Location: Orto Bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 29.01.2008
Attendance: 180
Ticket price: €5.00 / €7.00
Sure, a long four years had passed since their now second-to-last album Pop idoli (2003), but the guys haven’t been resting in the meantime. They played all the major Slovenian clubs, toured Germany and the Netherlands, and all the while kept busily working on material for a new studio record. They proved they were back in gear with their appearance at last year’s preselection for the Eurovision song, EMA 2007, with the track Kdo hoče plesati z menoj? The whole thing was more or less a prank, a parody of every kind of (instant) pop tune that floods our tiny music scene day after day. At EMA 2007 the guys managed to win over all sorts of audiences, took a great fourth place, and the song became the new radio single. Soon after came a cover of the evergreen Metulj by Šank Rock for the 35th anniversary of Radio Val 202. Zablujenci then locked themselves in the studio to record the material for the new album. It saw the light of day on Wednesday, January 30, and the guys staged the launch itself in the intimate atmosphere of Ljubljana’s Orto Bar. The latest release from the Idrija punks carries a telling title, “Mi smo stare pizde”, which supposedly fits their experience of a midlife crisis.
Things kicked off around 8 p.m. in the downstairs space at Orto, where guests and journalists could hang out with the band members, trade a few words, down a glass of beer … DJ Lovro spiced it all up with Zablujenci’s best-known tunes, and on the projection screen we could watch all their video clips so far. Nobody went hungry either, since we were served a cake in the shape of the new album’s cover, which Zablujenci themselves handed out to everyone there.
Around 10 p.m. we moved one floor up, where a “welcome drink” was waiting for guests and other concert-goers as they came in – our old acquaintance Jack Daniel`s. A few minutes before eleven we finally heard what the evening was all about – the first riffs of the new song Bodi ti (to kar si). And the crowd went wild. To keep the initial enthusiasm from fading, the audience sang along with Zablujenci on the “pop idol” song Imam vse. Then we were already racing toward the sun, through the dusk like Pobegli vlak. The guitars started spitting out the sounds of the title track from the album of the same name – Mi smo stare pizde. The first chorus was a bit rough, but by the second time round almost every throat was singing it. No two ways about it, by then the guys had warmed the crowd up properly and nobody felt like a Totaln debil. With Pozitiv vabrejšan we became Uporniki brez razloga. All we could say was Dvign me. Extrasupermegafakinnujno, it was already time for a new song, and the guys played Razdalja, the first ballad of their career and a very welcome change of pace on the new album. Sonce nabija was another of the old hits. With the folks up front already in a total trance, it didn’t bother them one bit that they didn’t know the new songs when the guys fired up Egotrip. The next song the guys dedicated to all the Patricias. After yet another hit, Pank bejba, Ramon also got his moment at the show, singing the evergreen Elvis hit Falling in love with you, with a pinch of his own charm, of course, for the honolulu babes. But that was only the prelude to two slightly more titillating songs. 090 was the first, Mokre sanje the second. By then the guys had the crowd good and riled up; Superboy followed, and after it the guys sang us Gremo drugam. The folks didn’t make this new one feel new either and kept confidently bobbing their heads. Another song followed, our old friend from EMA 2007 – Kdo hoče plesati z menoj? And then the cover of the Šank Rock song Metulj, which, as I mentioned, they gave a punk makeover for Val 202’s 35th anniversary.
The guys wanted to say goodnight already, but the party-hungry crowd wouldn’t let them, so they had to come back on stage and fire off Moja Liza and Tu mač! to close. It was almost midnight, the guys had to say goodbye, and DJ Lovro took the party into his own hands. And the moment Zablujenci left the stage, the crowd rolled toward the exit. Clearly this anti-smoking law is hurting them, since for a whole hour and a half they hadn’t gotten their dose of nicotine.
The first launch show was behind us. Pulled off successfully, with a great crowd. The next day, Thursday, another one followed. Only on Thursday they also had a support act, the Idrija youngsters Bandite.
Although the older songs earned the biggest applause, the new ones were hot on their heels too, since especially the singles had already settled nicely into the audience’s ears.
text and photos: Lea Lesar
Setlist
1. Bodi ti (to kar si)
2. Imam vse
3. Pobegli vlak
4. Mi smo stare pizde
5. Totaln debil
6. Pozitiv vabrejšan
7. Upornika brez razloga
8. Dvign me
9. Extrasupermegafakinnujno
10. Razdalja
11. Sonce nabija
12. Egotrip
13. Patricija
14. Pank bejba
15. 090
16. Mokre sanje
17. Superboy
18. Gremo drugam
19. Kdo hoče plesati z menoj?
20. Metulj
—encore—
21. Moja Liza
22. Tu mač!
Photo gallery
