An afternoon

of music 

and games in Golborne Road

Ment festival - day 1

I often get lost composing my blog after I attended a concert or even festival with more bands. At the beginning I  really tried to stick to my original (as in first, not as in never ever seen before) idea that I will post a single photo every day, but through time the blog sort of evolved (yes, I am an evolutionist by nature) or at least changed if not evolved, as I might discover sometime in the future that the new path is merely a cul-de-sac (and, no it hasn't proven to be one yet, and I guess that if it does I am most likely to take a few steps back and find another path down another cul-de-sac, for that's just how life seems to be, a series of dead ends - just like this overly long sentence and blog post in general)...
Anyway, not to get too much into all this, here are photos from first day of the festival (but just one from each band, the rest you can find elsewhere). This first one is from Leyya, which I am sure I would enjoy if I was in a slightly different mood, but here I was all excited about the three day festival and all the new bands that I will see I almost forgot about all the love woes that constantly chase me.. But I will remember to listen to them as soon as the festival is over and I will fall back into my normal life....

Leyya was followed by an unplugged version of Noctiferia (is that even possible? A metal band unplugged? - It turns out it is).

And they were followed by Nina Bulatovix, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not find Nina anywhere... so here is the drummer of the band.

And Repetitor were back, but I  seem to see them on a rather regular basis anyway. Still haven't got bored with them and they were my favourite band of the evening (but I think I was kind of expecting that in advance, which is not really fair on all the other bands. But I tried to listen to all of them without prejudice)

The evening was brought to the end by ABOP, but I was a bit tired by now (some of us actually have to work in the morning), so maybe my heart was not all in it by this stage.

My first time ever

in Laško. The beer (and flowers) festival started off with Natalie's press conference

and carried on with a series of concerts all across town:

Some sort of a local brass band, whose name was better suited for the festival (beer and čevapi), but which was surely better than any meat dish they might have named themselves after (their name seemed to be something they came up with at the last minute when they were told they could have a concert)

A peculiar Russian band (Russkaja), who played an eclectic combination of styles but were especially good at communicating with the public (and really did get them running around in circles).

The swingers Moonlighting Orchestra modeled themselves a bit on the Andrews Sisters and had a following of dancers in the crowd

The French brass band Attentat Fanfare are yet another (in the long line of) French party bands that pass on their great vibe onto the audience...

and they were followed by the unannounced surprise (as it was a surprise, it would be more surprising if it came announced) of Katrina walking on sunshine together with the Moonlighting orchestra (I guess the moon and sun had to be put on the same stage somehow)

  Mi2 seemed to have the  most enthusiastic fans of the evening

Haven't seen them in a while (Šukar)

And the first day ended just like it started - with Natalie, only that she was singing on stage now

 (oh yes, I might have had a little crush on her when I saw and heard Torn for the first time - way back in the 90s)
And yes, if you remember at the very beginning of this extraordinarily long post I mentioned that it was my first time (in Laško and at this festival). Of course I parked in the very centre of the town, at the very spot that turned out to be the where the biggest parties were going on, which meant that there was no way I could get out until we got escorted out by a security van at about 3.30 in the morning (guess who parked outside the town centre the next day?)

It must be really hard

to be an opening act at a festival (big or small)...

 but at least it gives  you the opportunity to flirt with the photographer a bit.
Things heated up by the time this band got on stage and there were a few who had drunk a bit too much cough syrup by this stage of the evening...

Moveknowledgement were my favourites of the evening

While my least favourite part was when a car parked next to the one I had been (uncomfortably) sleeping in for three or four hours, opened all the doors, blasted the music at full volume and started dancing (I haven't got any photos of this, as I was way to sleepy and grumpy at the time - does this mean I am getting old?)
 

I've been to the sea

a lot over the past three weeks. And as it was the post-season sea, it was great (or might one say awesome?). But what I really, really missed was a bit of live music, a play, a performance and maybe an exhibition or two (non-existent or extremely hard to find in a small post season tourist town, that seems to be closing down for the winter)... So whenever I came back to Ljubljana during these three weeks I needed to make up for le temps perdu.

Yesterday I decided to go and listen to Tal Kesari, a young Israeli musician from Tel Aviv. Really enjoyed the concert in the subtle and intimate settings, but during the concert I once again realised (really, realised once again?) how much I need to understand the lyrics. And I didn't. Which was a great shame because the slightly melancholic sounds of the songs made me think I would truly enjoy them (the lyrics I mean, I enjoyed the songs anyway).
Once the concert ended I was left there, wanting more. More live music. So I trotted down to Celica, where QuatroPorTango were playing.

 And they have sure improved in leaps and bounds since the first time I saw them in KUD in June 2009 (and then again in August of the same year). So thumbs up to you guys! But even after the second concert of the night, I felt I needed more (even though I was sleepy and a part of me (the battered and weary body part) was making some muffled noises that sounded exceptionally like - I want to go home. I managed to ignore these voices and pretend I never heard them), so once more I trotted onwards. This time to Prulček for a bit of good ol' fashioned jamming.

After this and a beer I finally felt I had enough and could go home to bed and bid all my bedbugs (which will bite me) goodnight and wait for the morning to come.

43 years

of Radio Student with countless bands. I hope my 43rd will be such a party.

Slovenian music week

For some strange reason a week never actually lasts 7 days in this country. The fashion week lasted 2 days, the music week lasts 5 days and surprise, surprise all employers demand that the working week should last a minimum of 12 days.