Tagged: rock
Arctic Monkeys u Splitu
Monkey business
After surviving through Rokajfest 2009, I’ve decided to end my open air concert season about 410 kilometres away from Zagreb, at Prokurative in Split, where Arctic Monkeys had a gig on 7 July 2009. Currently, this is definitely the farthest distance I’ve travelled to see a single concert, but all I can say is that it was worth the trouble.
Prokurative, the typical concert venue of Split was the obvious choice, though it might seem a little strange considering the fact that it’s right in the middle of the old city and that there is absolutely nothing to prevent free-loaders from hanging around in front and around the venue, enjoying the concert and not paying a dime. It was one of the things that made me somewhat worried, because at 9 p.m., when the gig was supposed to begin, there were only few hundreds of people in front of the stage. Granted, in the next 30 minutes the majority of people arrived, so there were a few thousand people at the gig, but I can’t shake the feeling that the number could have been higher.
The concert began somewhat routinely, but things got better after a few initial songs. It was to be expected that the band would play songs from their upcoming album, but it was also to be expected that the audience would go wild when they begin playing their biggest hits. And when it comes to hits, we got everything we wanted, from I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor and Brianstorm to 505 in the encore, although I personally missed Teddy Picker, which was probably cut to make time for the songs off Humbug.
The crowd was okay, there was a lot of dancing, but in all the concerts I went to, nobody ever fired signal flares in the crowd. Must be some stray football fan who forgot where he was. IMO, pyrotechnics should not be a part of the concert experience and security guys were just being lazy. You can’t carry in a half-litre bottle of water, but you can bring dangerous pyrotechnics. Smart move. Speaking from experience, stupid things happen if you give stupid people stuff they can throw at the stage. This is what happened at InMusic, when the main sponsor gave the crowd some glowsticks, and some guys thought it would be funny to throw those at Moby. Incidentally, that was the first time anything was thrown on stage at InMusic, but since this year’s sponsor set such a nice precedent, I’m sure it won’t be the last time.
All in all, Arctic Monkeys gave us a 90 minute gig which raised the temperature in Split considerably. The choice of city was slightly impractical for most of the fans from continental parts of Croatia, but I hope to see them again very soon, at any of the festivals.
This concert officially ends my summer open air season for this year, as well as this series of articles. Time to get some rest and read some good books.
Majmunska posla
Nakon preživljenog Rokajfesta 2009., koncertnu sam sezonu odlučio završiti cca 410 automobilskih kilometara dalje, na splitskim Prokurativama gdje su 7. srpnja 2009. svirali Arctic Monkeysi. Za sada, najveća prijeđena kilometraža za koncert od sat i pol, ali mogu reći da se isplatilo.
Prokurative, kao standardna lokacija za održavanje koncerata u Splitu, bile su logičan izbor, iako mi se doimaju malo čudnim zbog činjenice da je lokacija usred grada i da apsolutno ništa ne sprečava muktaroše da uštede dvjestotinjak kuna za kartu i muvaju se ispred i oko prostora. To je bila jedna od stvari koja me poprilično zabrinula, jer je u 21 sat pred pozornicom bilo nekoliko stotina ljudi. Situacija se popravila kako je vrijeme prolazilo, na kraju se radilo o preko dvije tisuće ljudi na koncertu, ali ne mogu se oteti dojmu da je još nekoliko stotina koncert slušalo izvana.
Koncert je počeo nekako rutinski, ali situacija se nakon nekoliko uvodnih stvari popravila. Bilo je i za očekivati da će dečki predstaviti pjesme s nadolazećeg albuma, ali isto tako je bilo za očekivati da će publika podivljati tek na stvari koje dobro zna. A kada su one u pitanju, dobili smo gotovo sve što smo tražili, od I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor i Brianstorma do 505 u bisu, meni je osobno zafalio tek Teddy Picker, koji je vjerojatno dao mjesta pjesmama s Humbuga.
