Siddharta – Promise Made, Promise Kept

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Photos: Nina Grad

Venue: Stadion Stožice, Ljubljana
Concert date: 17.06.2011
Attendance: 10000
Ticket price: 29€ – 49€

“See you at the new stadium,” Tomi Meglič promised a 30,000-strong crowd way back in 2003, on September 13th to be exact, at the end of the mega concert with the philharmonic. Siddharta had just released their third studio album RH-, one of the first real peaks of their creative career. What followed was an ambitious concert project with a philharmonic orchestra, which we got to witness at the old ruin in Bežigrad. Back then Siddharta proved they weren’t just great studio musicians with no shortage of freshness and ideas, but also a great live band, who pulled off their first show in front of such a huge audience boldly and, above all, brilliantly.

It took both Ljubljana and Siddharta almost 8 years to make good on that promise. After RH-, Siddharta slid into mediocrity with the new album Petrolea, and not even their next project, Saga, lifted them out of it. They recorded that one in a studio across the pond and let fans follow the making of the new album live online. It didn’t help much, because both Petrolea and Saga left the impression that the band had no fresh creative ideas, that they were burnt out, tired and played out.

Ljubljana had its own story too. After more than 20 years, and at a moment when all of us, even the biggest optimists, had given up on the politicized projects for new concert venues that Ljubljana needed like the Sahara needs water, we finally got a new stadium and a new concert hall. It reads like a miracle, and Tomi’s words from 2003 have turned out to be almost prophetic.

So what’s the situation in spring 2011? The old ruin in Bežigrad is overgrown with nettles and weeds, Ljubljana is richer by two big concert venues, and Siddharta announces a new ambitious project: a concert at the new stadium, where they plan to record 12 tracks for a new album titled “VI”.

Arriving at the Stožice complex an hour or two before the show, the scene was seriously fitting and atmospheric, because a dark mass of clouds was gathering over the Kamnik Alps, promising a nasty storm. Beer in hand, we felt like we were heading to Mordor from the famous Lord of the Rings trilogy. We got a few raindrops, but luckily we were spared the worst of it. Maybe the threat of a storm talked a lot of people out of showing up, but it was quickly clear that the crowd would be a lot smaller this time. By a rough estimate, the number landed somewhere between 9,000 and 9,500. On one hand, that’s just as well. I can’t imagine how the food and drink service, with that crew (slow and arrogant!), would have coped with a crowd of 20,000 or more, had one happened to turn up. The lines at the stands were long, and if you wanted a glass of water or a beer, you had to “sacrifice” a couple of songs from the set. Very commendable, though, was the use of returnable cups with a deposit.

And what did Tomi Meglič, Primož Benko, Jani Hace, Tomaž Okroglič Rous and Boštjan Meglič, aka Siddharta, have in store for us this time? Ten minutes late, Siddharta kicked things off with Napoj, opening a three-and-a-half-hour journey through their musical repertoire, into which they skillfully slotted 12 new tracks. Precisely because of the show’s length, the idea sounded very smart, because they wove old hits like Pot v X, T.H.O.R., Samo Edini, Platina, Od Višine Se Zvrti, Rave and others in among the unfamiliar tracks from the new album, keeping the crowd on its toes the whole time. Such a concept also gave a very insightful look into the development and maturing of their body of work. From Le Mavrica and Pot v X, which represent their still boyish beginnings, through the mega hits from the albums Nord and RH-, which are the peak, on to the search for new directions on Petrolea and Saga. With Siddharta it became obvious that the boys had become men and that their music had matured. The 12 new tracks are surprisingly fresh yet grown-up, the same and different at once. Their sound has become full, with more keyboards and percussion, yet they remain what they’ve always been: rockers with their own identity. They could probably really use a drummer with a bit more dynamics and energy, and the guitar could be more prominent too. On the other hand, we still have the unsurpassably excellent bassist Hace, an extra percussionist who filled out the sonic picture very well, and keyboards that gained an extra dimension and form an important part of the whole. And Tomi deserves a special mention. He’s battled criticism for unclear singing his whole vocal career, but this time he sang the way a band like this deserves. Commendable!

