Location: Boogaloo / Zagreb / Croatia
Concert date: 19.04.2009
Attendance: 1200
Ticket price: 140,00HRK / 180,00HRK
It’s been a little less than two years since Eagles of Death Metal last visited Zagreb. For plenty of people that visit stayed a fond memory, but it took this new show to truly confirm just how well the Zagreb crowd takes to Eagles of Death Metal.
The band, which has nothing to do with death metal, as you might wrongly assume from the name, started out as a side project of Queens of the Stone Age’s charismatic frontman and leader Josh Homme, together with his (childhood) friend Jesse Hughes.
Eagles of Death Metal showed how devoted they are to the Croatian crowd that very afternoon, on the same day as their announced gig at Zagreb’s Boogaloo club. At 3 p.m. they put on a mini show in front of the Aquarious record store. A seriously big crowd had gathered in front of Aquarious even before 3 p.m., so a large part of the fans had to stay outside the shop while the band did their thing.
Jesse Hughes kicked off this “mini gig before the gig” with “I Want You So Hard”, and afterwards remarked: “Shit, this is the best crowd we’ve had so far and I ain’t even lying”. By popular demand he then also played “Whorehoppin'”, or rather “Cherry Cola” for the young ladies and “Miss Alissa” for the young gents. The set, which was an overture to the band’s official evening show, lasted half an hour, and then the band had to get on with the other part of their job: signing stuff, taking photos, and so on…
The band hit the Boogaloo stage around 10:40 p.m. and greeted the crowd with “I Only Want You”. The club, packed to the rafters, bounced along in unison, with nonstop bumping and slamming into each other, and kept it up for the full two hours the show lasted. In that time Eagles Of Death Metal played some of their biggest hits, like ”Don’t Speak”, ”Bad Dream Mama”, ”Chery Cola”, ”Just Nineteen”, and for the occasion ”English Girl” became ”Croatian girl”. Jesse Hughes showed himself to be one of the funniest and most talkative frontmen on today’s rock scene, and he stressed many times how much it means to him to be back in Croatia and (we don’t doubt it for a second) how gorgeous Croatian women are.
The band also did a great job of presenting their third studio album “Heart On”, and the crowd welcomed those songs, like “Anything ‘cept the Truth”, with open arms. Still, it’s worth noting that the crowd went loudest and wildest for the songs from the first two albums, ”Peace,Love , Death Metal” and ”Death By Sexy”. The band closed the show with ”I want You So Hard”, ”Cherry Cola” and ”Brown Sugar”, and finally wrapped things up for good with “Speaking In Tounges”. After that the set lists were snatched up in no time, and the crowd staged a proper little brawl over the drumsticks that landed in the front row.
Boogaloo was bursting with energy, and not just because of the huge turnout, which forced some people to stand at the club entrance, but above all thanks to the incredible communication and energy the band unleashed on the room and gave back to the audience. That energy showed up in a big way, and people kept confirming it with mass jumping, shoving, plenty of cheering, and by regularly joining in on the verses, singing that didn’t die down even after the band had finished a song.
That Jesse’s constant reminders about how great the Zagreb crowd is aren’t just a promo trick is proven by his message on the official Twitter account: “I am in Croatia… looking forward for reefer and having the time of our lives… this country rocks. Just played an in-store at a place in Zagreb”. If you don’t believe it, check it out HERE.
photos: Denis Begić
translation into Slovenian: Aleš Podbrežnik
The Eagles Have Landed! (2009)
It’s been just under two years since they were last in Zagreb. For many people that visit stayed a fond memory, but it took this gig to show just how well the Zagreb crowd takes to the Eagles.
The band, which has nothing to do with death metal despite the name, started out as a side project of Queens of the Stone Age’s charismatic and versatile frontman Josh Homme and his childhood friend Jesse Hughes. They showed their love for the Zagreb crowd in the midday hours of the very same day as the main show at Boogaloo. At 3 p.m. the Eagles played a mini gig at the Aquarious CD Shop. A pretty hefty crowd had gathered in front of Aquarious even before the scheduled 3 p.m., so a large part of the fans had to stay outside the shop.
Jesse Hughes opened the gig with the hit “I Want You So Hard”, then noted: “Shit, this is the best crowd we’ve had so far and I ain’t even lying” and, by popular demand, played “Whorehoppin’ “, or rather “Cherry Cola” for the young ladies and “Miss Alissa” for the young gents. The gig, which was a teaser for the evening show, lasted half an hour in total, and then the guys had to get on with the other part of the job, which meant signing stuff, taking pictures and the like.
The band climbed onto the Boogaloo stage around 10:40 and greeted the crowd with ”I only want you”. The packed club bounced along in unison, trading blows for a full 2 hours. The Eagles played some of their biggest hits like ”Don’t speak”, ”Bad dream mama”, ”Chery Cola”, ”Just nineteen”, and for the occasion ”English girl” became ”Croatian girl”. Jesse Hughes proved himself one of the funniest and most talkative frontmen around today, often stressing how glad he was to be back in Croatia and how gorgeous Croatian women are.
The band also did a great job of presenting their newest, third studio effort ”Heart on”, and the crowd handled the songs from that album just fine too, like ”Anything ‘cept the truth”. Still, it has to be said that the crowd reacted best to the songs from the first two albums ”Peace, love , death metal” and ”Death by sexy”. The show ended with ”I want you so hard”, ”Cherry Cola”, ”Brown Sugar”, but the definitive end came with ”Speaking in tounges”, after which the set lists were snatched up like mad, and the crowd got into a proper little brawl over the drumsticks that flew into the front row.
Boogaloo was bursting with energy, and the cause wasn’t the crowd that kept standing at the club entrance, but the communication and energy the band sent out toward the audience. That energy showed up brilliantly in a unique, collective jumping and shoving, countless ovations from the crowd, and even singing that often carried on after a song had ended.
That Jesse’s constant stressing of how great the Zagreb crowd is isn’t just a promo trick is proven by Jesse’s message on the official Twitter account: “I am in Croatia… looking forward for reefer and having the time of our lives… this country rocks. Just played an in-store at a place in Zagreb” – see it here.
photos: Denis Begić
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