Koncertna publika je uglavnom bila standardno pristojna i dobro je surađivala, ali u cijelom svom koncertnom stažu nisam naišao na paljenje bengalki i baklji u publici. Bit će da se radi o kakvom zalutalom primjerku nogometnog navijača, ali smatram da pirotehnici nije mjesto u gužvama ljudi i da prepipavači na ulazu nisu radili svoj posao. Nema unošenja boca vode, ali ima unošenja opasnih zapaljivih tvari. Pametno. Iskustvo mi govori da se glupe stvari događaju kad glupim ljudima date stvari koje se mogu bacati na pozornicu, što se pokazalo točnim na InMusicu kada je sponzor budalama u publici dao svjetleće štapiće, nakon čega su oni Mobyja gađali istim tim štapićima. Naravno, ovo je bio prvi put da je ikada išta bacano na pozornicu na tom festivalu, ali nakon što je ovogodišnji sponzor postavio tako krasan presedan, siguran sam da neće biti posljednji.
Uglavnom, Arctic Monkeys su nam pružili 90 minuta odlične svirke kojom su podgrijali ionaku vruću splitsku večer. Izbor grada bio je malčice nepraktičan većini fanova iz kontinentalne Hrvatske, ali valjda ćemo ih za koju godinu ponovno vidjeti u sklopu nekog od festivala.
Ovim koncertom i službeno zatvaram svoju ljetnu sezonu koncerata na otvorenom godine, kao i ovu seriju članaka. Vrijeme je za odmor uz kakvu dobru knjigu.
Rokajfest 2009
English version coming soon!
[EDIT: Or never, apparently…]
Open Air festivali 2009. – drugi dio
Završen je još jedan Rokajfest. Znate, onaj DRUGI festival koji se održava na Jarunu prvog vikenda u srpnju, traje tri dana i možemo ga s punim pravom nazvati rock festivalom (za razliku od InMusica koji je valjda open-air festival jer tamo bude svega i svačega).
U izostanku sponzorstva nekog od operatera mobilne telefonije, cijene ulaznica ove su godine bile nešto više ili bolje rečeno realne. Svi oni kojima je bilo dovoljno znati da će na festivalu nastupiti Hladno pivo i Razorlight mogli su svoje ulaznice za sva tri dana na početku prodaje ubosti za 100 kn (dok su na dane festivala dnevne ulaznice stajale 150 kn).
Po običaju, popratio sam isključivo one izvođače koji su me zanimali, uz nekoliko koji su me usput ugodno iznenadili.
Prvi takav bend bili su Karamelo Santo, mnogočlani ska/punk/reggae sastav iz Argentine koji su razdrmali publiku svojom dinamičnom mješavinom stilova.
Hladno pivo vječiti su miljenici publike, stoga uopće nije bilo upitno da će baš oni uspjeti najveći broj ljudi na travnjaku ispred glavne pozornice. Oni su odsvirali svojih headlinerskih skoro sat i pol, u što su uključili većinu pjesama sa zadnja dva albuma i nekoliko nezaobilaznih ‘zlatnih’ hitova, ako se taj izraz bez većeg podsmijeha može primijeniti na Für Immer Punk. Bubašvaba nije bilo. Rojeva mušica jest, ali to je uvijek tako na Jarunu.
Tajnu gažu, ili po naški Secret Gig, prilično je tajnovito i iznenadno odradio Psihomodo Pop na veliko zadovoljstvo okupljenih. Bez obzira koliko eksperimentiraju s reggae elementima u nastupu i u pjesmama s novog albuma, razumljivo da se našlo mjesta i za (pra)stare stvari.
U subotu me dočekao Let3. Moram priznati da sam ove godine uložio znatne napore u izbjegavanje njihovih nastupa, što na Harteri u Rijeci, što na Rokaju, ali eto, dogodilo se da sam sa sigurne udaljenosti izvan dometa njihovih čepova odslušao nekoliko stvari.
Hard Time iznenadili su me, što činjenicom da i dalje sviraju, uz to još i činjenicom da i dalje sviraju jednako kvalitetno kao i prije. Svaka čast.
I onda je na pozornicu izašao Primal Scream. Započeli su nizom popularnih hitova i zaključili su nizom popularnih, energičnih hitova. Ono između bilo je nešto slabije prihvaćeno i manje zabavno, ali gledajući cijeli nastup, bio je to dobar plesni blok.
