My concert experience: Madonna

I can't believe it took me that much time to gather my thoughts and give a full review on probably the best concert I have ever been! I guess I am going to be a bit too biased having in mind my affection towards Madonna and her music, which in no way makes me blind for the rather blunt and lacking originality Sticky & Sweet Tour. After the completion of the tour Madonna announced a total gross revenue of over $400 million, making it the second highest grossing tour in the history of music (topped only by A Bigger Bang Tour by The Rolling Stones).


With 85 gigs in two consecutive years Sticky & Sweet is Madonna's most extensive tour, which was highlighted by concerts in countries Madge visited for the very first time like Bulgaria, Romania, Finland and Sweden. According to Billboard Boxscore the tour was seen by over 3,5 million people in 30 countries. In Bulgaria alone the concert was attended by roughly 55,000 people putting it in the top 3 most successful concerts in the country.
According to Billboard Boxscore Madonna put almost $5 million in her pocket, which to me is quite a surprise knowing that we had the cheapest tickets. I guess we were really very enthusiastic as the price of 100 euros per Golden Circle ticket (average salary is around 250-300 euros) turned to be absolutely no obstacle for fans.

Luckily Madonna is still among the most popular musicians in Bulgaria, a fact that secured a full stadium and a passionate audience (to some extent). A few enthusiasts started gathering in front of Vasil Levski Stadium the day before, but the real hysteria was the very day when nationalities mixed and you could easily hear broken English flowing in the air. Although I consider myself a Madonna fan I decided to skip the part with spending my whole day under the blazing sun and went just half an hour before the doors were opened. Despite my fan-laziness I ended up a couple of rows from the stage. As a friend of mine said "If I knew we were going to be really that close, I'd have given my whole salary if it were necessary." Agree!

The support act was Paul Oakenfold, although if it were up to me I'd have kept Robyn for the second leg of the tour too. Anyways, I guess he was chosen as producing Madonna's latest hit single "Celebration" taken out from the eponymous Best Hits collection (released September 2009). Bulgarian media spent quite the time and efforts to report on the preparations for the concert: building of the stage, arrival of construction workers and crew, management of the event and highlighting fans' expectations. After all Madonna's concert was and still is one of the biggest events for 2009, despite all the baseless criticism Madge garnered.

At 10 pm what I have been waiting for over a decade came true: Madonna live in concert! Until the very last seconds, even when the opening tune began I still doubted that she is ever going to come on stage. But she did! Alright, I have to admit that I took me some 20 minutes to realize it. It may sound silly to you, but sometimes you just feel as if this person is a double and real Madonna is somewhere in The States having Margarita's and enjoying the company of her new criminally young boy-toy. But it was Madonna in flesh, just a few meters away from me and she looked so different from all the photos, videos, concerts and fan stuff I have ever seen. Probably, cause she was there just for me (OK, and the other 54,999 people) and I could see her face, the wrinkles, her flaming eyes and athletic body. I dare say she's beautiful in her unique way and has this charisma that I had only heard of.

Although I am really fond of Madonna and all she has done I cannot hide the fact that to me "Hard Candy" is a pile of crap, probably her weakest album for the last 20 years. Poor promotion, hideous style, boring photo shoots and tasteless songs with absolutely no message. Still, faith is cruel and it had me watch this very tour, I guess it was a punishment for dissing this album. "Candy Shop" was the first slap in my face, followed by "Beat Goes On". Luckily Madonna's career extend in almost three decades, hence the setlist diversity. Let's say that some of the Sticky & Sweet song arrangements made my ears bleed (check "Music" and "La Isla Bonita"). I wonder if Madonna feels insecure about some of her best known songs, as my mind still can't bear the fact that she chose "Rain" and "Die Another Day" to be backdrops (concert interludes), but gave a free spot to such a ridiculous song as "Dress You Up". It should go without mentioning that the audience kept absolutely silent during this very performance.

My personal favourite performance would be of "Miles Away". There was just this unique connection that made me feel everywhere and nowhere just gazing in Madonna's eyes. Another amazing moment was "You Must Love Me" when people around me started shouting out loud "We love you". I guess the whole we-love-you-hysteria startled her and for a dew seconds she was just smiling with her eyes supposedly filling up with tears. Of course, Madonna is such a stage-expert that you could never tell whether her reactions are genuine...how ironic.

