Ljubljana Welcomes LAIBACH

Laibach @ Viba Film Studio, Ljubljana, 14.11.2003

by Zlato Krec

This concert should have taken place on 18th of October 2003 already, but it was shifted to a later date. I can only guess the reason, and my guess is that this gave Laibach some time to rest after the tiring West European tour. Especially, it gave some time to our big brother Milan to rest his vocal chords.

After a long time, this Laibach concert was promoted again by the most notorious and legendary Slovenian promoter Igor Vidmar of R.O.P.O.T., who happens to be at the same time Laibach's first and greatest ever advocate. As Laibach is known for exploring unusual venues in Slovenia, it didn't come as a surprise that the concert took place in Viba Film Studios in Ljubljana. It was for the first time that this venue was used for any concert. The concert was recorded by TV Slovenia as the recording conditions were excellent indeed. The great hall of Viba Film was comfortably packed with some 1300 souls. The concert was sold out.

It's unusual that Laibach would have an opening act before their concert. Usually, they would take care of that themselves with their unique way of setting the proper atmosphere. That's why it came as a surprise to many when Miss Kittin was announced as the opening act. Miss Kittin is the diva of Berlin's electro scene, but she can't (or even better, she doesn't want to) hide her French origin. She slowly built her half an hour long DJ set with electro and techno rhythms, skillfully mixing them with her voice and words. Her set was absolutely sweet, charming, seductive and naughty. She concluded it with very naughty words like: "You can suck my dick, and I will lick your ass". When she finished, someone shouted in: "And now I want to fuck you". Everybody laughed to this addition to her set, but she smiled sweetly saying gently: "Thank you".

Only after Miss Kittin left the stage, the usual Laibach introduction to their set started. As on the whole past European tour, there was again the ticking of time backed by Johann Strauss waltzes. But this time, time was ticking faster than usual. It sounded even like the trotting of a span of horses. For those who like the meaning behind: Slovenians were often teased by their southern "brothers" to be nothing but the horsemen of Vienna's rulers.

In this kind of cool atmosphere Laibach walked on stage one by one just some ten minutes after Miss Kittin left. They reaped a huronic welcome immediately at the first tones of B Mashina. And so it continued all the way by each performed song. The set list didn't bring any surprises to what was heard on the recent European tour. What was different was the extremely good sound due to the studio acoustics. Further, Milan's recovered voice was noticeable. The guitar was more vivid than ever. The past tour did well to Matej especially. He seemed to diabolically enjoy the psychedelic screams of his guitar. Jimi and Roger came often to my mind. The same goes for the performance of the chessboard player Dejan. With his long hair, he reminded of Beethoven. He raved as wild as Animal from the Muppet Show. Both ladies were again great. Hellga was as cold as ever, a tower of strength carved of ice, while Heidi was angry and furious more than ever. When Laibach came back for the encore they both came back with loosened braids. They banged the drums with bestial power, while Dejan changed his chessboard into an imaginary Theremin. After Sympathy For The Devil Laibach encouraged the excited audience to clap with Laibach. After they all marched off the stage, only Dejan remained. He was still behind his chessboard as if it was him, DJ Transformator, playing the Wir Tanzen Ado Hinkel remix. Soon after he left the stage too, but on his way he did the final inspection of the audience.

The audience was much less seeded with gothics, punks, and all kind of hardcore alternatives than I have seen in Krefeld and Tilburg. It seemed pretty much mainstream. Younger audience prevailed, though a lot of older fans could be noticed too. All in all it was a brilliant gig in sound, vision, and audience: a top notch Laibach performance.

Gruess aus Ljubljana