S nedjeljnog programa odabrao sam The Charlatans kao prvi nastup večeri, što se pokazalo mudrom odlukom u svjetlu proloma oblaka koji se tek par sati ranije sručio na područje Jaruna, stvorivši kvalitetnu festivalsko-blatnjavu atmosferu. Nije festivalsko blato rezervirano samo za Britance, i mi svoje blato za utrku imamo.
Sami Charlatansi, kao ostariji, uvježbani bend, rutinski su odradili svoj nastup pred ne baš prevelikom publikom, ali srećom bilo je tu ljudi koji prate Charlatanse od sredine devedesetih, pa im se nije bilo teško ufurati u prvi nastup šarlatana na našim prostorima. Najtoplije se nadam da će bend iz Hrvatske odnijeti pozitivne dojmove, bez obzira na sve.
I tek što su Charlatansi završili svojih jedva sat vremena, ne izašavši na bis, na drugoj pozornici su žestoko započeli žestoki i glasni The BellRays, predvođeni markantnom pjevačicom Lisom.
Headlineri zadnjega dana Rokajfesta, Razorlight, pružili su nam jedva 60 minuta svirke s dvije pjesme u bisu. Uz velik broj lakših stvari sa zadnjeg albuma i Borellovih solističkih “gledajte-sad-malo-mene” kompozicija, imali smo priliku čuti i zaplesati uz gotovo sve one stvari koje su Razorlight doveli tamo gdje jesu i koje su im omogućile headlinerske pozicije na festivalima. Sve u svemu, solidno, iako bi svakako moglo i bolje.
I to je otprilike bilo to za ovu godinu, Rokajfest je uspio zadržati razinu kvalitete koju je postavio prošle godine, ponajviše vezano uz izbor izvođača i gotovo neprekidan glazbeni program na dvije pozornice, autobusi od ulaza do otoka su bili odlična ideja, hrana je mogla biti jeftinija, ali to su sitnice. Prošlogodišnje izdanje definitivno nije bilo uspješno pukim slučajem, već se radi o kvalitetnom festivalu koji bi se trebao trajno naći na kalendaru ljubitelja glazbe na otvorenome.
Posljednja stanica na mojoj koncertnoj turneji ove godine su Arctic Monkeys u Splitu. Izvješće uskoro.
InMusic Festival 2009
Open Air Festivals 2009 – part one
Another [sponsorname]InMusic Festival has just finished, in its fourth year, and no matter what their PR may say, this wasn’t the fourth t-mobile inmusic festival, since two out of previous three had a different mobile operator in the title. But who cares about details.
The whole thing went on on June 24 and 25 at Youth Island on the Jarun lake in Zagreb, from 5 p.m. until early morning on three stages and couple of tents: main stage with headliners, second stage for other performers, metal stage which was far, far away, a tent for gigs after 1 a.m., another tent featuring DJ’s and some sort of fenced off area for the silent party.
This year’s magenta-coloured sponsor spared no expense and brought a line-up of acts that which are playing most of this year’s European open air festivals, instead of getting acts which surprise us by still existing. However, sponsorships aren’t here to throw money away, they’re supposed to make money, either through annoying advertising at the festival, spamming the collective consciousness with the company name in the festival’s title, or selling tickets at exorbitant prices for non-students and everyone who wasn’t quick enough to get them while they were less exorbitant. I’m sure they’ll collect a fine commission on those darned food and drink vouchers which was the only way of buying anything on festival grounds, with insanely doubled prices on all types of food.
One of the good things about this year’s festival are somewhat reasonable dates. InMusic has a history of choosing the worst dates ever, somewhere between June and August, but this year they chose a state holiday, so at least one day almost everyone was free of work to attend.
But let’s move on to the acts, since they were the main reason for my attendance. I’ll put those into two groups, bands that made me go to the festival and those I just happened to see or hear.
Kraftwerk belongs to the latter category, although I found their performance unintentionally amusing when I realised that one could swap the band members for mannequins, play their mix-CD and nobody would be none the wiser. Perhaps I’m failing to grasp the point of their performance, but I generally like to see musicians put in a little more effort to entertain their audience. Four guys just standing around and pressing buttons just doesn’t cut it.
Traditionally, DJ’s usually put in more effort into their work than Kraftwerk does, but silent party DJ’s work seemed a little in vain, because at any given time, the three of them played for a handfull of people, fenced in some sort of a pen, with coloured LED’s sticking out of their headphones, informing other participants and innocent passers by on what the said person is listening to. And yes, it looked as stupid as it sounds.
