Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Batuje / Športni park / Slovenia
Concert date: July 17, 2015
Attendance: 2000
Ticket price: €10.00
This year’s Rock Batuje festival lined up five acts rooted in the classic tradition of rock’n’roll, hard rock and heavy metal, though clear stylistic and artistic differences set them apart. The up-and-coming Ljubljana crew Pyroxene wandered into the Ajdovščina backwoods, Madbringer from Ajdovščina – sworn to playing the legacy of rock legends Pomaranča – took the stage too, and there was room for the grand old man of Slovenian rock Pero Lovšin and the reactivated Šank Rock. The cherry on top was the arrival of Swedish hard rock and heavy metal revivalists Bullet. All for a measly €10.00.
At eight in the evening the grounds were pretty much empty, but Pyroxene had already taken the stage. The program started at least half an hour earlier than announced. Pyroxene are an interesting, unusual blend of old school and new school. They’re developing a cool originality of their own and quickly leave the listener a bit baffled, or rather dazed, hearing influences of Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy, while the riffs soon pick up some thrash metal too. A tight, very solid set with the extremely shrieking Jan Tehovnik (Lene kosti) front and center bodes well for the future. The band is getting ready to record a studio album, which we can expect sometime early next year. Shame there wasn’t a bigger crowd, because this band definitely deserves some attention.
Even when Madbringer were already on stage with a repertoire reviving the legacy of Pomaranča, most of those present still preferred to hang around the bar. Right down to the stage outfits, the band tried to catch the vibe of the early eighties, when Pomaranča was shaking up the rock scene of the former Yugoslavia. Above all, props to the sound guy, who “ordered” up excellent sound for the band. The bass lines really grabbed you. Some parts still need to be tightened up, but all in all Madbringer served up a very decent, thoroughly enjoyable good time for all fans of the legendary sound of one of the most important hard rock and heavy metal bands on our turf. The songs that rang out included Uniformiranci, Moli, Šminka, Moja Smrkljica, Goba zla, Soldat, Madbringer, Your Eyes Call Me Back To Tokyo and, for the big finale, Krvave čipke.
There’s no need to waste words on Pero Lovšin. The man was born for the stage. His repertoire full of folk-anthem hits, which he pulled out of both sleeves like it was nothing, along with numbers from his current studio album »Za spremembo« (2012), drew a bigger crowd in front of the stage, sharing the cheerful mood with a Slovenian rock icon. Pero, in his famous straw hat and sunglasses, completely sank into his role of rocking and swaying, while his unmistakable vocal approach got great backing from his superbly tight crew, Španski borci. Pero remains an ace of his own kind, and nobody can take that away from him.
Even though Šank Rock were announced as the last act, there was obviously a last-minute change. So they took the stage right after Pero Lovšin. The opening punch with the excellent new song Restart (already knocking on the door to join the classics in the band’s iron-clad repertoire), which quickly melted into Rokerji, gradually built to the peak of this year’s Rock Batuje. By then, the biggest crowd of the festival had gathered in front of the stage. Šank Rock, enjoying a new youthful bloom and reactivated with Zuljan in the lineup, are seasoned old tomcats. They’re bursting with surplus energy and hunger for the stage. A well-rehearsed set, with the determined, penetrating vocals of Matjaž Jelen and the obligatory flirting and interaction with the audience, a highly dynamic flow of events and, above all, superb tightness and stage execution of the material. The high points of the mayhem with the »Šankoti«? Metulj and Pravljica o mavričnih ljudeh.
Bullet drew a truly thankless role. They played well past midnight, and since the crowd knows them less, plenty of people left the grounds after the »Šankoti« set, or drifted over to the bar, where they watched the Swedes’ show from a distance. Bullet are pros. Every move at the show is totally rehearsed. Every second too. You won’t get any filler. You get what you pay for. The quintet draws mostly from AC/DC and Judas Priest, and to a lesser extent from Thin Lizzy and bands of the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement. Revivalists, in other words, who aren’t reinventing the wheel. They emerged on the scene around 2010 alongside similar bands. Acts like Vanderbuyst, Enforcer and/or Steelwing can easily be counted in this phalanx of revivalism. Hell Hofer’s vocals are extremely high, his screaming was tearing eardrums apart, and the band opened the show with the title track of their current album »Storm of Blades« (2015) and added songs including Riding High, Rolling Home, Pay the Price, Turn It Up Loud, Dusk Til Dawn, Stay Wild, Hammer Down, Bang Your Head and Bite the Bullet.
The excellent, confident performance was marred by the realization that the crowd was slowly draining away from the grounds. By the end, the rows in front of the stage were completely decimated. The band didn’t let themselves admit that on stage, which is an honest, professional pose. Kudos to them for that. Still, the overly close resemblance of some phrases and motifs to the already-invented legacy of the pioneering rock’n’roll acts cited above was occasionally distracting, but the routine, in which you could also feel a lot of heart and dedication to the music, dominated, and Bullet proved to be a one-of-a-kind live attraction that knows how to win you over.
The festival was brilliantly set up from the get-go. The complaint that too many things are going on at the same time doesn’t hold water. Ticket prices were symbolic, so it’s downright unfathomable how there weren’t even 2000 people at the festival. That’s it. From the choice of bands to the friendly beer prices, the parking, even room for pitching tents. Everything was taken care of »tip top«. Only the people were nowhere to be seen. Let’s hope the festival sticks around, and the organizer deserves nothing but praise for believing in the cause and sticking it out!
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