Venue: Modra Hiša / Ljubljana (Šiška) / Slovenia
Concert date: November 27, 2006
Attendance: 120
Ticket price: 0.00 SIT
Huhhh… Time live in Ljubljana! The news came creeping in out of nowhere, right under the wire. I’d just told myself I could finally catch my breath for a few days after the brutal rally that this November’s gig-hopping had relentlessly dictated, and wouldn’t you know it, three and a half hours before showtime my phone rings and it’s Jani, telling me Time are on Bravničarjeva in Šiški, at some party, closed guest list. “I’ll take my camera along, are you coming?” was all he said. “Aha, there’ll be photos, uhuhu this is gonna be juicy, I’ve got to be there!” I thought. “See you there!” I fired back right away.
Damn! A swanky glass building called Modra Hiša – MH. 10 minutes from where I live. Right next to MH, the Porsche dealership for Slovenia was strutting its stuff. I can’t believe I can just stroll from my house to see Time. They’d come together as a hard-hitting trio: Dado Topić (bass guitar, vocals), Vedran Božić (guitar), Ratko Divjak (drums). That was absolutely enough. Ohoho, this is definitely going to “pop”!
Somehow I’m not used to “swimming” in the cream of well-heeled gentlemen who roll up to a rock gig in monstrous limousines, decked out in dazzling hand-picked designer threads, but that’s how it goes. Once in a while, that’s just what it is. Again I got there way too early. Too early? Well, it’s a classic fan syndrome, after all! All I needed was a Time vinyl in my hand, and I could’ve kept the venerable rock doctor Mr. Dragan Bulič company, so I wouldn’t spend the evening “lone-wolfing it” on the hunt for my fellow fans and their autographs!
The improvised mini-stage was set up in a corner of the ground-floor lobby, to the right of the building’s main entrance. The glass surrounding the little stage on all sides was temporarily covered with white cloth. A little before 9:00 PM everything was ready on stage.
9:15 PM and Dado greets the crowd! He made an effort and tried to speak Slovenian the whole show, which instantly won everyone’s absolute sympathy and broke the ice! Since the memory of the legacy of the “time machine” needed refreshing, Dado announced the title of almost every song, or at least something close to the real title. They kicked off with the opening track of their first record “Time” (1972), the punchy Istina Mašina, which immediately showed off the band’s beat. Rock ‘n’ roll wrapped in an experimental jazz blues fusion shell. Well, on the surface… But it’s way more than “just that” – the excellent ethno funk rock march in Igraj, narode moj, one of the peaks of the night, I just can’t get it out of my head. A psychedelic “Floydish” intro after Superstar announced the start of Pjesma No 3., which calmed down the opening assault. In one of his first addresses between songs, Dado paid special attention to two elder statesmen of the Slovenian rock scene, Tomaž Domicelj and Janez Bončina Benč, and took the occasion to give them special honor and thanks for coming to see Time tonight. The guys took their time vessel on a trip through all three Time records. Of those, they covered the band’s debut in its entirety. The show was split into two parts, and in the first the guys took a break after Živjeti slobodno. Dado had announced just ten minutes, which the legends stretched to 25.
At 10:15 PM the show picked back up with the one-of-a-kind Za koji život treba da se rodim. No panic, no keyboards! You couldn’t miss them. Vedran’s guitar was totally enough. After that, the vibe only kept building. Dado invited a particularly eminent guest up on stage, Janez Bončina Benč, and the two of them sang a duet of Majko Zemljo, which Dado Topić wrote and which came out in 1974 on the studio album of his former Time partner Tihomir Pop Asanović. Next came the superb ballad Dali znaš da te volim, where Benč kept the guys company on stage and showed that the “rock ‘n’ roll feel” in him is still damn alive. In this song the band conjured up that special feeling of an atmosphere shift, as they almost imperceptibly switched from harder sawing into totally soft ballad rock. Most of the melody fell to Vedran’s guitar, and he visibly enjoyed twisting the top “fader” (knob) of his Fender Stratocaster, masterfully controlling the delicacy of his guitar’s sound through the song. The crowd was captivated too in that moment and swayed completely to the gentle beats of this gorgeous song. Worth mentioning is also the performance of the song with which Dado, together with Slađana Milošević, represented Yugoslavia at Eurovision in 1983, titled Princeza. People definitely jumped in the lobby when they figured out which song it was. For that, Dado called Suzi up on stage – a very handy girl, who brought little more than some variety to the show, since with her vocals she often did more harm than good. Then there was the “reggae” stretched-out Elizabet from Dado’s solo album “Šaputanje na jastuku” (1980), in which Dado got the audience into closer, more intense participation in a fun way. The guys brought the show to its peak right in the closing stretch with the fired-up songs Makedonija and Cijeli život čekam na priliku da pjevam u Beogradu rock ‘n’ roll, in which Dado deftly swapped the word Beograd for Ljubljana.
In the expected encore came the moment for the excellent instrumental “jam” Hegedupa upa! After the all-round enthusiasm, when the guys were about to wrap up, the crowd’s cheering brought the band back on stage, and this time Vedran took over lead vocals and hit us with Hey Joe (Jimi Hendrix), singing the whole thing himself and of course soloing at the same time. Since the guys were clearly still fired up, for the big finale they repeated Dali znaš da te volim, this time without Benč, and thanks to the super-cheerful Vedran on guitar they managed to squeeze out feelings a shade more intense than the first time. Two full hours of playing! Finished at 11:33 PM!
The indestructible Dado – “strong muscles”, hands like shovels, the driving force, capo di bando of Time, a charismatic gentleman – still incredibly explosive and convincing on vocals and bass, backed by the “Hendrixian” raw eruptiveness yet sensual brilliance of Vedran and the standard virtuosically varied brilliance of Ratko’s drumming, remain a tough “hard-hitting rock’n’roll trio” even after 35 years! Like good old wine. No flaws that the “burden” of years on the shoulders might happen to bring. Quite the opposite. Experienced, seasoned gentlemen of mature years! So the years set you free!
Of course the room’s poor acoustics didn’t allow for optimal conditions. The sound was fully satisfactory only a few meters from the center of the stage; somewhere around the doorman’s desk (the doorman was sadly away on duty and missed a lot) it was already losing power. But okay! That’s not the point now. It was a party and absolutely everyone found a good reason to party. It was unforgettable to see Time for the first time in my life. Totally unexpected! Instead of heading for a “drink” at Žibert, the average Šentvid local takes a ten-minute stroll and knocks one back at Modra Hiša instead, where the legendary Time are sawing away for dessert.
Guys! Next time I hope we meet at Križanke or Cankarjev dom. Thanks for your tough rock ‘n’ roll vision that happily lives on untamed, and by the way, thanks for helping me clear my head after the sugary stuff from Bryan Adams that had stuck to my ears two days before.
Setlist
1. Istina mašina
2. Superstar
3. Dok ja i moj miš sviramo jazz
4. Pjesma No. 3
5. Kralj alkohol
6. Život u čizmama s visokom petom
7. Živjeti slobodno
—intermission—
8. Za koji život treba da se rodim
9. Majko Zemljo
10. Dali znaš da te volim
11. Princeza
12. Igraj, narode moj
13. Elizabet
14. Makedonija
15. Cijeli život čekam na priliku da pjevam u Ljubljani rock ‘n’ roll
—encore 1—
16. Hegedupa upa
—encore 2—
17. Hey Joe
18. Dali znaš da te volim
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