Despite some minor technical difficulties, Yeah Yeah Yeahs managed to play an excellent set, made a lot of people happy, made a lot of people dance, and gave a treat for their truest fans (i.e. those prepared to be late for the Franz Ferdinand gig because of them) in the form of an acoustic performance of Maps and a power-packed encore. Karen O gave all she has got, including extravagant costumes and simulated microphone fellatio which completed the encore.
In the last three years which they spent honing their musical and concert skills, since their debut at InMusic 2006 in Zagreb, Franz Ferdinand fellas are slowly entering an experimental phase. The new album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand brings a heavy dose of dance rhythms into their live acts, pushing out some of the slower stuff they used to play from the second album. The upshot of this that there’s a lot more shaking of booty and audience participation by singing the la-la-la bits at their live gigs. They played for some 90 minutes, 15 minutes longer than they did last time around. Good job, see you when the next album is out.
I was looking forward to seeing Editors play live, inspired by a recording of a gig they did a few years back at Rock am Ring. Unfortunately, their second album happened in the meantime, as well as work on their third. In that time, Editors managed to become very, very depressive, so their brief and, I’m told very good, gig destroyed my will to live, as well as all interest in staying at the Jarun lake, suffering through the NERD gig and waiting for Moby. Day two of InMusic 2009 pretty much sucked from my point of view, but luckily Yeah Yeah Yeahs on Wednesday justified the ticket price.
And that is all I can report from this year’s InMusic. Better than last year, but leaves room for improvement, and that primarily depends on whom the organizers bag as their main sponsor.
Next stop: Rokajfest.
Open Air festivali 2009 – prvi dio
Još jedan [sponsorname]InMusic Festival je završen, četvrti po redu, i koliko god nas PR bagra uvjeravala, ovo nije bio četvrti timobajlinmjuzikfestival. Ali to su već pojedinosti.
Cijela se stvar odigrala 24. i 25. lipnja 2009. godine na Otoku mladosti u sklopu zagrebačkog Jaruna, s programom od 17h do ranih jutarnjih sati na tri pozornice i nekoliko šatora: glavnoj pozornici za headlinere, sporednoj pozornici za ostale izvođače, daleko izdvojenoj pozornici za metalce, šatoru za rock program iza 1h u noći, drugom šatoru s DJ programom, te nekom vrstom tora za silent party.
Ovogodišnji mađenta sponzor pošteno je odriješio kesu i doveo lajnap izvođača koje kradu drugim festivalima, a ne vade iz nekave naftalinske kutije. Ali, naravno, nisu sponzori tu da se razbacuju novcem, već da zarade na sponzorstvu, što kroz iritantne reklamne zone na festivalu, spamiranja kolektivne svijesti imenom firme u nazivu festivala i suludim cijenama ulaznica za nestudente i pospance, a vjerujem da će se dići i pristojna provizija na onim vražjim bonovima s kojim se hrana u krugu festivala kupovala po popularnim cijenama koje se dobivaju množenjem redovne cijene s 2 (35 kn za kebab ili 25 kn za sendvič čista je pljačka).
Jedna od stvari koju mogu istaknuti kao pozitivnu je nešto razumniji odabir datuma održavanja festivala. InMusic ima lošu povijest odabira termina funkcijom slučajnog odabira u vremenu od lipnja do kolovoza, ali ove su se godine dobro sjetili iskoristiti državni praznik i potencijalni produljeni vikend.
Ali prijeđimo mi na izvođače, onih nekoliko zbog kojih sam na kraju krajeva i išao na taj festival, te onih koje sam usput vidio i čuo.
U ovu drugu kategoriju spada Kraftwerk, nastup koji me iznimno zabavio kad sam zaključio da se četvorka s pozornice u sv0m ‘živom’ nastupu bez većeg gubitka kvalitete može zamijeniti lutkama iz izloga i CD-playerom. Možda ne razumijem tu vrstu umjetnosti, ali više volim vidjeti kada se izvođači malo više potrude kako bi zabavili svoju publiku. Ljudi koji stoje i nabadaju po sintiću ili kompu ne odgovaraju tom opisu.
