Location: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / Slovenia
Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2019
When the concert was announced — P.O.D. and Alien Ant Farm coming to Ljubljana — plenty of people thought: wait, are those bands even still around? These are acts from the alt-rock and nu-metal scene that peaked around the turn of the millennium, after which a lot of bands broke up, and the scene itself faded from the spotlight as new genres took over and the landscape shifted pretty dramatically. The way you promote music changed too, and nu-metal bands were slow to adapt. Somehow, though, P.O.D. and Alien Ant Farm survived. The latter have been a bit slow on the album front, which kept them further out of the conversation.
Neither of these cult bands from that era has managed to recapture the popularity they had back when MTV was actually spinning their videos. The announcement of a tour that would stop in Slovenia was a pleasant surprise for a lot of people. It was hard to know how well these bands could fill the Kino Šiška hall, but a more-than-solid turnout promised a lot for the night.
Dead Girls Academy hit the stage first, and they weren’t exactly giving off any nostalgia vibes. The pretty young band came across onstage like a high school act that had taken its cues from Falling in Reverse, Motionless in White, and a dash of Bring Me The Horizon. Musically they weren’t exactly in deep waters — their sound leaned on post-hardcore, emo-core, alt-rock, and yes, even a bit of glam rock. On that last point, worth mentioning they threw in a cover of Motley Crue’s Girls, Girls, Girls. The band only has their debut Alchemy behind them, and the set won over only a handful of people. The music itself, with its heavy emphasis on choruses, didn’t really feel like anything above average. Maybe they’re the next glam rock sensation in the making — but the time doesn’t feel right for that kind of revival just yet.
With Alien Ant Farm, things looked very different. The band made their name in 2001 when they blasted onto the scene with their Michael Jackson cover of Smooth Criminal — which plenty of people in the crowd were definitely waiting for. For a lot of fans, Smooth Criminal was literally how they first discovered AAF. The band did try to win people over with their own material later on, and it’s all perfectly listenable — just never quite as striking as that cover.
AAF’s set was built mainly around Anthology, with a few tracks drawn from Truant (2003) and Up in the Attic (2006). The band is in decent shape. The years have added a few extra pounds, but energy was never in short supply. Dryden Mitchell’s vocals were surprisingly well-preserved. Mitchell took the crowd back to the golden days of MTV when music was actually on there, which served as the intro to These Days. He also gave a nod to the video game era, when the band contributed Wish to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. The nostalgic feeling was very much real. Alien Ant Farm dedicated Attitude to the late Chester Bennington. They signed off — logically — with Smooth Criminal, which was the clear high point of their set.
P.O.D. followed — the band that had their biggest run somewhere between 2001 and 2006 with their most successful albums, including Satellite, P.O.D., and Testify. Testify was actually the start of the popularity slide, so the band didn’t lean on it here either. Instead, Satellite and P.O.D. took centre stage. They opened with the newer Listening for the Silence, but the crowd really lit up for the first time when Set It Off and Boom rolled in. After that they leaned into more recent material, which is admirable — no coasting on past glories here.
Age hasn’t caught up with them yet. They’re not teenagers anymore, but there’s enough energy onstage to convince you they’re nowhere near a write-off. The band is also more than tightly drilled, and their groove is something to behold. Style-wise, P.O.D. are still firmly planted in nu-metal and rap-metal territory. The similarities to Korn, Limp Bizkit, or Papa Roach are still there — P.O.D. just come at it from a more positive angle while still keeping that social edge.
One of the night’s highlights was definitely Youth of the Nation, with the crowd belting out the chorus at the top of their lungs. After a run of newer tracks, P.O.D. pulled out Will You from their self-titled album. Another hit — but naturally the best was saved for last. Alive rang out through the whole hall. After all, it’s the song that launched them into commercial territory. Alive wasn’t the finale, but it was absolutely the peak. Satellite is an obligatory entry in the setlist, while the closing On Fire wasn’t exactly the best choice to go out on. The bigger gripe was that the band only gave us about an hour and fifteen minutes of material. Given the depth of their catalogue you’d expect more — but at least the MTV hits got their moment.
Bottom line: on a rainy Tuesday, P.O.D. and Alien Ant Farm pulled off a concert that nobody really expected to happen once the trends had shifted and nu-metal had faded into the background. The nostalgia was off the charts.
author: Primož Novak
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlists:
P.O.D.:
1. Listening for the Silence
2. Set It Off
3. Boom
4. Rock the Party (Off the Hook)
5. Panic Attack
6. Soundboy Killa
7. Rockin’ With the Best
8. Always Southern California
9. Circles
10. Youth of the Nation
11. Murdered Love
12. Lost in Forever
13. Southtown
14. Will You
15. Without Jah, Nothin’
16. Alive
17. Satellite
18. On Fire
ALIEN ANT FARM:
1. Courage
2. Bad Morning
3. Forgive & Forget
4. Movies
5. Wish
6. These Days
7. Never Meant
8. Attitude
9. What I Feel Is Mine
10. Sticks and Stones
11. Goodbye
12. Smooth Criminal
DEAD GIRLS ACADEMY:
1. This Is War
2. Forever
3. Too Late
4. No Way Out
5. Everything
6. Cannibal
7. Girls, Girls, Girls
9. I’ll Find A Way
