Author: Jernej Vene
Venue: Cvetličarna Mediapark/ Ljubljana
Concert date: 30.08.2007
Attendance: 300
Ticket price: 30,00€
Jani and I spent the last evening of August making our way over to Bežigrad. Cvetličarna was a fitting space for Norway’s Turbonegro. Of all the Scandinavian countries, their homeland may be the least recognizable when it comes to rock culture, since the Finns and the Swedes get a lot more of the spotlight. Turbonegro’s career has stretched across almost twenty years, with one long break in the middle. These days they’re a six-piece with three guitars. Turbonegro kicked off the show with energy, and the tension of the music and the emotional charge between the band and the crowd didn’t drop for a single second. The front rows pitched in generously on the singing, or rather the screaming, while singer Hank Von Helvete, better known as Hertugen (he has quite a few other nicknames too), cranked the temperature up even further with his seasoned punk rock moves. The guys ran through a handful of tried-and-true hits, which the crowd gratefully gobbled up while happily singing along. Up front, the biggest fans busted out a few pogo dance moves, while others preferred to listen to the music with total focus. The proverbially cool Northerners didn’t live up to the stereotype this time. Besides taking a swing at corrupt global politics, the hefty Hertugen proved he’s a man who’s happy with how he looks and couldn’t care less what anyone else thinks. He peeled off his shirt after the very first song and “thrilled” the female half of the audience. Turbonegro started the show with helmets on their heads. A German helmet and an SS cap, a helmet from the Boer wars in South Africa, and an American sailor cap, together with the musicians’ over-the-top makeup, built a grotesque image that showed contempt for sad and misguided chapters of history. Before the song Destroy, Hertugen cracked a joke, saying Turbonegro were on the list at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes……. How are we supposed to take that gallows-humor wish to turn themselves in to the court? It’s exactly through “jokes” like this that Turbonegro show a big dose of self-irony, which they generously fold into their entertainment system. They’re a well-oiled machine. The sound, though, even while moving around the hall, which, let’s be honest, could have held many more people, didn’t impress. At times it was a bit muddy, but most people didn’t seem to mind. Still, I could easily have done without one of the guitarists, and I’m convinced that even the biggest audio purists wouldn’t have noticed the loss. Turbonegro dumped a full wheelbarrow of punk, sleaze rock, hard rock and glam on us, shuffled the contents a little and sent it flying from the stage straight into our heads. Hertugen pulled off a few more beer acrobatics…..after downing a swig of the hoppy drink, he generously sprayed it right out of his mouth over the gathered crowd. No greater joy, right? The only woman in the crowd riding on the shoulders of her “chauffeur” was locked in constant erotic flirting with the singer toward the end of the show…..Of course he wasn’t immune to her gestures, so he kept provoking her and …. we got to see a pair of nice young curves when she lifted her shirt for a few seconds. Not something you see every day on Slovenian stages. Besides the locals, the Turbonegro gig also drew fans from Croatia and Italy, and a few even made the trip from Hungary. Turbonegro confidently presented a few songs from their current record Retox, which landed on open ears. This compact, condensed music leaves no room for much improvisation. Some of the songs are pretty short and rapid-fire direct, too. Moments of band inattention are the exception rather than the rule. They know how to serve up that magic with finesse, in the form of polished guitar phrases, a raspy and powerful voice, a solid rhythm section and one guitar too many….. Okay, guitar up or down, Turbonegro won us over, even that small Ljubljana crowd, with well-oiled music and a likable performance. Despite seventeen songs played, they only went on for barely an hour and a quarter, which in no way justifies the ticket price. Europe has arrived, whether we like it or not. And one more thing – after the smoking ban came into force, this was the first concert where I got to see in practice how the law is being enforced. The “smoking room” was outdoors in front of the hall, and smokers could go there completely freely, but …. without the drinks they’d bought inside the hall earlier…..hmmm?
words: Jernej Vene
photos: Jani Lah
Setlist
1. Atom Bomb
2. Chubby Dude
3. Dungaree High
4. Sell Your Body
5. Blow Me
6. Denim Demon
7. City Of Satan
8. Turbonegro Must Be Destroyed
10. Destruction
11. Wasted Again
12. Bad Mongo
13. All My Friends Are Dead
—encore—
14. Pamparius
15. Get It On
16. Self Destruction Bust
17. Erection
18. Life Of Crime
LINEUP:
Hertugen – vocals
Happy Tom – bass
Euroboy – lead guitar
Rune Rebellion – rhythm guitar
Pal Pot Pamparius – rhythm guitar, keyboards
Chris Summers – drums