DJ-evi se tradicionalno nešto više trude oko svoje publike, ali onima na silent partyju trud se doimao jalovim jer je u danome trenutku njih troje sviralo za šačicu publike odvojene u toru sa slušalicama na ušima i raznobojnim ledicama koje strše iz slušalica i informiraju ostale sudionike i prolaznike o tome što narečeni sudionik sluša. I da, glupo je izgledalo kao što i zvuči.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs su unatoč tehničkim poteškoćama uspješno odsvirali odličan set, razveselili i rasplesali popriličan broj ljudi, nagradili najvjernije (koji su bili zbog njih zakasniti na Franze) akustičnom verzijom Mapsa i energičnim bisom. Karen O dala je sve od sebe na koncertu, od neobičnog kostima do simulirane felacije mikrofona kojom je zaključila bis.
U posljednje tri godine turneja i usavršavanja koncertno-glazbeničkih vještina, odnosno od svog debija u Zagrebu na Inmusicu 2006., dečki iz Franza Ferdinanda lagano su ušli u svoju polueksperminentalnu fazu. Novi album nastupima donosi jaču dozu plesnih ritmova i istiskuje dio lakših stvari s drugoga albuma koje su svirali na prošloj turneji, tako da je ovoga puta bilo mnogo više drmuskanja i sudjelovanja publike u pjevušenju la-la-la dionica. Također, Franz Ferdinand uživo sada sviraju oko sat i pol, što će nekih petnaestak minuta duže nego što smo ih slušali prije tri godine. Izvrsna statistika, vidimo se kad izađe i sljedeći album.
Veselio sam se nastupu Editorsa, za što je bila kriva snimka njihovog nastupa od prije par godina na Rock am Ringu. Nažalost, u međuvremenu se dogodio njihov drugi album, a dogodio se i rad na trećem albumu. U tom vremenu, Editorsi su zagazili su područje teške depresive, tako da su mi svojim, kažu ljudi kvalitetnim, nastupom brzinski uspjeli ubiti volju za životom i bilo kakav elan ili interes da druge večeri festivala ostanem na Jarunu trpjeti NERD i čekati Mobyja. Drugi festivalski dan s moga je gledišta bio znatno lošiji i tješim se da su Yeah Yeah Yeahs u srijedu uspješno opravdali cijenu ulaznice.
I to je uglavnom sve što mogu izvijestiti o InMusicu 2009. Nešto bolje i sadržajnije od prošle godine, ali svakako ostavlja prostora za poboljšanje sljedeće godine, što će vjerojatno ovisiti o tome koga organizatori upecaju za glavnog pokrovitelja.
Sljedeća stanica: Rokajfest.
Rokaj fest 2008
We Rocked
This year’s Rokaj fest is over, so I’ll just give you my view of everything that went on between July 4 and July 6, 2008 on The Island of Youth at Jarun in Zagreb. This review is completely personalised and biased. Like everything else on this blog, this is just my view of things, and my opinion – regardless of how wrong it may be.
Since I went there in mixed company, I didn’t get to see everything I wanted, but I did see most of the acts I eagerly anticipated.
I was among two dozens of people in the audience when Stampedo was on, but Ivanka and the boys didn’t seem to care too much about that and did their thing just as they would in front of a much larger audience. Their 30-minute set included just one song off their new album, Špricer, while the rest of the set was filled up with their greatest hits (including Maslina and Dolje je bolje which they did with Mile & Putnici), and some of the funnier songs off their previous albums (my personal favourite Ti odlaziš u Kinu). And just like Ivanka jokingly announced, soon after they finished their gig, they joined the audience when Datsuns came on.
As far as The Datsuns are concerned, although they do their job well, I can’t shake the feeling that there is something missing. Based on those few singles that got stuck in my head (Harmonic Generator, Mother Fucker from Hell, Blacken My Thumb), I expected a more varied sound. What I got was an hour of the same sound and similar songs, even the live version of Harmonic Generator sounded a bit bland.
Bogart&Addictives, which I listened to while walking around the food area, waiting for goulash, were a pleasant surprise, but that’s what happens when you run into a good band out of the blue. In their short set, they had a few songs I instantly liked, so I hope to hear from them in the future.
