: 4/5
It was March 10, 2007, when Belgrade, for one night, became the center of the world, as Bora Đorđević put it mid-show. With the band’s thirtieth anniversary just around the corner, the giants of our region’s rock storytelling, Riblja Čorba, put on a huge concert at Belgrade’s Arena, which had only been open for just under three years at the time. It reminded Serbia, and everyone beyond it, that as the first decade of the new millennium winds down, Riblja Čorba is still breathing with full lungs and bursting with youthful energy, trapped in the bodies of seasoned gray-haired old-timers.
Over the decades of its musical career, Riblja Čorba has built up a real cult around its gigs, and plenty of past shows by the Belgrade favorites still come wrapped in fascinating stories, if not outright myths and legends. Before their debut even came out in 1979, they sold out the Tašmandansko dvorana as a practically unknown band, and their live album “U ime naroda” probably still holds the record for a “Yugoslav” band with six-figure sales. Probably the most famous story dates back to 1982, when, riding on a wave of hugely successful studio albums, Čorba was the hottest live ticket in Yugoslavia. At a concert in Zagreb’s Ledena dvorana, the crowd in the jam-packed hall crushed a fourteen-year-old girl to death in the crush, which the authorities of the day used to kick off a witch hunt against the band’s politically dubious expression. The irony of the tragedy is all the greater because Čorba had named that tour “Ko preživi – pričaće”. Countless similar anecdotes and even more hits that long ago became part of the national canon have etched Riblja Čorba into the subconscious memory of its loyal fans. Čorba has become universally recognizable for all eternity, so even with the band’s advanced years, staging a concert in the gigantic Belgrade Arena is anything but a walk in the park.
The big show kicked off with a proper motorcycle intro: a dozen or so riders on prestigious brands of steel steeds rolled up in front of the stage Rob Halford-style, and the last of them delivered none other than Bora Đorđević to the “scene of the crime.” With the long-awaited opener Ostaću slobodan, the spectacle could begin. With its minimalist approach, the band doesn’t come across as a stadium attraction, but you have to look elsewhere for their strengths. Plain-spoken rock talk and a blue-collar stage presence quickly got the packed Arena to join in and trade energy, which only grew exponentially as the concert went on.
The central figure and soul of the band is none other than Bora Đorđević. A man with tousled gray hair edging toward his sixtieth birthday, he’s a seasoned live tomcat and knows exactly how to handle things. The charismatic frontman, with his natural gift for leading a crowd, steered the show wisely and knew when to touch the audience’s soul with a joke or a comic recital. Because the gig was being filmed, he also pushed his radical views aside (at least once). His nationalist worldview is well known, and so is the fact that for 20 years Čorba hasn’t played on “hated” Croatian soil because of his political convictions. This time, though, Bora got over it and, mid-show, greeted the fans from Zagreb, Banja Luka, Rovinj, Ljubljana… Well, he couldn’t completely shake his old self, because while introducing the band members he swapped his bandmates’ names for those of the Hague defendants, and cast himself as Radovan Karadžić, no less.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MeaOOaTV1k
The concert was made up of Čorba classics from every era, with a logical emphasis on songs from the first decade of their career. The acoustic trio of Vetar Duva, Dva Dinara druže and Nemoj Srećo, nemoj danas stood out, where the voice of the people rings even louder and the songs’ infectious quality delivers a proper concert erection live! The second half was dominated by evergreen classics like Amsterdam and Kad sam bio mlad, during which the temperature in the packed Arena dangerously approached boiling point more than once. For Kada padne noć (upomoć), a sizable orchestra of Radio Television of Serbia joined the five musicians on stage and filled out the sound nicely. The rearranged parts and the sound of classical instruments fit Čorba’s rock foundation and the occasionally very sharp noise of Božinović’s guitar perfectly. At the side of Bora “Majstor” was the ever-smiling bassist Miša Aleksić, who also added vocals to some of the choruses, while Milatović rounded out the reliable rhythm section behind the drum kit. Keyboardist Nikola Zorić is anything but a minor cog, providing bouncy rock’n’roll flourishes in songs like Odlazak u grad and, on the flip side, ambient Floydian moments, such as the intro to Pogledaj dom svoj Anđele. The party peaked with the dirty, ancient blues-rock masterpieces Ostani đubre do kraja and Lutka sa naslovne strane, before the Serbian rock elder statesmen closed out the marathon-long show with Prezir. It was a show that, fittingly for the occasion, served up the classic iron repertoire.
The recording of the Belgrade Arena show is a document proving that even in the autumn of its career, Riblja Čorba is a credible holder of the flattering title of one of the biggest bands of the former shared homeland. But a big event also needs some extra concert-adjacent spice, say in how the stage looks, some interesting musical guests, or a third something that would set the spectacle apart from an ordinary club gig. On that front Čorba failed the exam, and it’s a good thing they fixed the mistake barely two years later with the main concert for their thirtieth anniversary. But the conclusion is crystal clear: long live the “young and promising band” Riblja Čorba, may they keep creating for a long time to come, because as long as the form is good, the results will be good too!
Lineup
Bora Đorđević – vocals
Vidoja Božinović – guitar
Nikola Zorić – keyboards
Miša Aleksić – bass
Miroslav Milatović – drums
Production
Dragoslav Gane Pecikoza
Track list
01. Ostaću slobodan
02. Zvezda potkrovlja i suturena
03. Nojeva barka
04. Srbin je lud
05. Jedini način
06. Sve i svja
07. Neću da ispadnem zivotinja
08. Jedino moje
09. Poslednja pesma o tebi
10. Bilo je žena
11. Sponzori
12. Gastarbajterska pesma
13. Zelena trava doma mog
14. Vetar duva, duva, duva
15. Dva dinara druže
16. Nemoj srećo, nemoj danas
17. Juzna Afrika 85 (ja ću da pevam)
18. Gde si u ovom glupom hotelu
19. Odlazak u grad
20. Avionu slomicu ti krila
21. Amsterdam
22. Kad sam bio mlad
23. Ljubav ovde vise ne stanuje
24. Dobro jutro
25. Kada padne noc (upomoć)
26. Pogledaj dom svoj, anđele
27. Ostani đubre do kraja
28. Lutka sa naslovne strane
29. Prezir
