Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Brežice
Concert date: 19.03.2016
Attendance: 500
Ticket price: 18 € / 20 €
What can you expect from a band that’s been writing the story of good old-fashioned, fun rock´n´roll for 38 years, mostly across the countries of the former Yugoslavia? We got our answer on Saturday, 19 March, at the sports hall in Brežice.
The location alone suggested before the show that there’d be quite a few Croats in the crowd. The sports hall in Brežice strikes me as a charming spot for gigs. I was surprised by the turnout, though. I expected more people, at least given the fairly reasonable ticket price. As it was, the hall was barely more than half full. The 35+ generation dominated the crowd.
Walking into the hall I was already rather unpleasantly surprised, since the visibly modest PA didn’t promise anything special. And I wasn’t wrong. There were only two options: the sound would either be quiet or just plain poor at volume. Sadly it turned out to be the latter, so I can’t praise the sound at this gig. Even where the mixing desk usually stands, somewhere in the middle of the second third of the hall, the sound was badly defined. The vocals were the biggest letdown. Only when I pressed my ears shut a little could I properly make out what was coming out of the mouths of the support act’s singer and Riblja čorba’s singer.
A bit late, at 20:45, Dražen Markotić, performing as Dražen Vega, stepped onto the modest stage with his band. An interesting lineup that didn’t sound bad at all. They got a little over half an hour, a good warm-up for the impatient crowd.
Next up was the band we’d driven to Brežice for. I admit I was slightly skeptical about whether the charismatic Bora Đorđević and company could still surprise me with a quality show after all these years of it. The last time I saw them live was a good ten years ago. I have to admit not much has changed. Riblja čorba, who put out their latest record, Uzbuna, in 2012, are still an extremely solid band, with the spotlight clearly going to 64-year-old »leader« Bora and 61-year-old guitarist Vidoja Božinović – Đinđer. Both of them are showing some serious mileage. But thankfully only in their looks, because there was no shortage of the good old charisma and those trademark top-notch lyrics. The lineup still includes Miroslav Aleksić – Miša on bass, Nikola Zorić – Nidža on keyboards and Miroslav Milatović – Vicko on drums. On backing vocals was a young lad compared to the rest of the members, whose name I sadly didn’t manage to catch. Bora even gave him a few minutes of fame during the show, which he used for an excellent ballad on acoustic guitar. Bora has clearly cooled down his provocative and often nationalistic antics a bit, the ones that have landed the band in quite a bit of trouble over the years. This time he even wrapped a scarf with the Croatian flag around his neck, thrown on stage by a fan. Probably to be expected, given the gig was held close to the border, in a town near Croatia. Still, a few milder provocative remarks didn’t go unsaid this time either. As he has many times before, Bora made his view on homosexuality perfectly clear, but that sharp bite you’d get at shows years ago just wasn’t there. You could easily call the whole set a »Best of«, since Riblja Čorba played most of their big hits, such as: Draga ne budi peder, Poslednja pjesma o tebi, Avionu slomit ču ti krila, Amsterdam, Nemoj da ideš mojom ulicom, Dva dinara druže, Zelena trava doma mog (during the song, an original line from Bora: Trava može biti štetna ako nije kvalitetna), Kako je lepo biti glup, Svirao je Dejvid Bowie,…
They wrapped up after a good two hours on stage, leaving a good impression on the crowd. Bora and company still know how to get their fans going, and by the look of it, the years that inevitably keep piling up won’t slow them down.
One more curiosity I often notice at gigs by rock bands from the former Yugo: there isn’t so much as a small stand where people could buy a T-shirt, a CD or some vinyl. I optimistically brought a budget along to pick up some records and add to my collection. And I went home empty-handed. I hope that changes someday.
text and photos: Klemen Udovč
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