And with those three concerts, my crew and I went back to the hotel, finishing day one of the festival. I didn’t feel like waiting for The Wire since that meant I’d have to suffer through the Bosnian version of Limp Bizkit (Trnokop), and Pips Chips and Videoclips have nothing interesting to offer since the nineties.
Unfortunately, I had to miss a huge part of the festival on Saturday – I was quite interested to hear Soprano, and I hear The Dwarves did a good job. I got to Jarun right in the middle of Urban’s concert, missing out on Astronaut. What I did hear was okay, a solid “B”, though it wouldn’t hurt Urban to bitch a little less about life, the universe and everything. The Lemonheads were excellent, as I expected – they did the whole It’s a Shame About Ray in little under 30 minutes (Dando did a few of the songs solo), and they filled up the rest of the gig with songs off their other albums, If I Could Talk was the encore. I the end I lost my voice and my breath, slightly drunk and drenched in sweat. Got a free hug from a guy who was giving them away. All in a day’s work.
Sunday was a bunch of hits and misses, when it comes to music. I was fashionably late for These New Puritans but with some running I did get to hear Elvis, the rest of the gig wasn’t that impressive – now I know why it was their breakaway single. They may be a bit too experimental, they rely on synthesizers a bit too much, the boys are playing while the girl on stage is playing Solitaire on her MacBook without showing any interest. For a band which is supposed to play music to dance to, they seem disoriented, rhythm-less. The armour made of metal and feathers Barnett wore looked like something Patrick Wolf would wear.
After that – The Fall. The band played well, but Mark E. Smith sang as he usually does, mumbling to himself and whining. I don’t really care how big their cult following is, how many years they’ve been together or how many albums they recorded – they would be great as an instrumental band, nobody would annoy the stage crew by kicking down mikes, mike stands, cymbals and other equipment on stage. Somebody at the festival summed it up well in a text message which was displayed on the screens next to the stage – “Enough of babbling, start singing”.
I regretted the desire to hear some singing later when Dead Elephant began their set, because I believe death metal vocals are a good in-joke, not something I would intentionally listen. So what if I’m a snob who doesn’t understand that kind of music and likes to hear when singers correctly articulate most of the words in the song.
The performance of Rambo Amadeus was solid, there was enough of humorous songs, and his jazz fusion musical background gives you something to dance to while Rambo does his monologues. Text messages on the screens by the stage were strong competition, granted, there were funny comebacks, comical adverts, friendly provocations and greetings to the gay population at the festival.
Finally, I’ll say a few words about the festival itself – this year’s Rokaj fest became a worthy competitor to INmusic Festival. Even though there aren’t as many performers, the line up is much better than that of INmusic, there are no overlaps of performers, no idiotic 90-minute breaks between acts on the main stage, no crowds in line for coupons, you can get gulash and beans for 15 kunas, no electronic music, you can bring your own food into the camp, you don’t have to think about how to get off work/school right in the middle of the week. On the other hand, there weren’t as many big names performing, but the price of the ticket makes up for that. If they keep up the ratio of domestic and international performers next year (especially if they get bigger and… well, younger performers), I believe that Rokaj fest might just top INmusic.
Rokasmo
Ovogodišnji Rokaj fest je završio, pa vam donosim i moj kratak osvrt na dio onoga što se događalo od 4. do 6. srpnja 2008. na Otoku mladosti na zagrebačkom Jarunu. Osvrt je potpuno neobjektivan i personaliziran. Kao i sve na ovom blogu, radi se čisto o mojem viđenju stvari i mojem mišljenju – ma koliko kontroverzno ili krivo bilo.
Uglavnom, kako sam išao s miješanim društvom, nisam baš pogledao sve što sam kanio, ali većinu stvari koje sam s nestrpljenjem iščekivao – jesam.
Bio sam među dvadesetak ljudi u publici na Stampedu, ali Ivanka i dečki su su svoj dio odradili jednako savjesno, kako bi, vjerujem, i pred većom publikom. U polusatnom setu bilo je mjesta za jednu pjesmu s novoga albuma, Špricer, dok su ostatak popunili najvećim hitovima (uključujući Miletovu Maslinu i Dolje je bolje), te zabavnijim pjesmama s prethodnih albuma (meni osobno vrlo draga Ti odlaziš u Kinu). I kao što je Ivanka u šali najavila, ubrzo nakon njihovog nastupa, na koncertu Datsunsa, pridružili su se publici.
