Author: Urban Bolta
Location: Orto Bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 20.04.2012
Attendance: 120
Ticket price: €10.00
The old guard of the Velenje underground, Res Nullius, are back at Orto Fest! This is a band that bets less on wider recognition and more on a small but fiercely loyal base of followers, who saw in Res Nullius all the simplicity of rock’n’roll rhetoric. The guys from Velenje have been plowing Slovenian soil for a damn long time, and it probably says enough that back in 1992 they played the legendary Novi rock at Križanke, sharing the bill with none other than Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds. But a whole lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the early nineties of the last century, and Res Nullius remain what they’ve always been: honest storytellers of rock’n’roll in its most basic form! This time with a new album, »Prekletih bazar«, in their pocket (review here)!
It was well past ten when the upper room of Orto Bar was still empty. But given the rush of people at last December’s Res Nullius show at this very venue, there was no reason to fear it would go any differently this time. And sure enough, by half past ten, when the quartet took the stage, the room had filled up nicely and became (partly thanks to the convenient weekend slot) one of the best-attended shows of this year’s Orto Fest overall.
Res Nullius didn’t hold back on energy. They went full throttle from the opening part of the show and disarmed any doubters in the crowd. I was especially glad that frontman Zoran Benčič was having a good day, which means he behaved like the seasoned performer he is and, for one evening at least, shoved his fondness for incidents into a corner. Only under these circumstances can you see the full charm of Zoki’s performance! His cold-blooded approach seemed a bit odd at first, but over the course of the show he turned his minimalism, carried by an incredibly charismatic personality, to his advantage to the point where the crowd was eating out of his hand. A no-nonsense, don’t-give-a-damn approach, just the way rock’n’roll should be! The creative and driving core of the Velenje rock veterans is completed by the band’s lead string man Boštjan Senegačnik, who, just like Zoki, lived by the motto »less is more« and, riding the wave of a packed Orto Bar, steered the ship past every reef and safely into port. The rhythm machine was made up of a well-disposed Boštjan Časl on bass and Janez Marin behind the basic drum kit.
The material from the current album »Prekletih bazar« dug deep into the set. Its songs V vagonu raztrganih duš, Đoni and Prekletih bazar formed the red thread of the middle part of the show. Funnily enough, the tempo on the latter outran Zoki, who came in too late on the verse at the start, which the instrumental trio greeted with smiling glances at each other. The new material got a great reception and blended in effortlessly with the older Res Nullius evergreens, while the crowd huffing and puffing along with them confirmed that it’s rightfully considered one of the most loyal in the business. The shamelessly catchy favorites came one after another at express speed, serving up everything from arsenals of punk rock connotation to seductive strolls through the fields of blues, all of it packed into that recognizable, bouncy Res Nullius sauce.
»Hands up, everybody, this ain’t a robbery«, rang out the punchy chorus of Pistoljero (»Revolver ljubezni«, 2003) as the band returned to the stage, slowly announcing the end of the get-together, which wrapped up with Party Doll and the mumbled English of the band’s frontman Zoki. This was a show for everyone who is spoken to by a confessional, rocker kind of expression – because Nikogaršnji rock’n’roll has clamped its claws down once again and held Orto Bar in a grip of wild abandon for a good hour and a half.
Setlist
1. Pasji dan
2. Ženske nikol’ ne čakajo
3. Na dva
4. Dvoboj treh
5. Mama
6. V vagonu raztrganih duš
7. Đoni
8. Country
9. V slogi je moč
10. George
11. Prekletih bazar
12. To si ti
13. Revolver ljubezni
14. Rojen leta 72′
15. Velenje
16. Đemo
17. Bruce
18. Iggy
19. Rock’n’roll
——————
20. Blues
21. Pistoljero
22. Balkan
23. Party Doll
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