Unusuall end of 2007 or Fotorocker goes classical

And now to something completely different. I had a chance to go to Vienna and take pictures of the first New Year concert of Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. For me this was quite a big change as i have not done much photography like this before and getting the photo pass was not an easy job also. Of course, this concert is famous all over the world, and tickets are given on sale to randomly selected 1000 people while thoushands of others are waiting for next year. I was only allowed to take pictures during the last encore, from quite a distance and on that spot only. Radetzky Marsch where spectators are joining the orchestra and concuctor Georges Prêtre, to applause, is traditionally the last peice on this concert and probably the loudest one.

Anyway, i wanted to finish the last post on this blog for 2007, which, for me, was a very sucessfull year. I would like to thank all of you that are reading my blog for coming back, reading my posts,watching the pictures, writing comments.

I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and lots of good music :) Rock on!

25 Years of Šank Rock

Last few days of 2007 have been extremely busy and there is lack of sleep. Yesterday Šank Rock rounded up 25 years of the band and had a great gig in Velenje. Home crowd means great concert, and this time it was the same. To me the most interesting parts were the first two songs where band wore their glam rock stying clothes form 80s and the small stage performance for two songs in th emiddle of the crowd. I came home at 3.30Am slept, for one hour and left for Vienna around 5.30 AM. More on that in next post, which will finish the 2007 on this blog a bit different. Here are some Šank Rock moments from yesterday.

Magnifico - Grande Finale in Ljubljana - sound check

After the 100.000 copies of his latest album Grande Finale were given for free to the readers of Delo, earlier this month, little less fans filled up the Hala Tivoli for his concert. This time sound check was a bit late, but still fun and interesting to watch. Magnifico, Rambo Amadeus and crew were doing their best to get the sound as good as possible, for themselves on stage and for the audience. Rambo joined Magnifico for two songs, and a part of sound check was devoted (well, a minute or two) to teach Rambo how to dance "kolo" dance, for the "Hir aj kom and hir i go" performance. Fun :) Here are a couple of moments from earlier today. Enjoy!

Vlado Kreslin - Cankarjev dom 2007 - part 2

Some more shots from Vlado Kreslin concert in Cankarjev dom last week. Enjoy!

Prljavo kazalište filled Cvetličarna

Events, new CD releases, concerts and all sort of other things are happening lately, and this december is totally crazy. Earlier this week Cvetličarna hosted Prljavo kazalište, a band from Croatia which filled up the place completely. It was hard and dangerous to get into first rows with a camera as there were some football fans who ruled the grounds and they were not too friendly. Luckily a few nice girls in first rows gave me some space to lean on the fence and do a couple of shots from that position before moving away and into the balcony to get some aerial shots of the crowds and did a few quick shots of the band after the concert - thanks to always friendly Cvetličarna crew for making it possible! :)

Pankrti - Dubrovnik video

Damn, this was one crazy weekend. We flew to Dubrovnik at 5.50 from Zagreb and this meant we had to leave Ljubljana at 3AM to be there with some backup time. Flight was fun, altough we didn't know wheter it will be possible to land in Dubrovnik due to heavy winds, but as you can see we did it. Dubrovnik is so empty at this time, totally opposite to what we're used in summer. Check out video for more (it is a bit buggy, as i edited it at 2am yesterday). There were some funny things that happened at sound check as the amplifiers were not what everyone expected but just "a bit" smaller. Also see the pictures at the end of the video. Enjoy!

Pankrti tour continues

I just a few hours we start the second leg of our Pankrti tour 2007. Heading for Zagreb to catch a flight to Dubrovnik where Pankrti are going to play on Friday, then flying back to Zagreb for a concert in Tvornica to finish the official part of the tour on Saturday. Woo hoo, here we go!