Što se tiče Datsunsa, iako je dečki dobro rade to što rade, ne mogu se oteti osjećaju da mi u cijeloj priči nešto fali. Točnije, na temelju onih nekoliko singlova koji su mi s vremenom ostali u glavi (Harmonic Generator, Mother Fucker from Hell, Blacken My Thumb), očekivao sam raznovrsniji repertoar, a dobio sat vremena istog zvuka i sličnih pjesama – čak mi je i Harmonic Generator u live izvedbi djelovao pomalo blijedo.
Bogart&Addictives, koje sam slušao sam obilazeći “fud eriju” u iščekivanju gulaša, ugodno su me iznenadili, ali tako to obično biva kad iz čista mira naletite na dobar bend – u svom kratkom setu imali su nekoliko pjesama koje su mi se svidjele na prvo slušanje, pa se nadam da ću o njima još čuti u budućnosti.
I s ta tri koncerta, lagano sam se pokupio s ekipom i zaključio prvi festivalski dan. Wire mi se nije dalo čekati zbog bosanskog limpbizkita (Trnokop), a Pipsi mi već desetak godina nemaju ponuditi bogznašto.
Na moju veliku žalost, u subotu sam promašio dobar dio programa – Soprano me posebno zanimao, a čujem i da su Dwarvesi bili dobri. Dovukao sam se do Jaruna tek u pola Urbana, propustivši Astronauta. Ono što sam vidio i čuo bilo je dobro – solidna četvorka, iako je Urban mogao i manje jamrati između pjesama i objašnjavati svoj pogled na život, svemir i svašta. Lemonheadsi su bili očekivano dobri, brzinski u pola sata izveli cijeli It’s a Shame About Ray (nekoliko pjesama i u Dandovoj solo izvedbi), ostatak popunjen stvarima s drugih albuma, If I Could Talk za bis. Na kraju ostao bez glasa i daha, nazujan, mokar do gole kože. Takav dobio free hug od jednog dečka koji ih je dijelio. Sve u rok službe.
Nedjelja je pak bila dan pogodaka i promašaja, što se tiče glazbe. Na These New Puritans naravno zakasnio, uz dosta trčanja stigao sam ipak odslušati Elvisa, ostalo me se nije previše dojmilo – jasno je zašto su baš tu pjesmu izabrali za single. Možda malo previše eksperimentalni, prelako se oslanjaju na sintiće, dečki sviraju dok cura u pozadini nezainteresirano igra Solitaire na MacBooku. Za bend koji pretendira na plesnu glazbu, doimaju se dezorijentirano, bez ritma, a pernato-metalni oklop koji je Barnett nosio nešto je što bi Patrick Wolf odjenuo.
Nakon njih – The Fall. Bend je dobro svirao, a Mark E. Smith navodno uobičajeno pjevao, odnosno mrmljao sebi u bradu i zavijao. Ne zanima me koliki kultni status imaju, koliko godina rade ili koliko albuma iza sebe imaju – kao instrumentalni bend bili bi odlični i nitko ne bi živcirao tonce konstantnim namjernim rušenjem mikrofona, stalaka za mikrofone, činela i ostale opreme na pozornici. Netko od posjetitelja sažeo je cijelu situaciju u SMS poruci koja se zavrtjela na platnima uz stage – “Dosta kreveljenja, ajmo sad pjevat”.
Želju da pjevač konačno nešto propjeva požalio sam kasnije i na krepanom slonu jer death metal vokale smatram dobro internom šalom, ali ne i nečime što bih išao s namjerom slušati. Pa neka sam snob koji ne razumije takvu glazbu i voli kada pjevači ispravno artikuliraju većinu glasova u tekstu pjesme.
Performans Ramba Amadeusa bio je solidan, bilo je dovoljno humornih i društveno osvještenih stvari, a uz jazz fusion podloge stvari može se dobro i drmuskati u ritmu dok Rambo odrađuje svoje monologe. Jedino su mu SMS poruke posjetitelja na ekranima bile snažna konkurencija, jer je bilo duhovitih dobacivanja, još zabavnijih oglasa, prijateljskih podjebavanja, servisnih informacija i toplih pozdrava gej populaciji na festivalu.