The audience blasted out at "Like A Prayer" and to some extent at "Vogue", clearly being her best known songs in Bulgaria. I cannot be very judgmental about the audience as I was in a sea of fans and I had the impression that everyone was having a great time. In reality lots of people were there just to see Madonna, but didn't show any enthusiasm and many spent the whole concert drinking beer and discussing personal problems. According to some spectators the whole concert was on a playback, but being a few meters away from Madonna I can assure you that for most of the time she sang live. Whoever doesn't like her singing can take a flight to Mariah Carey's nearest concert and spend two hours listening to impossible octaves.

I can keep on going telling more and more about my concert experience, but some emotions can never take the form of words. Sadly, the concert came to an end in no time and we had to say Goodbye. Of course, until next time!

Sticky & Sweet Tour: Part 2 - setlist and first live videos

Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour: Part 2 officially hit the road, starting from O2 Arena in London, and revealing the long anticipated setlist, as well as concert changes. With a few wardrobe retouches, new song arrangements and different backdrops, it seems that the Bitch of Pop music will kindly stick to her original Sticky & Sweet concept, which might come as a disappointment to those who have already watched the first part. Nevertheless, she is in great shape, keeping up strong and highly professional. An addition to be noted is the inclusion of the Michael Jackson element that came at the very last moment in accordance to his still-to-be-cleared death. The setlist is a bit of a mess and to be honest I am not impressed. I knew that she was going to concentrate on the "Hard Candy" material, but this whole bunch of rearrangements and sampling is slowly going on my nerves. Another thing is the absolute exclusion of "Confessions On The Dance Floor", which, let's face it, brought her back to stardom after the doubtful success of "American Life". Anyways, more to come from the Bitch and be ready to get all sticky and sweet this summer!

# "The Sweet Machine" (Video Introduction) (contains elements from "Manipulated Living", "4 Minutes", "Human Nature" and "Give It 2 Me")
# "Candy Shop"
# "Beat Goes On"
# "Human Nature" (contains excerpts from "Gimme More")
# "Vogue" (contains elements of "4 Minutes" and "Give It To Me")
# "Die Another Day" (Remix) (Video Interlude)
# "Into the Groove" (contains elements of "Toop Toop", "Body Work", "Jump", "Apache" and "Double Dutch Bus")
# "Holiday" (contains elements of "Billie Jean" with excerpts from "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'")
# "Dress You Up" (contains elements of "My Sharona")
# "She's Not Me"
# "Music" (contains elements of "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit", with excerpts from "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life")
# "Rain" (Remix) (Video Interlude) (contains elements of "Here Comes the Rain Again")
# "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You"
# "Spanish Lesson"
# "Miles Away"
# "La Isla Bonita" (contains excerpts from "Lela Pala Tute")
# "Doli Doli" (Kolpakov Trio solo) (Dance Interlude)
# "You Must Love Me"
# "Get Stupid" (Video Interlude) (contains excerpts from "Beat Goes On", "Give It 2 Me", "4 Minutes" and "Voices")
# "4 Minutes"
# "Like a Prayer" (contains elements of "Feels Like Home")
# "Frozen" (contains elements of "I'm Not Alone" with excerpts from "Open Your Heart")
# "Ray of Light"
# "Give It 2 Me" (contains elements of "Fired Up!" (Club 69 Mix))

Spoiler alert! Do not watch the videos, if you want to be entirely surprised!

My concert experience: Limp Bizkit

I saw Limp Bizkit live. I didn't actually intend to do that, but it did happen and I am not sorry about it. Alright, I should go back in time further when I still kind of liked Limp Bizkit and the music alike, although I have never been a fan of Fred Durst and co., but liked several of their hits when they were still big. Years past, their fame faded away and I moved on, becoming one of the many who liked this band just cause it was hype. The moment the concert was announced only for a few seconds the idea of going to the concert ran through my mind. Limp Bizkit were brought to my attention no sooner than the day of their concert in Sofia when I received an unexpected invitation to attend the concert...for free. Here is the right moment to thank my friend Olia, who made this experience possible! I will skip the details about the tickets and move the action straight to the concert itself.

