Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Cirkus / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 14.11.2011
Attendance: 200
Ljubljana has finally got the opening of a new live venue. A real one. Great content, content you can actually touch. The old cinema in Vič has finally followed the same road as the cinema in Šiška did years ago. And if I can slip for a second into the realm of forbidden dreams: imagine if Kolosej went down the same road. Think how many concert halls we’d have then, heh, heh, heh… and rock music would rule the planet. Anyway, the cinema in Vič has turned into Cirkus! Cirkus is a small club space that, packed to the rafters, takes about 300 heads by my eye. The band given the honor of playing the first show in this freshly baked club went to The Beat Fleet, from Split.
The Beat Fleet put out their new studio album “Pistaccio Metallic” in the middle of this year, and the gig came at just the right time for them. Only a few days before arriving in Ljubljana, The Beat Fleet sold out the big hall of Dom sportova in Zagreb, where they were greeted by a crowd of 10,000. These guys, whose music has long been appreciated in our southern neighbor’s homeland, never really thought they’d reach star status. But it’s clear that their music, and especially their poetry, has become part of the national fabric in Croatia, and the label of “evergreen” makes more and more sense with it!
Even though the show was announced for nine in the evening, we waited a good long while before The Beat Fleet finally hit the stage. Ten past ten, and the sextet floats onto the stage and greets the hall, which filled up in an instant. Really, people just got “pumped over” from the smoking room to the other side. Before the show started, we checked the “all-important” info for rockers: what beer they serve at Cirkus. It’s Hirter, and a big one costs a “modest” 3,00€!
The Beat Fleet are seasoned guys who have seen a lot on their journey. There are no more surprises for them. They know their business and have it down to the last detail. On the front line of the stage stands the band’s hard-hitting trio, the so-called creative nucleus and the engine that drives its vital functions: Mladen Badovinac (vocals), Saša Antić (vocals, programming) and Luka Barbić (vocals, keyboards, programming). Behind them, the rest of the crew builds an organic musical backdrop: Nikša Mandalinić (guitar), Ognjen Pavlović (bass) and Janko Novoselić ( drums, percussion).
In an hour and forty-five minutes, the guys played almost the whole of their new studio album “Pistaccio Metallic”, mixing in their best-known tracks from earlier albums, which can’t be missing from any show. They actually built the set list so that classics and new songs kept trading places, and in the second half they added fuel to the fire with a back-to-back trio of new songs, Dalmatino, Veseljko and Mater. That showed word of the new record has spread nicely in Slovenia too, because it properly woke up the crowd, made up mostly of the “instant gray-mouse off-the-rack clientele”, and they sang along to the choruses like model students. Among the classics were the excellent, dark Heroyix, plus the “ultra funny” Lud za njom, Bog i Zemljani, Malo san maka, Šareni artikal, Data, Pljačka, Smak svita, Genije, Guzice i sise and Odjeb je lansiran, all mixed in with the new Tragični heroj, San, Spin Doktor, Grad spava, Uvik kontra, Pozitivan stav and the three already mentioned: Dalmatino, Veseljko and Mater.
The Beat Fleet are a superb crew with a polished stage character and a sermon that pokes fun, in a deeply meaningful way, at the “drama” we find ourselves in within the civilized world as tailored for us by Big Brother. Vivid reflections, and in this top-notch intellect, refined and message-rich sermons know no limits. Perfectly calibrated in delivery, with rhythm in their blood and just the right dose of routine that leaves no room for slip-ups. The Beat Fleet reign supreme at stringing together sprawling vibes of optimism and ease, plus an authentic show of their own particular charisma.
Of course, most of the attention on stage went to vocalist Mladen Badovinac, and he pulls that off with ease. Whether it’s the huge charisma embodied in his lower-pitched vocal sermon, the gesticulating, the towering frame, or the endearing caricature of the state of mind in his banter with the crowd. Mladen kept generously sharing sips of all kinds of booze with the audience throughout the show. In the second half especially, the fans who made the trip from Zagreb to Ljubljana got properly fired up, and their presence more than warmed up the atmosphere of the concert itself.
We can say Cirkus passed its first test with flying colors. Acoustically, without a doubt. The only funny remark came from Mladen, who joked that if you spill your drink on the tiled stage floor, you can slip badly. Mladen’s cheekiness was right away topped by Luka, who announced that the power source had stayed “Balkan” after all. A lovely, juicy-as-can-be concert evening, surprising only with a smaller turnout than expected. Otherwise, no wobbles. The Beat Fleet once again cashed in on a phenomenal show in Slovenia that delighted from start to finish, and at the same time successfully christened Cirkus. Let’s hope it soon grows into a proper concert club with a solid track record in its programming, the kind the Slovenian capital has chronically lacked until now.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photo Gallery
