Venue: Orto Bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 04/27/2007
Attendance: 200
I hope nobody’s going to hold me to this, but I think Majke played one of their last shows in Slovenia before they split up in the mid-nineties at Križanke in Ljubljana, the same night Lačni Franz and Leb i Sol also said goodbye for an indefinite period. I remember being an up-and-coming high schooler back then, doing my older brother a big favor by buying him a ticket, and then listening to him tell me later how insanely good it was.
Majke are back, even though I’d seen and heard the other members (well, Bare, Zoki and drummer Tibljaš) in more or less successful band and solo attempts. Judging by the show at Orto, the Majke reunion is definitely the best thing that could have happened to rock’n’roll in the former Yugoslavia. And they picked the perfect moment, because this year we’re expecting a new record from Serbian rock’n’roll champions Partibrejkers, from Slovenia’s Res Nullius, and from what I hear, Majke are working on new material too. On top of that, new records will most likely come from Big Foot Mama, Holder, and maybe ElektroBuda too – in other words, the heirs to the pure-blooded, if regionally flavored, legacy of the bands mentioned above (and these are also three bands that Zoran Čalić either played in or still plays in).
But on to the gig… Orto was sold out again, with no shortage of the band’s old fans, those just discovering them, and, to my delight, a few bald dads with their long-haired sons. I was also surprised that the show started right on the dot!!! That kind of professionalism is something you really rarely get to experience. Especially with our local bands… Over the course of their career, Majke have lyrically walked through three eras – first the typical rebellious rock’n’roll one, then purely rock’n’roll, soaked in booze, parties, sex (and drugs too), and finally the last period, marked by tragedies and mounting troubles. Musically, they were first close to punk, later added some feel-good boogie, and in the end a ragged, dirty, melancholy blues.
And as if they knew that they were playing at Orto for plenty of people who don’t know them yet, and as if they were also reliving their own rich and varied history for themselves, Majke served up all of the above. The Kilmister and Tibljaš rhythm section sounded rock solid, reliable and tight, both guitarists – Zoran Čalić and Krunoslav Domačinović – traded off, complemented and wove around each other in the rhythm bed, the transitions and the virtuoso solo spots, the sound was fleshed out with Hammond organs, and Bare… Goran Bare is a frontman! Thanks to his work with Gibonni, he’s these days sold as “the singer who sings and lives the blues,” which is certainly true, but it also needs saying that Bare, as a true frontman, is also an excellent actor, or rather performer, prankster, clown… who always keeps the reins of the show firmly in his hands, controls the audience, interprets his own lyrics in his own convincing way and surrenders himself to the music. Zoran Čalić, author of most of the music and a convincing stage personality, is still the one responsible for the band’s dependable and convincing instrumental picture. And speaking of the beloved Zoki – he already left a big mark on Big Foot Mama’s last studio record, when the band was searching for its true face again, and I’m really curious what else he’ll add to his newly rediscovered rock’n’roll personality?!
Majke surprised me – honestly! Some mask fell off the image of Goran Bare as an alcoholic and junkie who can’t control himself on stage, can’t sing the lyrics and can’t last until the end of the show. For almost two hours (that is, the whole show) he held up great, sang superbly and, as I wrote earlier, held the reins in his own hands. The band sounds very tight and convincing – as if nothing had happened in the last ten years and you were watching a bunch of up-and-coming twenty-year-olds just starting out and full of creative drive. Well, I’m not used to that kind of energy, often not even from twenty-year-olds who think that one hit of the week and a sold-out mini gig have conquered Europe at the very least. I’m glad that another set of legends has risen from the dead, lived up to their legendary status and proven how to serve in the service of His Majesty Rock’n’roll.
Photo: Tinkara Šefic
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