Limp Bizkit's performance was part of the first edition of the Rock the Balkans festival that was supposed to be a 3-day rock event. The whole idea was scrapped as soon as Biohazard had to postpone their gig, and probably due to poor sales and the bad weather in addition the festival was held in a single evening. These changes caused chaos, brought too different genres on the same stage one after the other and pissed off most of the attendees. Frankly said if it weren't for the free ticket I would have never given out money for something that had no actual concept and relied entirely on the main attraction.

My friend Olia and I got there just for the Turkish neo-metal band maNga, which were my personal surprise. The play an intriguing combination of crossover, electronica and Anatolian tunes, and sing exclusively in Turkish. I guess, the fact that they sung in a language different than English didn't trigger the chemistry between the band and the audience, which was slowly growing bigger. maNga was the only band to actually adequately clicked with the sound of Limp Bizkit, something that didn't happen with the rest of the acts.

The Turks were followed by the Canadian heavy metal quintet Saga. This band was a few minutes away from making me fold hands and pray to any god willing to save me from this ridicule and annoyance. A bunch of senile headbangers jumping around the stage led by a pathetic copy of Conan the Barbarian. I had rather spent their whole performance in the toilet, but someone had allowed them to play for a whole hour. Poor old guys, did no one tell you that we have never heard of you! The frontman asked us if we had listened to their new crap...ummm...stuff or had bought their newest album. Now that can be sure that no one will even illegally download anything by them.

After this dreadful performance, which almost put everyone to sleep, was time for the American progressive rock band Queensrÿche. Let's say that they didn't make me think of a suicide while listening to them, but can be sure that I will never ever dig up any torrent sites for their discography. They were bearable and the smaller evil, although I was counting every minute till the frontman says "This was our last song". Definitely there were people who were there for them and knew every single song, which was quite comforting recalling the previous act.

Five hours after the official start of Rock the Balkans the moment of truth was about to blast the hall. Tension grew, the multitude gathered impatiently and a black curtain fell in front of the stage. Of course, the curtain was just for those in front of stage. This time I was comfortably seated on the tribunes having an excellent view and seeing all the preparation going unnoticed for those down. The moment the crowd heard the drums from "My Generation" and it went crazy. There he was: Fred Durst in flesh. Honestly I was really happy that I wasn't any near to the stage as most probably I would have been squeezed out in the mosh or even worse my friend would have practically understood what moshing means.

Durst, with his red cap and shorts, true to his renowned style had a bunch of hits coming for the eager audience. People were frantic! Honestly, I had never thought that Limp Bizkit have that many fans in Bulgaria. Don't get me wrong, but nu-metal bands are no longer among the A-list and I didn't expect the crowd to know all of their songs by heart, let alone sing them out loud. Silly me. This is the third in a row reunion concert that I've watched and another one to have all of the original members as line-up. Wes Borlan, the prodigal guitarist, was the big attraction with his original outfit and make-up. Rumors surrounding his return to Limp Bizkit have it that after this tour the band will hit a studio and start recording. I doubt any chances recalling their break up, which was pushed into the media as going on hiatus. Hiatus, my socks!

Limp Bizkit went on with "Living It Up" and "Show Me What You Got" and I just let myself with the flow, despite the fact that I didn't remember some of their stuff. Still, I enjoyed myself a lot and remembered the good old times when baggy clothes, skaters and nu-metal were on the prowl. Thank them for the memories, but apart from recalling a few pleasant moments, I most certainly didn't feel the urge to go back to the teenage roots. "Eat You Alive" and "Hot Dog" were the next to bring me to my junior-high school years. With "Re-Arranged" the crowd went to cloud nine and in front of stage there were plenty of people who were still devoted to Bizkit's music.

"Break Stuff" is the "moshers" favourite, probably because of the song's context. Watching from the comfort distance of my seat I understood the heat of a concert. When you are into it you just forget about the discomfort, the sweat and the pushing, and totally indulge into the music. To be honest I kind of really wanted to mix with the crowd and experience everything to the maximum, but let's call it bad timing. "Boiler" and "My Way" continued the string of hits coming as the crowd's next multiple orgasm. "Nookie" made even me go crazy and Limp Bizkit did know how to rock my socks! The encore included another bundle of hits, which was a clever move as we had all come for their best known stuff and no more teasing was necessary for the night.

