PEVAM U INAT!
Yard of the Kayak Canoe Club, Savska 193, Zagreb
Lineup:
02.09.2021.
Mašinko
Muscle Tribe of Danger and Excellence
Daliborovo Granje
Šiza
Delapse
—————-
03.09. 2021.
Six Pack
One Step Away
Mark Mrakovčić
Domagoj Šimek
Zimizelen
—————
Subota, 04.09. 2021.
Debeli Precjednik
She Loves Pablo
Them Moose Rush
Malady Lane
Como Bluff
Bambi is an open air festival of family bands of the Label Dostava Zvuka.
The festival was held with multiple obstacles, ranging from:
- necessity of entry only with COVID passes (the testing wasn’t cheep so possible audience may have decided not to participate in the festival, but rather listen to the bands from the outside. I really hope that national measures in the future will cover some of the expenses for testing for participants of concerts in order to enable event sector to recover.)
- complaints from citizens about the noise (which led to changes in the schedule and earlier start of the festival)
- simultaneous holding of another music festival: Zagreb Beer Festival which had free entry (that venue was completely filled and I was saddened to see that the venue of Bambi was more than half empty at the beginning of the second day)
- due to administrative problems, organizers were not able to offer drinks at the bar from the second day forward (but visitors have been allowed to bring their own drinks to the venue).
After stating all the negative at the start, the conclusion is that none of the above mentioned didn’t ruin the experience of finally attending the festival that matches our wishes band wise. I only hope that the organizers are satisfied with the income from the event as I was really sadden by the fact that the bar was closed, but it had the effect that the festival of family bands from one label turned into: a family festival with incredible welcoming and friendly atmosphere. It become even more punk when everyone were drinking the booze bought in the nearby store and the only part that was missing was the fact that the boozes didn’t need to be smuggled into the venue to make us feel like attending the concert exactly like in the good old days when we all were a lot younger, a lot more broke and a hell of a lot more carefree and happier. But I must admit, that seeing all those bands made me completely forget the fact that I’m actually a lot older now and most certainly made me completely carefree and the happiest I could be, even if it lasted only for few nights.
Everyone could find something that fits their own musical taste and mood, but for me personally, the absolute best performance was given by SIX PACK, a Serbian punk punk rock band from the heart of Serbia: Smederevska Palanka. I always try to be objective and respect all other genres and bands, but Six Pack really stood out significantly. The charisma of the lead vocalist was contagious and the energy and zest of the whole band created an enormously explosive feedback from the fired up audience. The band was formed in early 1993 and got the name by the Black Flag song of the same name. Their albums are filled with songs that are not only were contagious and catchy, they are also highly relatable as the texts and their interpretation leads us but to the happiest memories of growing up and struggling with multiple obstacles in which the music was the main source of strength and the main mood modifier. They also remain relatable to this day as lyrics, explosive rythm and socialy engaged and emotional themes regurarly hit the spot and fire up sing-along crowd. Their masterpiece “Fabrička greška” was the central part of the concert and the point when all climaxed and left no one in the audience untouched. It could be felt that the band had left their soul on the stage, as we were expecting from their emotionally packed songs out out of which some are truly soulwreckingly beautiful. I will not name them one by one as majority of you already know your favourite ones. By the way, the band’s second album, “Fabrička greška” includes a cover version of the Culture Club song “Karma Chameleon” and the song “Crveni makovi” featured the lyrics of an anti-fascist song written by Nikola Hercigonja, which showed their playful character and brought even more attention to the band. The band has the greatest potential for further success, as for instance the band performed in front of the audience of about five thousand people on a concert in Zagreb in 2004 and certainly can do better and more than that. Six Pack were the only band on this festival that left me with the impression that I hope I will see them live once again as soon as possible. The other band were also good, but Six Pack has the energy, band member engagement, charisma and songs that have the power and potential into creating instant fans out of those that only recently have been introduced to the band. By the way, it always makes me so happy to see very young punkers and it always makes me think: “You see!!! Punks not dead and will never die!!”
MAŠINKO performed on the first day and definitely held a very good concert but sadly, the venue wasn’t packed due to some of the reasons mentioned above. To bad that the festival wasn’t held earlier this year, when the festivals first started after the Covid pandemic pause. I believe that would result in a much larger audience as this spring some festivals were held without the obligatory costly testing (young audience are not prepared to pay for the ticket and testing also) and everyone were absolutely thirsty for concerts and majority would gladly go to any concert, regardless if they are a fan of a band or not. But all of the mentioned didn’t ruin the atmosphere as Mašinko were bursting with energy and the audience was engaged and the experience of seeing them live promised a very good time on this festival.
ONE STEP AWAY is a punk bend with members from Varaždin and Koprivnica area which had a very energetic and fun packed performance which was expected from their opus. They performed on the second day in a very good timing (only two bands to perform after them) so the venue was decently filled and the audience was at the peak of fell good atmosphere which was enhanced by optimistic and energy packed hits from the band.
DEBELI PRECJEDNIK performed the last day and gave an excellent performance. Their masterful hit song “My knees are tired of praying”/”Moja su koljena umorna od moljenja” as the absolute best part of the whole festival. It engaged the whole audience to engage, sing and dance. I was thrilled to see them again, after seeing them live earlier this year at Rock in Marof but was a bit more excited to see the other band I didn’t have a chance to see live for a long time.
She Loves Pablo is a Groove Rock with bits and pieces of many other genres such as Stoner Metal grove and other. Band comes from Zagreb, Croatia and was formed in 2005. Their latest album had a very good feedback but unfortunately the band was stopped from promoting it even further due to Corona lockdown and cancelation of all concerts. The band gave a very good performance and I was a bit surprised to see that the band has a very large fan base and so many followers.
Of course, the festival successfully presented many other artists which could suit everyone’s taste and some of them were a real treat to those that are into discovering promising artists. Overall experience of the festival was very good and hopefully it will turn into an annual event as Zagreb was in desperate need for a high quality open air festival during the summer. Zagreb was actually the best festival held in Zagreb this year, as many other festivals that were held didn’t offer anything new in terms of the band we didn’t see for a long time or was longing to see for even longer time. Good luck to Sound delivery in their future endeavours.
