Location: Orto Bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 06.03.2007
Attendance: 200
Ticket price: 6.00€
My day started out pretty miserably, pretty much the opposite of what anyone would wish for, but I gathered up my courage and willpower and headed to the rock show of the hot Tide, who were throwing their party at Orto Bar in Ljubljana. This will be just the therapy I need to shake off my worries, I told myself! And it was.
I showed up just as the guys were doing their soundcheck, then stole a few precious minutes from singer Kevin for an interview. As always, I was subjected to the routine waiting game, frantically counting down the minutes until the guys hit the stage!
Around 9:30, the young guys who make up the band called Mosaic took the stage. To be honest, I had no idea who Mosaic even were or what kind of music they played, so I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw and heard. Their set was a seriously energetic mix of pop rock and alternative rock, and on top of that the guys cleverly wove African percussion into their show, which, combined with the drum duo, sounded downright tribal. A great way to spice up the atmosphere!
The guys clearly aren’t shy about their quirky ideas either, which sparkles in the wordplay of some of their song titles. Take “Nais,” for example! If you “daydream” and “mantra” it a bit, it can easily come out as the English “nice,” or it can be the genus name for a type of freshwater oligochaete worm (for the uninitiated: a little water “monster” that looks like an earthworm). Then there’s “P.ttana,” which, with the right associations, can easily lead you to the edge of good taste, where vulgarisms creep into everyday life. Or maybe, as the name evolved, someone even had a “fat girl” in mind. The kind who loves to “eat” (P.ttana or “pi-tana”).
Having gotten to know Mosaic like this, up close, I can conclude that the scene has yet another promising homegrown band! The guys also clearly have a knack for tastefully combining music and looks (image), which is very important for cementing a band’s name on the music scene! If I may add a personal note, I’ll award some extra bonus points to the “mosaic” singer, who wore a 30 Seconds to Mars T-shirt for the occasion, a band whose music I absolutely love. Well played!
Not many seconds, let alone minutes, passed before the darlings of the evening, Tide, came on stage. There was no intro, no spectacle, no laser show… and that didn’t matter one bit, because Tide were on stage. This is a foursome of up-and-coming lads who hit the Slovenian scene loud and clear two years ago and have already built a decent status on our turf, especially after intensively playing stages all over the place in the past year, which also proves that the guys make no secret of their drive, determination, and appetite for breaking through on the domestic “mainstream” scene, which, by the way, is a very smart and rational goal to pick!
They opened the show with Strange Day. What followed was a nicely rounded hour and a half of loud rock music, spiced up between songs by Kevin’s charismatic, nonstop banter with the crowd, which deserves all the praise and shows a confidence that keeps growing and growing… Tide worked quite a bit of material from their new, still unreleased album into their ambitious set. But the crowd in a pretty packed Ort went wildest for the tried-and-true songs from the debut “Seven Days,” such as Release My Gun, Brain Damage, Not a Whore, and the little ballad Lost Inside, which I personally love.
Tide pulled off their show with energy and conviction. There were a few technical hiccups and some extra tuning, but hey, we like it “alt,” right? That’s rock, and those are things that are perfectly normal at any normal gig. The guys know there’s still a lot of polishing to do and plenty of concert miles and kilometers to rack up, but it’s great to see such driven, enterprising lads briskly wielding their instruments.
The one big minus of the night was the constant (literally the whole show) clicking of some photographer in front of the stage. And with a flash! I don’t know whose fault it is, but usually when it comes to official photography, the organizers set a few ground rules and things are a bit more organized. It’s no fun when a flash is pointed straight at your eyes. Apparently the young photographer left her manners at home. Anyway, who cares now? The Tide show fired me up, recharged my batteries, and helped me forget the rough start to my day. I thank the Tide guys for the regenerative, invigorating “shock rock” therapy, and I’ll add this: keep striking while the iron is hot!
Setlist
MOSAIC:
1. Kazalo
2. Zeeleeeni
3. Gravitacija
4. S.R.
5. 7
6. P.ttana
7. !
8. Nais
9. Breed
TIDE:
1. Strange Day
2. No Place Left To Go
3. Not a Whore
4. Release My Gun
5. Following
6. Tell It Like It Is
7. Misunderstood
8. Brain Damage
9. Shooting Straight
10. Leave This Place
11. On Your Own
12. Lost Inside
13. The Urge
14. Waiting For The R.
15. Evolution
16. Kick Out The Jams
Photo Gallery