The final included the ballad and cover song "Behind Blue Eyes", which was virtually the only slow track played throughout the concert. "Rollin'" was the one that everyone expected and we all knew the gig won't go without! It just blew our tops! The final touch was put with "Take a Look Around". The crowd wanted more and just couldn't believe that it was all over...the journey to the beginning of this millennium when were all rolling as one generation living it all up. Good old memories...yeah, thank you, Limp Bizkit. Thank you!

NB: I've made some photos, but you'd better surf the net for some with higher quality and from a shorter distance. Sorry! Free is free!

My concert experience: Lamb + Plaid

Day 3! Blessed be this day! Park Live Fest reached its final, which was spectacular and put to sleep all my dissatisfaction with the previous two festival days. Despite all the preparation I was taken by surprise and enjoyed myself as never before. The final three acts blew our tops and on my way out of the venue I didn't want to come to terms with the sad reality - it was over. To me Lamb was the festival's culmination and the reason I bought the ticket at first place. Hats down for Tricky's achievements and the originality of Roots Manuva, but the Manchester duo of Lou Rhodes and Andy Barlow was my personal highlight!

Before I continue with the praise I should mention a few things about the other acts that I got to watch. I was quite late for evening number three and had missed out Gaz Cobain from Future Sound of London and the Bulgarians Phuture Shock, but the rest was to come. I admit I missed for most of their performance the Brits from Crazy P (the P stands for Penis), but manage to catch the last few songs and get a proper idea of their stage presence. Crazy P had already heated up the venue with some groovy dance tracks and the astonishing magnetism of their lead singer Danielle Moore. There was chemistry between the audience and Crazy P and and no doubt people actually wanted them to keep on rocking.

An act away from my "meeting" with Lamb the weather took an unpleasant turn and as soon as Plaid began their set heavy clouds were lazily making themselves comfortable above out heads. After a few tracks rain started pouring down, but this made us come together closer to the stage and give in to the rhythm of IDM. Shame on me, shame, shame! I made no effort to check Plaid's music beforehand and felt really dumb being there first row and shaking with all the guilt on my mind. The guys turned out to have plenty of cool stuff and the positive vibes were in the air despite the heavy cold drops and lightnings in the distance. The weather condition perfectly matched with the essence of Plaid's music and the constantly changing backdrops. I have never expected to enjoy that much something I heard for the first time in my life. Even if I never get to listen to them home they can count on my fan support. My first, and hopefully not last encounter face to face with Warp members (fingers crossed for Aphex Twin).


The moment of truth! One of the most influential trip-hop bands was just about to perform. I've awaited them since I've been interested in the whole scene, going back as further as the end of the 90s. Lamb is one of those bands that I fell in love with the first listen. Nothing could ruin the evening, neither the rain, nor the technical problems they experienced. For the record Lamb had the same sound-system problem as Tricky and Roots Manuva previously: blasting bass beats. Just a few moments before they were due to come on stage their bass broke, which meant additional twenty minutes of wait. The audience applauded every chance of the concert to begin, which after half an hour of clapping and cheering seemed like forever to take.

Darkness. Lou Rhodes, Andy Barlow and a support live member (I think they called him Jeff) covered us with the dark serenity of their music. "Darkness" was their opener! Followed immediately by my personal favourite "B Line", which came to my brains as a rush of warm blood. Despite all the technical difficulties they had with Live Park's equipment live Lamb were amazing! They topped my expectations with the perfect list of songs they chose to perform live, as well as with the fine harmony between Lou's distinctive voice and Andy's music renditions. Going back to the concert the setlist continued with a string of greatest hits among which "Heaven", "What Sound" and "Angelica". "Heaven" was the first song to be sung by the audience, which went nuts as soon as Lamb came to stage.

Andy Barlow was amazing! I have never expected him to be that energetic and jolly, with a wide smile on his face, jumping all around. He was so excited that he even jumped in the crowd, which could have easily torn him apart. Don't worry, we kept him alive just for the sake of other fans around the globe. Andy is the coolest dude I have seen in concert! Definitely! Lou Rhodes on the other hand held back a little, but her constant smile on the face and the cute way she was saying all the time "Thank you" in Bulgarian made the distance always invisible. I think that they were very pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome and the way we appreciated their music. I am not being judgmental but I had the feeling that they didn't expect Bulgaria to be best place to find such an excellent audience, which in fact was fond of the duo's music.

