Šank Rock
Wednesday, 31 Dec 2025, at 23:00
Koper / Taverna / Slovenia
Nobody expected RL to catch Šank Rock twice in the dying days of 2025 — a double dose. The “when, who, where” information was of course available. Had been for a while. Municipal town ‘shrines’ all across Slovenia — Ljubljana, Maribor, Kranj, Koper, Nova Gorica, and the rest — had stacked their outdoor concert programs tight for the very tail end of the year. Given my legendary concert-going pickiness, and the ever-growing laziness increasingly commanded by the accumulated EMŠO, it gets harder by the day to chase the old bull out of the warm den and into the open. And yet. That something inside you. Everyone knows what it is for themselves. That something that actually defines you. On an individual level. It wants out of you. Always. You can’t resist it. And then you just weigh it up — based on where you live and what dates line up — the ‘who, when, and where’ of it all. Musical taste plays a part too, of course.
This New Year’s Eve, the compass needle pointed to Koper. The main draw for the trip was, naturally, the announcement of a New Year’s Eve concert by Velenje’s hard rock and glam metal legends Šank Rock! I’ll try to write this review a little differently, so it doesn’t come across as too similar to the one from 11 days ago when we caught the band in Nova Gorica (RockLine review of the concert)!
The venue — and the stage itself! A whole different story. Everything was (logically) set up for counting down the last hours of 2025. The sheer density of kitsch on Titov trg — you could cut it with a knife. Joy, looseness, and a whole heap of good vibes! It’s all there. Hand in hand. Any other way would be wrong. Right at 23:00 the guys stepped onto the stage. And? They delivered the same repertoire as in Nova Gorica on 20 Dec 2025. In the opening stretch, the bass was swamping the mix — especially on the first three tracks — then the techs dialed everything into proper balance and Matjaž’s vocals, together with the backing vocals, moved right into the center of the action! The place was packed solid, every last corner of it. The band quickly built a rapport with the crowd through their trademark onstage warmth and ease. The audience was theirs in an instant. In the first half, Matjaž addressed the crowd a touch less than in Nova Gorica — saving the main goods for the second hour of the show, which turned out to be the absolute peak of this particular evening with the band. The tribute to the late Danilo Kocjančič — one of the most skilled and gifted music composers in Slovenia, a native son of Koper — with the song Poišči me (originally by the legendary Bazar) landed with a particularly emotional punch, the whole Taverna roaring along with the band in that moment.
Šank Rock are a name that carries extraordinary mileage and incredible experience, and they remain synonymous with a great brotherhood! The crew is unbreakable. The band parcels out the set with tracks that give a likable window into their recorded catalog. Three hard-chargers, then a ballad, then up a gear again into more high-octane action, followed by another cooldown. The first three tracks delivered exactly that. Pridite vsi na žur was the most intense opening moment, the one that finally woke the Koper crowd up for good. Behind it came the gorgeous ballad Puščava sna. The hook-grabbiness of those choruses holds a Šank Rock show together like stitching made of indestructible elastic. Here again you see all that sly, streetwise knowledge and skill at working a stage. It’s all there. Wherever Matjaž (who sang at an absolutely top level) leaves a stage ‘gap’, Cveto and Bor fill it together. They slot into place side by side as a matter of routine, or turn to face each other, playing it for fun and keeping the show’s dynamic at the highest level. The synergy is excellent — the crew breathes as one. You can feel they’ve been gigging heavily of late and that the chemistry in the band is genuinely ideal. Le 17 remains stunning live, and the fantastic TV burns just as brilliantly. Maček has to be here, no question. And of course the acoustic, heartbreaking combination of Hvala za vse and Ker te ljubim, where Bor and Matjaž are left alone on stage. But wait! Midnight was right around the corner. Too soon….
No, we weren’t waiting for werewolves, even though a bright white (though not quite full) moon was shining outside and midnight was nearly upon us. What did step onto the stage was the alpha and omega of the municipality of Koper, Aleš Brežan. What the—? Is he going to rap a track with the Šank lot? No. With what was almost a wrestling hold he stopped a completely bewildered Bor, kept him on stage, and confidently summoned Bor’s partner Urška to the stage. Bor managed to gasp that everything currently happening around him was an absolute surprise he’d arrived completely unprepared for. Now, the keenest observers had already spotted Urška in the first half, when she’d sprinted left to right through the gap between the stage and the barrier separating the crowd — like it was a hurdle race — hinting that the rest of the evening might get spicy. So Urška steps onto the stage, dressed in 110% rocker style, and the trio begins counting down the seconds to the New Year.
Šank Rock had already shifted into a higher gear in the second half, and in the first minutes of the New Year they kicked it up another notch still. The feeling was that — especially in the second half — they had fully and unreservedly let themselves go. The partying with the crowd was therefore nothing short of extraordinary. It all added up to a one-of-a-kind, unforgettable party. The band had been saving the big hits for the final third of the show. After Laški pir comes another excellent ballad, Želim da si tu, and then it’s shot after shot. The wrecking-ball Rockerji, then another one, Delam kar paše mi, then one of the finest tracks in Šank Rock’s entire career and one of their greatest compositions — the brilliant Metulj, which absolutely set a packed Taverna ablaze. Before Metulj they wove in a vivid and well-placed intro into the classic itself, featuring Nipič’s melodious touch forever caught in the evergreen Silvestrski poljub, which slotted phenomenally into the whole flow of the evening. The excellent new track Nekaj več remains a promise that we can count on a great new album from the band, due this year — meaning 2026.
As always, every Šank Rock show ends too soon. A clever The Clash adaptation, Al’ ostanem, al’ naj grem, signals the end of the main set, Living On A Prayer (orig. Bon Jovi) calls for one more party, and the timeless evergreen Pravljica o mavričnih ljudeh unites the crowd and the band into one again. But that still wasn’t the peak. 6pack Čukur and Dej bolj na glas radio. If he wasn’t there in Nova Gorica, he made it to Koper to give the track his own inimitable flavor, the way only he can. One hell of a finale. You’d have hoped that 6pack and the Šank lot would throw in a bit more at the end, but it stayed at just the one track.
An entry into the New Year? By our own stubbornly crazy rocker standards, absolutely! Šank Rock seized the first step into 2026 with everything they had. The flourishing — let’s just call it a renaissance — continues! And? That’s that. Here’s to the new parties ahead!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Edita Klemen (and a few by A. P.)
Setlist
1. Danes je dan
2. Lahka dama
3. Pridite na žur
4. Puščava sna
5. Restart
6. Le 17
7. Poišči me (orig. Bazar)
8. TV
9. Maček
10. Hvala za vse (acoustic)
11. Ker te ljubim (acoustic)
12. Jaz nimam noč za spanje
13. Se še spomniš
14. Laški pir
15. Želim da si tu
16. Rockerji
17. Delam kar paše mi
18. Metulj
19. Nekaj več
20. Al’ ostanem, al’ naj grem (adaptation of The Clash original)
—encore—
21. Living On A Prayer (orig. Bon Jovi)
22. Pravljica o mavričnih ljudeh
23. Dej bolj naglas radio
