Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik, Jernej Vene
Location: Ljubljana / Prulček bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 18.05.2014
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: €0.00 (free entry)
Where else but Prulček as the last hours of Sunday tick away. Especially when the band on stage tosses a layer of cabaret theatrics on top and keeps the crowd endlessly entertained with its honest-to-goodness musical essence! The sextet Melanholiki, a band that has been prowling our music haunts since the first half of the eighties and finally put out its studio debut two years ago, fittingly titled »Končno« – RockLine review HERE, is one of the best possible ways to spice up your evening. With a mug or two of invigorating hop juice, of course.
Melanholiki are seasoned masters of their craft, and the members are bound by plenty of musical mileage and real camaraderie. With a lineup of Marko Stabej (vocals, keyboards), Miha Muck (guitar), Žiga Arh (clarinet, backing vocals), Jernej Bolka (saxophone, backing vocals), Matjaž Zorko (bass guitar) and Jaka Vadnjal (drums, backing vocals), they kicked off the Sunday show at Prulček relatively early. Already at nine in the evening. These well-known jokers, with Marko Stabej easily able to sell tickets to a stand-up comedy show, spent the first part of the set focusing mostly on their own original material. That is, the album »Končno«! Along the way, they didn’t skip the expected rendition of their household-name hit O, Anja.
With this gig, Melanholiki once again proved that there’s simply no other band like them under the sun. There are bands that mix elements of cabaret music into their artistry, which also means a fair bit of theater, and at Melanholiki that’s Marko Stabej’s department. But each of the few Slovenian acts with a cabaret streak goes down its own artistic path. From Patty Diphusa to Same Babe, Male Malice or Nula Kelvin. Compared to the lot, though, Melanholiki »talk« the least and play the most, which is actually great! Melanholiki serve up a top-notch mix of blues, swing, jazz, rock and whatever else, and with a well-honed sense of musicality they always make sure to bring a tangible dose of infectious, tight melodiousness to their musical dossier. With a razor-sharp vocalist and keyboardist at the helm, the immensely charismatic and likable Marko Stabej, whose bag of spontaneously fired-off quips kept drawing salvos of laughter from the Prulček rabble all evening, nothing can really go wrong. It’s an eclectic show of tight, well-oiled playing that demands a clear head throughout the performance (there were a few flubs, but you’ve got to let them slide, especially once the band enters the third hour of the set). There’s no end in sight to the wit and / or sparkle of Marko Stabej’s lightning-quick mind. And alongside the sextet’s excellent playing, that’s the main drawcard of a Melanholiki concert.
After a twenty-minute break, the band carried on with an almost marathon-length run of covers of well-known radio evergreens. Stylistic challenges are no big obstacle for Melanholiki. The recipe of cleverly reworking the originals’ arrangements is, for this band’s art premise, a tried-and-true delicacy, and consequently a generous concert garnish of big-time theatrics. From Clash to Kraftwerk, all the way to Šarlo Akrobata and everything in between. The evening’s musical »sensual delights«, in the form of completely unexpected renditions, followed one after another. Including a take on Hebb’s Sunny, which you probably know best from the Boney M. version.
But the essence of the concert experience with Melanholiki is, of course, the feeling that the guys are enjoying every single second they spend on stage with everything they’ve got! If time and place allowed it, they’d play and play. The evening in the heart of Ljubljana, where the residential neighborhood around Prulček supposedly shows little mercy for a raised dose of decibels amid the artistic inspiration of Sunday nights, wrapped up around midnight, or rather when the blue guardian angels arrived, carrying out a routine check on law and order in Prule on orders from above. A Melanholiki show? If they’re anywhere near you, do yourself a favor and spice up your evening with one of their concerts. These endless jokers and superb performers will selflessly fill you with the energy of their own brand of musical artistry, stuffed with the sly mockery of great clowning.
Photo gallery