Lamb's highlight was the performance of their highly anticipated song "Gorecki", which was virtually sang the by everyone. But the big surprise came with "Gabriel", which I should admit made me cry. So touching and so real, the whole atmosphere just made the tears come out on their own. It was raining, one could feel the warmth of the crowd and with Lou heavenly singing
"I can fly
But I want his wings
I can shine even in the darkness
But I crave the light that he brings
Revel in the songs that he sings
My angel Gabriel"
create a whole that words fail to describe! My personal favourite!

Lamb had two encores, putting an end of their concert and the open-air part of Park Live Fest 2009 with "Stay". A poetic promise that this performance will always stay in their hearts and I can promise them that Lamb live in Sofia will be long remembered by everyone who spent the whole rainy evening with this amazing band! If you still haven't seen them live hurry up, cause you never know what will happen with them after the end of their tour.

"God bless", they shall return!

Video courtesy of YouTube user finmelchen:



Video courtesy of YouTube user iF0Pi:



Video courtesy of YouTube user opiuma:

My concert experience: Roots Manuva

The second day of Park Live Fest in Sofia was definitely the lowest point in the whole program. First of all the line-up was less than intriguing. Another thing was that the audience was definitely less than for Tricky, the previous day. The headliner was the British-Jamaican rapper Roots Manuva, who mixes hip-hop with electronica, reggae, dub and even gospel. I admit that just a couple of weeks ago I knew him only by his moniker, but spent enough time getting to know his style. The mere fact that he mentions that many various styles and extensively concentrates on social issues made me attend his gig, drawn by the charm of a rapper who has something to say for real.

I guess, I should start from the very start which was given by the Gypsy orchestra Karandila, which as I was told had to play for over two hours. Don't worry about the poor guys, they are used to the prolonged performances and I assure you that Karandila could have been on stage all night long and beyond. The orchestra was followed by DJ Lord from Public Enemy, who had a few surprises on his turntable. His set was dominated by pop and rock tracks, which was kind of surprising as we expected him to bury us deep in the sands of black music. He made the audience boogie-woogie and still he showed more passion than we did...what a pity. DJ Lord and Karandila tried out to improvise together, which didn't end up as well as expected. Anyways, the last performance before Roots Manuva was of the band Ruth & Unlimited. In one word: L A M E! Their whole performance was absolutely annoying and nerve-racking. They sounded if they played together for the very first time: unorganized and distorted.

After being tortured to the maximum with Ruth's constant pleads to come closer to the scene and dance to the rhythm, and waiting some more twenty minutes for the main act to begin, finally Roots Manuva made his appearance. He was backed up by two DJs and a side singer, whose name I didn't get to hear (understand to be more precise). Honestly I felt wrong while watching Roots, because it turned out that the majority of the people there actually listened to him and they did know the songs. Still, this didn't ruin my fun and I got my groove on.

Due to problems with the police (I never got to find out exactly what) the program had to be rescheduled and pulled back with almost two hours, which after all ended up in no more than an hour suspension. It was announced that Roots will appear on stage at 21:00, which caused havoc among his fans as many of them expected him no sooner than 22:00 and they were rushed into the venue, although he didn't appear on stage earlier than 21:30. I am saying all of this, because the organizers had to push the rapper to shorten his performance and drop a few songs, which brought addition tension to the atmosphere, which was going down the spiral after the dubious warm-up performance by Bulgarian band Ruth & Unlimited. The rescheduling almost ruined Roots Manuva performance, but the management obviously managed to win extra 45 minutes.

Rodney Smith, Manuva's real name, played it safe and entirely backed his gig on his most prominent stuff, which was eagerly and passionately appreciated by hip-hop fans. Even I managed to distinguish at least a few of his songs, although they were slightly rendered. Talking of rearranged versions I should say that not the changes made it difficult for me to recognize them, but the horrible sound system the organizers had provided. The bass was so heavy that for most of the concert I couldn't hear any proper singing and at certain moments there was nothing but blasts and distortions. Among the performed songs were "Bashment Boogie", "Witness (1 Hope)", "Sinny Sin Sins and, "Dub Styles", at least those I managed to distinguish.

