Location: Klub Kotlovnica / Kamnik / Slovenia
Concert date: 25.01.2008
Attendance: 30
Ticket price: 2,00€
Klub Kotlovnica in Kamnik, that famous metal mecca, was anything but on 26.01.2008. The show was announced for 9 PM. “A bit too early.” The only ones there were Lady’s First, completely alone and busy with their soundcheck. Not a living soul downstairs. So we hopped over to Pod gradom for a hot tea and, of course, ran into a few familiar faces who, luckily, weren’t content with munching chips and watching cheap Saturday-night movies and, just like us, went looking for a good time in the heavier department (Cheers Pero!). Some people were lured away that day by MetalSteel, who were playing in Škofja Loka the same night, a few brave souls headed to Brežice for Železobeton, but 30 of us still stayed for Kotlovnica to welcome the new Lady’s First show. Well, it was high time to see how the band is doing, after my last visit to one of their gigs on Halloween (31.10.2007, Bled) – RockLine report HERE. The band also presented their newest addition in Kamnik, bassist Aaron from Postojna, and if I’m informed correctly, after their show on 12.01.2008 at Snack Bar in Koper, the Kamnik gig was Aaron’s second show with Lady’s First overall.
We got a bit too comfy Pod gradom and missed the start of the show, which kicked off in the trademark Lady’s First gallop with the assault track High Machine. Lady’s First took the stage at 22.15. We dropped in on the second song, I Want To Break Free (orig. Queen), followed by Paranoid (orig. Black Sabbath). What a varied overture, guys!
The band built their set in two parts, with a 20-minute break in between, so a long night of partying lay ahead of us. They pulled off an extraordinary feat, creating ideal sound conditions in a tiny club space. Not a hint of buzzing, not a single instrument drowning out another, let alone any dodgy “swallowing” of the sound. They gave us a perfectly balanced mix. Flešo probably had some trouble keeping up with the band, since because of the quirks of the Kotlovnica stage his drums were crammed in and pushed a bit too far back.
Bassist Aaron brought noticeably more melody to the Lady’s First picture compared to his predecessor Čare, who spent this evening watching his former rock n’ roll partners in crime from the crowd. You could feel it in some of the transitions, especially the ones where the riffing goes quiet and Aaron filled the gaps melodically, signaling that this guy is made of the right stuff and turned up at the right time in the right place. With Aaron in the lineup, the Lady’s First material came to life in a new, polished form, and you could say it has matured for a leap to a higher level of quality, like wine with age. Holy cow, what am I saying, it hasn’t even been two full years since the release of “911”. Tracks like LF, Lady, Criminal all tore it up to the extreme. The Youwda/Buco duo has been working compactly in sync for quite a while now, like a well-oiled machine, and this time too the band impressed with their excellent tightness, confirmed by the obligatory Iron Maiden classics Hallowed Be Thy Name and The Trooper, with Creeping Death (orig. Metallica) slipped in between. Domen has gotten even better at handling the verses of The Trooper, although he still had “plonk ceglci” (little scraps of paper) in A4 format keeping him company at the monitor under the mic stand.
During the break, my untamed metal buddy Rok and I disturbed a few of the guys with the band backstage, time flew by unbelievably fast, and the band was already heading back to play the second part of their set.
Well, a crowd is a crowd. The few most persistent ones held out, but they were drunk as skunks and staggered back and forth in front of the stage, and sadly there were truly far too few people, and even those who were getting more seriously into the heavy metal elixir stayed 4 meters or more away from Domen and company. Still, Lady’s First didn’t let it get to them and went at it with full force the whole time. In the second part they absolutely knocked me out of my shoes with a great execution of the Deep Purple classic Highway Star. Youwda has studied the “Man in Black’s” solos like crazy. Of course the tones screamed metal, there was never any question of a Blackmore sound, but you can tell Youwda knows the “Machine Head” (1972) record like the back of his hand, and the outstanding Flešo/Aaron rhythm section did its part here too. Highway Star was the peak of the covers played this evening. Aaron and Buco had fun the whole time and crossed guitars a few times. Domen had quite some trouble adjusting to the small stage, and you could feel the band would literally take off if they had just one more square meter of space. The second part burned even hotter, especially thanks to a well-chosen mix of original material (Prazna cesta, The Game, 911) and, with the exception of Metallica, a more “biker-style” selection of covers (Enter Sandman, Sweet Child O’Mine, Walking By Myself, Motori, Kreni prema meni – Partibrejkers (!), Born To Be Wild), and they surprised us with Billy Idol’s Speed too. The second part was special in general, because Lady’s First introduced a brand new song called One Way. A typical Lady’s First number, with a nice balance between aggression and melody. It’s great to see new material coming together, because this is already a quiet hint of a new record! The band wrapped up the show first with Domen apologizing that he was sorry the opening song High Machine didn’t quite work out for the band, then adding that they plan to play it again. Lady’s First once more unloaded all their available ammo on Kotlovnica. High Machine, this time without a flaw.
A determined performance in Kamnik, where Lady’s First lost their innocence, since this was the first time they’d played here. You can tell the guys are growing in experience by diligently racking up touring mileage, that they’re masters of stage tuning, and the sound was excellent. Lady’s First seem refreshed with the addition of new bassist Aaron, who doesn’t hide his rich musical background. Their songs now hit with even greater quality. This band is distinguished by perfectionism and professionalism, they strive for even better, and constant positive change drives them onward and upward. The chemistry in the band works! With this kind of dedicated approach, the doors to further growth are wide open for Lady’s First! No brakes, guys! Let’s keep going!
text & photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
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