IGNITE – Are you listening?

California hardcore/punk outfit Ignite stopped off at Ljubljana’s Metelkova mesto on September 3, 2007, as part of their European summer tour presenting their latest record “Our Darkest Days” (2006). They treated the ears of a modest crowd of young guys and girls, mostly adrenaline “junkies” and a handful of emo babes.

Out of a little over a dozen songs played, mostly from the last two records, the highlights of the night were “Let It Burn” and “Bleeding”. During the latter we saw (and pulled off) the most stage dives, and Zoli’s connection with the crowd was downright enchanting, with so much energy in the air that it can’t be put into words.

The moshpit and stage diving totally pumped up my adrenaline, and I was in some kind of trance. What snapped me out of it (here comes the most ironic part) was during that same “Bleeding”, when I took off into the crowd, the guys didn’t catch me the way they should have, and I hit my head on the concrete floor. But that didn’t stop me. I was back on my feet right away, and since I luckily wasn’t bleeding, I went straight back to “diving”. Besides the bump on my head I can “proudly” show off a decent haul of bruises, but that’s just the toll this kind of thing takes. The security guys deserve some admiration too. Considering all the acrobatics going on, they didn’t hassle us at all and calmly put up with us jumping on and off the stage.

Ignite’s intelligent, socially and politically engaged messages literally lodge themselves in your brain, so I was also thrilled by their excellently played cover of Sunday Bloody Sunday (originally by U2).

Their latest record “Our Darkest Days” is considered one of the best punk/hardcore records released in recent years. Even though Ignite have been making music for more than 10 years, they’re still full of drive and fresh ideas.

Ignite made quite an impression on me when they opened for A.F.I. in Vienna in May, and the Ljubljana show blew past all my expectations.

 

words: Lea Lesar

photos: Jani Lah