His back-up had parts on all of the songs, even those which on the albums were solo performed and he was more passionate than Manuva himself. There was chemistry between them and they proved to be a good combo, although we didn't really care about anyone else but Roots. At 22:00 they announced that the gig was over as they were forced to put an end to it. Umm, yeah, but we did already know its a hoax and nobody bought it. The more the concert neared its end the more annoyed I was feeling. It felt like forever until the last song. I don't know why, but the second part of the performance was blunt and tedious with an uncertain pace and lame improvisations. I have never been happier to hear "Thank you and goodbye". I couldn't stop clapping my hands as I was doing it to make sure this was the very end of Day 2. Indeed, it was.

The videos are courtesy of YouTube user superchiko

My concert experience: Tricky + Little Dragon

Park Live Fest is the first festival of its kind in Bulgaria, bringing together names from the electronic scene and reviving the true trip-hop vibe. Introducing such a concept for the first time on the Balkan music scene definitely meant a lot of risk for the organizers and less to no impact. Luckily, there are still plenty of people fond of the good old 90s when MTV was the pedestal of diversity and music was not all about boobs and trunks.

Day 1 was highlighted by the essence of the Bristol scene and the subtlety of the Swedish improvisational expressionism. Tricky on the prowl with his distinctive half-singing half-rapping distinguishable singing and Little Dragon with their surprisingly original performance attitude, brought freshness to the rather stagnant Balkan alt fields. Nevertheless, I should mention that the two main acts were preceded by three other performances, but they did go rather unnoticed. Although Tricky, real name Adrian Thaws, was the one who we all expected I dare say that Little Dragon made the best impression for the whole evening.

Little Dragon began rather vaguely, carefully testing the crowd and after just a couple of songs Yukimi Nagano and company gained confidence and slowly began heating up the audience. They took me by surprise with more up-beat versions of their sole album's tracks, which were rearranged especially for a fast-paced mind-blowing performance, which was entirely based on improvisation. I guess they did realize that Tricky being after them puts the stakes quite high and still they did their best to reach the level of required quality. The audience definitely appreciated Nagano's intriguing voice and her stage presence, as well as the passion Little Dragon's music had in store. Perhaps, people who would rather stick to their genuine style weren't very happy with the significant changes, although this was no wrong move at all.

Tricky...one of the pioneers of the trip-hop genre, who paved the way for the mid to late 90s alt electronic wave, was the one who was expected to blast the scene and be the bad boy of the festival. Indeed, he spent the whole evening doing spliff and passionately gulping drinks, probably heating up for the grand show. So far, so good. Lights off, a sudden turmoil on stage and there you go - Tricky in flesh and bone, performing in front of some 3 thousand people.

The closest link to the godfathers of trip-hop Massive Attack was there for us ready to kick some ass. Hooray! Have I ever told you how much I hate musicians doing drugs and eliminating immense quantities of liquor? I do! Tricky reminded me why! I guess I should excuse him, as this probably is part of his performance, but it poked out my eyes...they were sore and bleeding. What could be more pathetic the singer stoned as a dumb ass or the audience aggravating the situation with their horrific passiveness. I'd go for number two, please. Tricky might have had to struggle through his artistic inadequacy, but the audience obviously needed to cheer up. Sadly chemistry was absent and the vital connection performer-audience was based just on Tricky's reputation. Definitely there were people who went bananas seeing him live on stage, but the majority was there standing coldblooded and clapping as if taking part in a senior fund-raising campaign.

What made things even worse was the apathy that Tricky demonstrated, which made the show look as if he was there for himself and the rest could just fuck off. I, personally, had difficulty swallowing his annoyingly endlessly improvisations, which brought the majority to the edge of patience. In the setlist, probably on purpose, were omitted a great deal of his most famous songs, which brought more tension and dissatisfaction with the audience. Although trying to compensate with several new song arrangement it all crashed and burnt when technical difficulties abruptly interrupted the show. Afterward, Tricky had lost interest and in no time the concert came to its end. His performance ended with Motörhead's "Ace of Spades" and fans invited on stage to rumble with him. Applause! No requests for an encore. We all went home.