Pankrti visiting the "House of flowers" where former president of Jugoslavija Tito is burried in Belgrade

Vlado Kreslin - Cankarjev dom 2007

Again, the year is around, so Vlado Kreslin and his gang occupied the stage in Cankarjev dom for 3 nights in a row, all sold out completely. I came a bit early to catch the sound check and it was well worth it. The backlight came on and i got this nice shot of Vlado rehearsing the piano just minutes before first visitors were let into the hall that you can see nicely lit in the background. The concert was cool, as always, and not to ruin the suprises for those of you that might be going there in next two days i will not tell more about what's happening the stage from first minutes :)

Pankrti - sound check in Novi Sad

Novi Sad was our second stop on this leg of the tour. The Trema club, which is actually a space before the main hall of the Serbian National Theatre, takes about 600 people and it was full. As i already mentioned, to me, Novi Sad gig was the best one. The stage was very close to the public, sound was excellent and the band in a good mood. The following video shows two songs Pankrti did at the sound check Za železno zaveso and Dancing Barefoot, preformed by guest quitarist on this tour, Ivan Král.

There is a funny story behind this sound check and my photo bag. Ivan forgot his guitar belt in a tour bus and we were in a hurry to get the sound check done and had no time to go and pick it up. So, the only thing similar to the belt was my camera bag belt. Good improvization. See the picture below :)

Here's Ivan with the belt :)

And just to show you what happened later as the public went mad, here's a shot from stage with Pero and crowd in the back.

Touring with Pankrti - part one

I just got back from 4 days on tour with Pankrti.. still downloading all the stuff i shot. It was an amazing experience and every city we visited welcomed the caravan big time and crowds went totally crazy during the show. Here is a quick shot of the guys before the bus at Slovenia - Croatia border crossing and one from Novi Sad show, which i would call the most crazy one on tour....Stay tuned for part two and more pictures :)

On Tour with Pankrti

Hopefully sights and moments like this will be an everyday event during next few days as i leave on tour with Pankrti. We'll first be heading to Vinkovci, then Novi Sad and Belgrade. On the way back we'll stop in Zagreb for a press conference. Expect many pictures and some video as we return, or maybe in between, if there is some internet somewhere.

Ivan Kral, Peter Lovšin and Bogo Pretnar rehearsing before Ljubljana show
(this image appeared full page in Dnevnikov Objektiv last Saturday)

Rattlesnake - a vist to Vest.si studio

Rattlesnake, friends and probably the band with the biggest amount of my images, were invited to play accoustic in a new music show of Vest.si. The show is recorded live, any everyone can come in and watch. Here are a few snapshots of the happening earlier today. Enjoy and make sure you watch the show as it airs next thursday. A sneak preview is also available here.

50 Cent in Zagreb - an interesting interview

Here's what happened to HRT TV crew during an interview with 50 Cent before the Zagreb show :) There are speculations what those guys were doing on their knees as the reporter entered the backstage room ;)

And now something completely different - 50 Cent in Ljubljana

Weekend ended up with a 3 hour wait for 50 Cent to appear in Ljubljana with his G Unit. Around 00.30 about 20 or so deeply frozen photographers were asked to move away from red carpet and a huge van parked in front of us while 50 went out, heavily guarded, into the VIP lounge to "party". We were not allowed (a few very big guys were looking at us very ugly) to go in there to take a few decent pictures. Most of us managed to get a few snapshots of the star as he came in front of the crowd and and did one of his songs. I guess for them this was a good party, for us this was more or less a fight to bring back some good images. Here's one taken from quite a distance.

Pankrti Sound Check

My Pankrti Saturday started with an afternoon sound check in a cold Hala Tivoli. While i was there to document their preparations, i also took a few moments off to enjoy the experience of being on stage and be able to watch them prepare for the show. Just a few hours later, this hall was full with around 7000 people and the group was full of energy. To me they looked like they're in their twenties once again :) Here's the story...

A far away view ...

Boris and Ivan jamming ...

Pero joined them on stage after checkign the sound from other side of the hall

Slavc on drums which were almost new ...

Bogo checking sound with his black beauty Les Paul guitar

Pero looking at me - i was quiet as a mouse not to disturb them too much

All set - ready to go :)