Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ledena dvorana / Kranj / Slovenia
Concert date: December 18, 2009
Attendance: 1500
Ticket price: €25.00
So here we are in Kranj, at the last gig of the year, finally catching Siddharta and their new album “Saga” (RockLine review HERE). The show kicked off an hour late, which was of course to be expected, since security was laid on almost to excess. Double barriers, total control over what was going on and over the fans, and, of course, on top of the unavoidable crowd crush, as a special “prize”, yet another extra barrier. Lined up nicely one by one, we waited for the security check and finally – hop, into the ice-cold hall.
Expecting the show to open with a track from the new record “Saga”, the guys surprised us with Pot v X, and our shared journey through an excellent, emotionally charged concert could begin.
The gig was a big surprise, because everything Siddharta played was played live, with none of the pre-recorded parts we’d gotten used to at earlier shows. Most of us expected a show focused on the new record, but Siddharta caught us off guard with something like a “The Best Of” concert. So “Saga” was hardly felt as a separate thing, since they blended the new songs in really well with the old hits. The crowd was still getting to know the new record, but that didn’t bother the guys onstage. You could tell the whole time that “Saga” means a huge amount to them and that, for Siddharta, the new record is really the start of something new, something still undiscovered. Playing the new tracks from “Saga”, Tomi M. and the crew were strangers in their own world, a world where they’re finally living their dreams, dreams that have come true.
The crowd below the stage slowly bloomed all night long. Among them you could see loads of flowers who were completely swept up in what was happening onstage. After the second return to the stage, though, the entire hall bloomed. Standing area, seats, performers! Everything was in a euphoric mood. The concert hit its peak both on the stage and below it. Even Tomi M. was touched by all of this and, after a long time, opened up emotionally again a bit more, telling the wild crowd, totally fascinated, that the guys onstage and the audience are really fused into one. Tomi M. gave us the feeling that he’s very proud of Siddharta, of the start of their new era, the era of “Saga” and its journey into the unknown. There was a really special vibe around Boštjan M. too, who is usually a bit more unnoticeable behind his drums, but last night he stepped into the spotlight several times with his witty remarks and good humor.
After the release of “Saga” on November 21, 2009, the band officially played a launch show at the hall of Ljubljana’s Kino Šiška (RockLine report HERE), and added another gig in Maribor on December 11, 2009. The fear that they’d only present “Saga” and give the crowd a mere hour-long show turned out to be unfounded, because already in Maribor they played well over two hours, spiced up with all their best-known songs, covering a cross-section of their entire discography, with the emphasis, of course, on the new album. I can confirm that, out of all three of those shows, both the crowd and the band were in the best mood in Kranj. Maybe that had to do with the fact that the show carried a certain symbolic weight, being Siddharta’s last gig this year, or rather the last one before the tour coming next year.
For the most devoted fans the show was “too short”, but in the end they had to make do with “just” two hours and forty minutes. A smaller part of the crowd left the hall after two hours, since some people obviously aren’t used to such a long show, or didn’t even expect one. I also have to praise the excellent sound, which stayed at a high level of quality throughout Siddharta’s entire set.
Toward the end of Siddharta’s set, the Ledena dvorana was so steamed up by the crowd of screaming, jumping fans that after the show the swimmers could have held practice in there instead of the hockey players. To finish, we raised our flags together with Siddharta, in honor of all Slovenian athletes, to their song Dviga Slovenija zastave. Let’s hope the guys make it big out in the world. They’ve conquered Slovenia, now let them conquer the world!
photos: Robi Lipej
Setlist
1. Pot v X 2. Klinik 3. Alarm 4. Napoj 5. B Mashina 6. Domine 7. Nevarno mesto 8. Rooskie 9. T.H.O.R. 10. NArava 11. Samo edini 12. Platina 13. Mr. Q 14. Apokalipsa 15. Madam 16. Eboran 17. Angel Diabolo 18. Stampedo 19. Neon 20. Homo Carnula 21. Vojna idej —encore 1.— 22. Od višine se zvrti 23. Napalm 3 24. Baroko 25. Rave 26. Ring —encore 2.— 27. Na soncu 28. Dviga Slovenija zastave
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