My concert experience: Guano Apes

* click on the thumbnails for a better preview

It's great when your favourite bands reunite after a long split. It's even better when they embark on a tour and your country gets to be included. Four years after their official split up Guano Apes came back together announcing several gigs at prominent European festivals with the only exception of Bulgaria, where they held an indoor concert. Guano Apes proved to be in great shape and frontwoman Sandra Nasić to have improved her vocal skills.

The concert was due to begin at 20:00 and I was there at 19:15 and in a few minutes they started letting us in, which was very surprising as Bulgarian fans are used to waiting outside for hours before anyone shows any mercy on our at this occasion freezing souls. Here is the moment where I should compliment Most of Evil on their excellent organization this time, as the support band Fyeld came on stage at sharp 20:00. Of course, this doesn't mean that I've forgotten the long two hours spent outside the hall for the Pain concert last month, but today's issue are the Apes. Fyeld is a Bulgarian crossover band, which occasionally plays at various gigs. I cannot say much about them as I actually got to hear them for the first time last night. They are OK, but definitely not my scene.

A few minutes after 21:00 Sandra Nasić and company appeared in flesh and bones in front of the nearly 3,000 fans at Universiada Hall in Sofia. To many this was a dream come true, to the rest an iconic band in front of them ready to blow their tops. They started with "You Can't Stop Me", although no one actually wanted them to stop, even for a drink break. The audience was in ecstasy as we heard Nasić first words...Yep, one of the biggest alt-metal chicks was right there singing just for us and she sounded great. A friend of mine told me that she sucked live, but luckily it didn't prove right and Nasić did demonstrate that she could actually sing. Bang! We were nailed down from the very start! Guano Apes had more and more surprises to come..."Money & Milk", followed by "Quetly", "Open Your Eyes" and "Pretty In Scarlet". In between they played "Do It Again", which is from Sandra's solo album "The Signal". The gig was getting so hot that before singing "Open Your Eyes" Sandra encouraged all the guys to take off their shirts and to mix with the rest of sweaty bodies and burning skins.


When Sandra came on stage she was wearing a T-shirt saying "Ruf mir nie wider an", which in English means "Never call me again". In order to be persuasive enough as she asked us to lose some clothing in favor of some skin-trade and sweaty pogos, she took her shirt off, but she had another one under it...tricky, very tricky. The set-list continued with a straight line of some of their less known stuff, which toned down the audience as mostly fans knew them and the anticipation was not that passionate, which doesn't mean that there were no pogos or frantic singing along with Nasić. However, this could easily be considered as the major flaw of their whole performance as most people were there for their biggest hits and to a certain extent Guano Apes should have lived up to their expectations. After all, we can never be sure how long will this reunion last and will it crash and burn before even releasing new material.

The good news is that all of the songs were worth performing and listening to and there was something for everyone, from the die-hard fan to the girlfriend who came just to be with her bf/gf. The set-list definitely was not their best possible, but what was important Guano Apes to be playing at all. Still, I have no fine explanation why they included that many of their non-album tracks, although I believe they were trying to go beyond the expected, another thing is whether they managed to do it.

It was great that they made no difference between their performance in Braga, Portugal in front of over 15,000 spectators and in Sofia, Bulgaria with the modest amount of 3,000. Size doesn't matter after all, but some bands tend to believe that the bigger the crowd the better for their reputation. Probably right, but the Bulgarian crowd was perfect and I am pretty sure Guano Apes will have us in mind if they decide to embark on another tour some time in the future...as long as they haven't split up once again.

The second part of the concert was dominated by their hits "Break the Line", "Scratch the Pitch" and where to without "Big In Japan". The last made the audience go crazy, hundreds jumping on one place and pushing back and forth as a human wave. Most of us already knew the set list and we perfectly knew that Sandra was going to say Goodbye, just to return on stage in a few minutes. The "promised" encore was remarkable for the excellent performance of "Lords of the Boards", which is the epitome of their career and narrow relation with the culture of the boards. Sandra let the audience sing it as obviously we were really in an urge to shout it out loud. We all shouted as our lives depended on it and sadly this did put an end to the concert. All sweaty, exhausted and a little dizzy the people were making their way to the exits, taking a look back to the empty scene...filled with the fresh memories of a concert long to be talked about.