COLD SNAP saved the day!
This year’s adition of Rock in Marof presented:
ATHEIST RAP (NS, punk)
BEDNJA (Vž/NM, metal/hc)
COLD SNAP (Vž/Ri/Zg, metal)
CORPSE GRINDER (Vž, metal)
DEAFNESS BY NOISE (Zg, hc)
DEBELI PRECJEDNIK (Os/VBK, punk)
DRONE HUNTER (Vž, stoner)
KRANKŠVESTER (Os/Zg, hip hop)
LET 3 (RI, rock)
ŠIZA (Kc, punk rock)
The festival was held 25 years after the first edition of the festival and came at the exact perfect timing as corona testing and vaccination procedures enabled the festival to be held in a not-so-perverse manner (people stranded, jumped and danced in the audience without forced sitting arrangements). This moving closer to normality was just the thing most of us needed in order to feel sane and satisfied once again. Overall positivity could be easily felt, as everyone were in a good mood and very approachable and talkative, so I was actually a bit surprised as the hospitality and a very welcoming attitude made us feel like we were home.
It has been great to finally whitens a festival which wasn’t held in Zagreb and which truly offers the atmosphere of a real open air festival, especially taking into consideration that we had to go for a road trip in order to arrive and that the festival venue was filled with many friendly and cheerful faces, among which even some old and dear friends we haven’t see for too long.
BEDNJA and CORPSE GRINDER both gave excellent performances and I must admit that I was mostly interested in seeing those specific bands live as I didn’t know what to expect in their live performance, which wasn’t the fact for other performers. Corpse Grinder showed great musical performance skills and a potential for further growth. Bednja fulfilled the expectation and hope that we will experience a great Black Metal show. Their song „Posljednji Krik“ is mesmerizing and hypnotically beautiful and the band definitely will stay on our list of „priority follow and must see again“ bands.
DEAFNEES BY NOISE are well known veterans at the scene with 30 years of a career behind them, which was filled with many recognitions from awards, successful albums to highly successful tours. It was a shame that the band played so early on, at time at which the venue wasn’t fully packed so we couldn’t say that the audience engaged into creating the atmosphere we were used to, but that fact hasn’t diminished the great performance of the band.
DEBELI PRECJEDNIK were a refreshment as they gave an energetic performance of uplifting HC punk and I could hardly believe that the band exists for 28 years during which they had a successful career filled with concerts all over EU, including the ones with other well established HC and punk bands. Of course, the absolute highlight of the concert was the performance of the song “Moja su koljena umorna od moljenja” during which the whole audience was engaged.
Finally, we can safely say that definitely COLD SNAP saved the day! They were the main stars and have dominated the stage in a way that no bystander could be left untouched. I’m certain that the band made new fans this evening as the audience was partially filled with youth, which was great as the venue of the concert was far from the capital and doesn’t have a great transport options at night for those who are not car owners and use public transport only. Central part of the concert included two excellent songs “Black Diamond” and “Serenity” which were the highlights of the evening followed by the magnificent “Distance”. The band showed maturity, excellent musical performance skills but also stage charisma which successfully fired up the atmosphere to the boil making their concert the strongest highlight of the entire evening. Cold snap has potential for even greater international recognition and we sincerely hope that will happen as soon as possible.
The hardest task in journalism sometimes is keeping an unbiased objective view when analyzing aspects of life that are usually filled with emotional tension. Some bands put us in a position in which we either love or hate them. And that is OK and purely human. Our objectiveness can also be influenced by many other factors, apart from prejudice that we have towards specific genres or bands. And that is the beauty of music: it can surprise us or make us sad if our expectation were not met (very much like life in general), but more importantly: it can make us fall in love with a new band even at times when we though falling in love once again is not an option any more.
Bearing all that in mind, I don’t have an overwhelmingly excited report after the LET 3 concert, as I saw them live not so long ago (at one of the first post-corona festivals this spring) so that fact strongly influenced my view of the concert. We haven’t seen anything new or exciting that would make this concert stand out from those Let 3 have been giving for several years now. I do love the band and have seen them live countless time up to now, but I was in a mood for something different. But of course, it wasn’t the full concert of the band, but a shorter set list the band performs during festivals. Taking that into consideration, the band played all the hits the audience was desperate to hear and hardly anyone could feel disappointed. The usual highlights of the concert were “Izgubljeni” and “Riječke pičke” at which the atmosphere in the audience was finally exactly right- in a way that we were used to in “before corona” times. That was a real thrill and refreshment: to see the audience fired up and not confined into strict distancing rules. Although, it must be stated that all precautions regarding preventive measures were obliged, as having the whole audience tested or confirmed carriers of Corona- passports is finally proven to be an effective measure toward our return to normality. The performance of the band was professional and in accordance to expectations, but we couldn’t escape the feeling of déjà vu and strongly hope that Let 3 will surprise us with new songs in the following period, as we desperately need to see something new.
Krankšvester were the last band to perform and conclude the evening although I’m not exactly sure how that specific band is in line with the genres of the bands that performed this evening. Their performance certainly was fun and uplifting, but the majority in the audience primarily came to see the other bands so the band was put in a position at which part of the audience simply left and didn’t event gave a band a chance.
