Author: Urban Bolta
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Menza pri koritu (Metelkova) / Slovenia
Concert date: 02.03.2012
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: 7,00€ / 8,00€
After the release of their second studio album »Zbogom Madamfucker« (review here), the Styrian punk’n’roll champs have finally brought the fresh material to Ljubljana too. The main album-launch event went down a week earlier, when Muškat Hamburg played Maribor, and now Ljubljana got its own taste of the Madamfucker concert farewell, the second stop in a row.
The social evening at Menza pri Koritu on Metelkova was kicked off by ZMP (Zgornja meja perverznosti) from Slovenj Gradec. Just going by their look, the band members belong to different alternative music subcultures. Plenty of bands know how to turn that kind of variety to their advantage and steer into completely unique artistic territory, but we can’t say the same for ZMP. The guys mix a dominant blend of punk and hardcore punk with the occasional (thrash) metal element, which, paired with aggressive, off-the-rails vocals, doesn’t come off all that well. What they delivered was nothing more than half-step droning with no central motif, aggressive punk in one song and a metal version in the next. These guys are still looking for their style. A story in himself was the frontman, who loves the taste of beer so much that he couldn’t get through the show without a can of his favorite brand of the hoppy stuff in his hand. The guys themselves say the band started as a joke, and judging by the gig, they haven’t strayed far from that original idea yet. All well and good, goofing around is part of music too, but with that approach they’ll never make it. Or maybe they will.. The Sex Pistols pulled that off too.
Muškat Hamburg are a whole different story, a Radgona-Rogaška-Maribor collective that, in its overall idiom, successfully walks the line between goofing around on one side and a professional approach on the other. Even though those two things are almost complete opposites, Muškat Hamburg are proof that they can be fused symbiotically into a single whole.
The time had come to say »goodbye to Madamfucker«! For a long time, Muškat Hamburg were led on stage by the character of the over-the-top frontman »Madamfucker«, but a new album arrived, and with it a new era. The frontman ditched the wig, the sunglasses and the impeccably groomed mustache and became »Radgonski biser«. The Styrians opened the show with a medley of songs from their debut »Uživaj Pokončno«, before jumping a few years into the future with the song Walkie-Talkie Woman and then working through the material from the current record for the whole middle part of the gig. Jacuzzi Man holds the whole truth about being Muškat Hamburg: lighthearted simplicity, revealed through the comic verses of a Rolling Stones parody. What could be better? And we were already racing ahead.
Muškat Hamburg live for gigs. Whether they’re facing an empty club or a full one. This time, luckily, it was full. A tightly rehearsed band, they spew out the energy of pure-blooded punk artistry, seasoned with constant solos from new guitarist Gangsta Rocker, who cleverly rounds out the sound and opens up a new dimension with a rock’n’roll flavor. The Muškat’s main attraction is the dynamic vocal harmonies coming into the choruses or in the choruses themselves, which, thanks to how well-drilled they are, sound in all their punchy glory live, as in songs like The Fact or Kongo. The vocalist had some technical problems at first, but the crew managed to sort them out over the course of the show. Each of the four musicians in the front line added their own pebble to the mosaic of the punk’n’roll explosion, and such an energetic performance led to the only remark worth mentioning: inconsistent handling of all the backing vocal duties. At moments, the distance from the mic for guitarist Otto and bassist Sissy was a bit too random, so the vocal backing was only used at ninety-nine percent.
At express speed, Muškat Hamburg ran through most of their released original material and, without leaving the stage, dug into the encore with Rupurut. Radgonski biser’s trademark pantomime antics, those frontline bits, still hadn’t gone quiet even after a solid hour of show, and in Nicht Hin and Nekega lepega dne they were replayed one last time that night in all their glory.
The return to Ljubljana was a success in every respect! A packed Menza pri Koritu witnessed a dazzling show from Muškat Hamburg, who stepped into a new era transformed and further cemented their status as one of Slovenia’s best rock’n’roll acts. Both with the new album and with the launch gig. I have no doubt we’ll see each other again very soon!
Setlist
1. Banda prihajam domov
2. Blues zamaha
3. Tukaj si sam
4. Walkie-Talkie Woman
5. Jazucci Man
6. To je to
7. Malo seksa & drog
8. Pobrala me bo smrt
9. Ne daj se motit
10. S.P. Blues
11. Revolucije od nikoder
12. Sobota
13. Življenje ni potica
14. The Fact
15. Punči nocoj
16. Odpri oči
17. Kongo
18. Manijak
19. Delaj & papaj
20. Vse sem si zaslužo
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21. Rupurut
22. Nicht Hin
23. Nekega lepega dne
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