Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 27.10.2016
Attendance: 200
Ticket price: €0.00 (advance reservation only)
Matevž Šalehar, the one and only Hamo, a man whose heart belongs to the rich legacy of this galaxy’s blues rock voodoo, and his band Tribute 2 Love are celebrating ten years together these days. To mark the anniversary, the band put on a special gig for a chosen circle of their most loyal fans. And right where they committed their original sin, that is, where they played their first public show ten years ago: Orto bar, of course.
The band came up with a smart way to fill the small club space for sure. They offered their fans a deal: »reserve your entry and get a free T-shirt,« followed by a good old »first come, first served« sieve. So it was no surprise to see the Orto bar lobby buzzing as early as eight in the evening. Half an hour later a line of fired-up devotees was already forming at the entrance to the venue, where the diehards happily got their hands stamped and gratefully took their official band »merch« T-shirts.
It’s getting close to ten when the quintet steps onto the stage in front of a packed upstairs club room. Plenty of people stayed outside because they were simply too late. So they caught the show right in the lobby downstairs by the coat check, or headed off for a pint (or two, maybe three or more) at the ground-floor bar, where an »eighties party« was going on undisturbed, hoping they’d still make it upstairs at some point during the gig.
The seasoned, battle-hardened Hamo, together with his equally seasoned and battle-hardened partners in crime who make up the quintet Tribute 2 Love, handed out crumbs of bread and circuses to a hungry crowd from the first second to the last. The crowd was mostly women, who gave the band the most feedback vibes and the wildest reactions, sang the verses along with Hamo, and, of course, ate out of his hand without a care. That loud part of the audience, represented by the fairer of the two sexes, kept the band riding high on waves of wild, untamed energy the whole night. The band fired off mostly original material, with the indispensable Pol, Gospa Magister, Tiho, Dejva bit čist bliz and, of course, Rožice reigning supreme. Hamo and the crew didn’t forget to present the new single Nazaj either, and, more importantly, invited all of us to the band’s gig at Kino Šiška, announced for 09.02.2017! There, Hamo & Tribute 2 Love will celebrate the release of their (overall) third real studio album.
There’s no need to waste words on how superbly tight, precise and perfectly calibrated the quintet is, and how the stage execution of the material followed suit. Ruling over it all, with his gritty, manly bluesy voice, was, as ZZ Top would put it, the »sharp-dressed man,« that is, of course, the incredibly charismatic »Homo simpaticus« and frontman Hamo, who also entertained the crowd with all sorts of voodoo from his secret repertoire, and from an even more secret notebook full of recipes for brewing the juiciest barbs of black humor.
This radio-friendly blues rock, tuned to Slovenian standards, put together an unforgettable experience with its heartfelt delivery, satisfied the starving crowd with a shower of emotion and passion, and in just over two hours of playing paid back its most loyal fans in the best possible way for all their years of support.
The band keeps growing in popularity. Its fan base is getting stronger and bigger. Not least, the fact that Hamo & Tribute 2 Love recently played two sold-out nights in a row at Siti Teater is proof of that. So Kino Šiška will surely be packed to the rafters next February!
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