Na kraju ću se osvrnuti na sam festival – ovogodišnji Rokaj fest ozbiljan je konkurent INmusicu. Iako je po broju izvođača manji festival, raspored izvođača po pozornicama i danima znatno je logičniji od INmusicova, nema nepotrebnog preklapanja izvođača, nema idiotskih pauza od sat i pol na glavnoj pozornici, nema gužve za kupovinu bonova, ima graha i gulaša za 15 kn, nema šatora s elektronikom, ima unošenja hrane i pića u kamp, nema razbijanja glave oko toga kako uzeti tri slobodna dana usred tjedna za vrijeme školske godine i pred ispite na faksu. S druge strane, nema velikih imena, ali zbog toga je cijena ulaznice i više no povoljna. Ukoliko se ovakav omjer domaćih i stranih izvođača (posebno stranih i aktualnijih) nastavi i nagodinu, vjerujem da bi Rokajfest mogao nadmašiti i INmusic.
Pripreme za Rokaj Fest
U ovome članku – priprema za Rokaj Fest. Nekolicina spotova izvođača koje vrijedi pogledati na ovogodišnjem izdanju festivala, koji je (vjerojatno lukrativnim) sponzorstvom mobilnog operatera i pozivanjem stranih izvođača postao mnogo pristupačniji.
The Lemonhead su američki alt-rock bend, koji je osnovao pjevač/gitarist Evan Dando. Proslavili su se svojim albumom It’s a Shame About Ray iz 1992., ponajviše obradom pjesme “Mrs. Robinson” Simona & Garfunkela. Prozvani jednom od najvažnijih alt-rock skupina svoga vremena, bend je aktivno radio do 1997., kada su uzeli “godišnji”. 2005., nakon nekoliko solo albuma, Dando je ponovno okupio Lemonheadse, a prije par mjeseci ponovno su objavili prošireno izdanje “It’s a Shame About Ray”, kojega su na Rokajfestu najavili izvesti u cijelosti. A Dando je i dan danas jedno nadasve simpatično grungeoliko stvorenje koje se 1993. nije libilo dohvatiti gej tematike i napraviti prekrasnu stvar Big Gay Heart.
The Datsuns su rokerska četvorka s Novog Zelanda, koja se proslavila s nekoliko pjesama skinutih s eponimnog albuma, poput “In Love” ili “Mother Fucker from Hell”. U međuvremenu su izdali dva albuma, upravo su dovršili snimanje i četvrtoga, najavljenog za rujan, a na nastupima po Europi u zadnjih nekoliko mjeseci izvode i nove stvari.
Od ostalih izvođača, ponajviše me zanimaju These New Puritans i Stampedo. Što mogu, obožavam britanske bendove i Ivanku Mazurkijević.
In this post – I’m getting ready to go go Rokaj fest, a three day open air festival in Zagreb. We’ll just look at a few music videos of performers which are worth seeing at this year’s event. Rokaj fest itself became a lot more interesting this year, due to the fact that they’ve started inviting international acts and got a strong financial backing from Tele2, the mobile phone operator.
The Lemonhead are an American alternative rock band, founded by the singer/guitar player Evan Dando. They rose to fame with their 1992 album It’s a Shame About Ray, most prominently with the cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson”. They were named one of the most important alternative rock bands of their time, the band worked together until 1997, when they went on a “break”. In 2005, after a few solo albums, Dando got Lemmonheads back together, and a few months ago they re-released “It’s a Shame About Ray”, which they intend to play in its entirety at Rokaj fest. And Dando is still a very lovely grungelike creature who had no problem tackling gay issues in 1993, when he wrote the wonderful Big Gay Heart.
The Datsuns are a rocking foursome from New Zeland, which became famous with a couple of songs from their eponymous album, like “In Love” or “Mother Fucker from Hell”. In the meantime, they’ve published two more albums, they have just finished recording their number four, which is scheduled to be released in September. For the last several months, they have been touring Europe and showcasing their new stuff.
I’m also pretty interested in These New Puritans and Stampedo. What can I do, I’m a huge fan of Brits and Ivanka Mazurkijević.
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