Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Cvetličarna / Slovenia
Concert date: 12/22/2016
Attendance: 200
Ticket price: €0.00 (free admission)
Ten bands for Zmajevih deset! An enticing, genre-spanning lineup of ten acts, no admission fee, in the last fleeting moments of the dying year. At Ljubljana’s Cvetličarna. Kicking off at eight in the evening. How do you cram ten bands into a five-hour program with stage changeovers in between? You give each of them a fifteen-minute set. So we got something similar to last January, when bands raised money for people with disabilities in much the same way at »Za kombi« in Kino Šiška. Except there, logically, you had to pay to get in.
To bring the »Za kombi« festival to mind once more, »Zmajevih deset« was also opened by the famous Ljubljana rockers Sausages. For the occasion, Boštjan Vajs sat behind the drums and filled in in grand style for the absent Martin Janežič, who had to skip this gig because of obligations he couldn’t put off. The band was as tight and stage-ready as ever. A short but sweet opening warm-up from what are practically scene veterans by now, it wrapped up, as expected, with the standard To mi deli. After Sausages, the stage went to Styrian punk rockers D’Smokers. A trio with fairly predictable musical content, wonderfully simple lyrics and song formats. It’s nice that they got the chance to stand on the Cvetličarna stage, but D’Smokers still need some more mileage. The third act drew a special kind of interest. That’s Regulus, represented by Marjan and Slavko Lebar. These two are genuine musical legends who played in Izvir and Predmestje, and later, through the eighties and nineties, were active in Spin. A band of seasoned old cats that gave birth to a studio debut this year swapped vocalists before this gig. In one of their few stage appearances this year, in a short time slot, the band convinced and delivered a confident fifteen minutes of playing, managing to squeeze in four songs, of which the closing one, completely new, was especially impressive. So a new album is on the way. The sound was a bit worse early on, but things got sorted out later. The new vocalist has a great vibe.
The Drinkers haven’t exactly been frequent stage visitors this year either. The crew of alcohol-pouring rascals, led by the famous Koli, was the first in the series to draw a rock-solid crowd in front of the stage. The Drinkers thoroughly fired up the audience, Robert Likar snapped a string during the second song, and the band consequently tried to cut the set short, but they had to come back for one more tune. Whether keyboardist Primož Trebec managed to convince the sound guy that his microphone in the backing vocal position wasn’t working remains an open question. As he sang away anyway – to close out a first-rate but damn short set. I don’t know why the band plays so little, let’s hope 2017 brings them a different concert harvest. A completely different genre was represented next by Pink Panker. Rabid hardcore punkers with a stuffed-full sonic arsenal of two thundering guitars and a furious, uncompromising-in-the-lyrics vocalist, getting ready for a real fight for the old cause. A superbly tight set, fired off with a full pair of balls. Bands of this younger-generation caliber, with this kind of conviction and charisma, are chronically in short supply on the Slovenian music scene.
Stare Device followed, playing songs by Requiem. As usual. People haven’t forgotten these classics, and the energy during the band’s set was excellent. Egzi held up superbly on vocals, a polished and dynamic stage performance, and, much like after The Drinkers, it really riled up the crowd, who demanded more and more. But the time slot had been used up. So the Mozirje boys Up’N’Downs were soon standing on stage, having released a hugely ambitious studio debut last year, »Vse kar sem pozabil«. These guys, too, simply confirmed with their set that this is a superb band that grasps the point of rock’n’roll on multiple levels, which also shows in how they arrange their compositions. A confident show, full and excellent sound. A high level of tightness, the stage used to the fullest. You could feel that the band was superbly prepared for this gig.
Given that it was a Thursday and another work day lay ahead of us, we had to take our leave of the festival grounds early. So we’re left owing Backstage, Super Action Heroes and Avven. The last of them had a longer set, forty minutes, since they were last on the list. I’m sure the partying carried on in full swing and the crowd kept going strong with undiminished intensity. Simple as that. Events like this are chronically missing from the current Slovenian rock scene. It was great that for once, for a change, people swapped their demented hangouts on social networks for a real, tangible rock’n’roll party in the evening hours. If only there were more of it. Hats off to Miro Mutvar for his relentlessness and organizational drive. The event was a complete success, and let’s hope it grows into an annual fixture.
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