The first highlight of the night was an appearance by Croatian mega diva Josipa Lisac, who sang the track Neon as a duet. A treat that the guy at the mixing desk may have slightly botched, because neither Josipa nor Tomi was heard all that well. Still, great respect goes to Josipa, who sticks to her incredible extravagance and whom the years still haven’t caught up with. The next highlight was Samo Edini, already the 19th song in, which the crowd sang almost entirely by itself, with Tomi helping out with a slightly altered vocal line that sounded different and, above all, interesting. The guys, or rather men, didn’t give up on Malishka, which has been getting radio play for a while and has taken heavy criticism for being too cheesy, slimy and unworthy of any mention. They gave it to us in a new, somewhat harder form and I have to say, it sounded surprisingly good. But the most all-out partying in front of the stage was surely sparked by the cover of a hit from the cult band Martin Krpan, Od Višine Se Zvrti. Credit to the crowd, who, in constant interplay with the band, still managed to build that kind of peak even at song number 26. The official part ended with Song#4.

The first encore was also the next highlight of the night (allow me a strictly subjective opinion that it was definitely the biggest!). Laibach performing B Mashina. We heard a typical Laibach reworking that came out superb, polished in sound and visuals, in short, unrepeatable. Here you could see, feel, experience and compare what Laibach means and what Siddharta means. We were a bit surprised by Milan Fras, who had ditched the magnificent mustache from under his nose, but we enjoyed his vocal take on the newly thundering and roaring B Mashina immensely. Milan’s still got it!

At the same time, Laibach showed how to make effective use of video projections. Siddharta, to put it mildly, rather neglected that part. Except for the song Narava, where they played a video clip made of footage from the new Slovenian documentary film Sfinga. The untapped potential of the video projections is actually a great shame. Given the exceptional message in their lyrics and the band’s multimedia orientation, you’d expect effective, innovative and imaginative video projections, but we got long-outlived animations of the kind we used to see at various rave parties.

The next song, Rave, managed to keep the by-then slightly tired crowd on its feet, and the first encore was slowly wrapped up with Le Mavrica, Arena and Male Roke. A second encore followed, with the obligatory Orion Lady, which made the set at the request of many fans. The three-and-a-half-hour odyssey ended at 12:40 a.m. of the new day with Vojna Idej. Fireworks and goodbyes followed.

I can’t skip giving the dancers on stage a sideways glance. It’s commendable that the same dancers performed as eight years ago, but they simply didn’t fit this stage concept. They mixed too much with the band members and their, frankly, sloppy choreography was more of a distraction than anything. It would have been much better to make better use of the projections and drop the dance choreography.

The comparison between 2003 and 2011 begs to be made. Back then it was really the first megalomaniac project, one the guys, organization included, could barely handle. I remember the sound wasn’t exactly the best, the dance choreographies made sense and were well done back then, and of course the symphony orchestra added its own flavor, which may have made the band hold back a bit too. Tomi, for example, was capable of putting together barely three or four words the whole night, apart from that famous prophetic sentence.

Yesterday’s event definitely tops the one from eight years ago. In every respect. The guys have become men, the band sounds full and grown-up, the members are far more dynamic on stage, and Tomi as a frontman is incomparably more communicative with the crowd and more confident. The sound, apart from a couple of minor, barely noticeable slip-ups, was at an enviable level throughout. Visually, the mixing desk was totally unsuitable, since the roof over it rose too high and blocked a good chunk of the stage for the people behind it. The whole scene was surely also spoiled by what, for a project like this, was really a small turnout. A full stadium would have added a backdrop any band could only dream of, and those who skipped this event missed out on a concert of a kind we don’t get from Slovenian acts very often. Hand on heart, practically never.

The new album “VI” is supposedly due out in the fall. Even though we got to hear all 12 new tracks, it’s still hard to picture the album at this point. Judging by the individual songs, though, it definitely shouldn’t be bad. The announcement that with VI Siddharta are returning to where they once were is probably bold and justified.

Siddharta are becoming a band with enough ambition and guts to break boundaries. As such, they’ll go down in the history of the Slovenian music scene. First concert with an orchestra, first concert in front of a 30,000-strong crowd, first marathon concert in 2007, first studio recording of an album that fans could follow over an internet connection, first live recording of an album. They deserve all our support and respect.

Which Slovenian band is next?

Setlist

01.Napoj
02.General
03.Dviga Slovenija Zastave
04.Klinik
05.Pot v X
06.Domine
07.Japan
08.Hollywood
09.Baroko
10.Homo Carnula
11.Na Soncu
12.Neon (guest: Josipa Lisac)
13.Noraterra
14.Thor
15.Narava
16.Napalm 3
17.Bel Labod
18.Spet Otrok
19.Samo Edini
20.Sam
21.Ring
22.Postavi Se Na Mojo Stran
23.Indian Boy
24.Malishka
25.Platina
26.Od Višine Se Zvrti
27.Song #4
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Encore 1: