Rock'n'Roll Serbia

Stoned and Peppered

It turns out that the music that our parents listen (the Stones) can make a greater impression and that those musicians 'with experience' hold the audience in higher reverence, that the happening presented as 'the biggest music event of the year' (the Peppers) does not have to prove to be so, and that bands like The Prodigy never get tired


By JASMINA LAZIĆ
from Belgrade, SERBIA


Serbia is at the point of experiencing a great musical summer! Each week there are various events which can satisfy everyone's interests and (almost) everyone's financial situation. However, the three happenings which have taken the kajmak away and which have placed Serbia on the list of important world destinations are definitely the concerts of the long anticipated Rolling Stones, euphorically presented Red Hot Chili Peppers, and, already traditional, the EXIT festival, including the most popular hip-hop, R'n'B and soul artists.

Though it was more than three weeks ago when the Rolling Stones gave Belgrade two hours and fifteen minutes of great playing and ( so far unprecedented) show programme, the memories of those lucky ones who had the pleasure to attend the concert are still fresh. This was, without doubt, the most anticipated concert. Serbia had been waiting for the Stones for almost seven years- when they came to power, the democrats announced the arrival of 'the legends' as one of their ' promises to the country', but this was delayed for a long time, due both to political and organizing circumstances. And they arrived just when everybody stopped hoping and when even their biggest fans and optimists started planning a trip abroad in order to hear and see them live. It seems that Mick Jagger himself was well informed about this issue, since he exclaimed 'We finally arrived!'- in Serbian, after having greeted the audience! Although it is not unusual for guests from abroad to greet the audience in the language of the country in question, Jagger spoke Serbian all night long, which was, apart from the blazing stage, rolling tongue and Keith Richards singing blues, surely the greatest sight. An amazing spectacle was organized for the audience! The sound was perfect, the on-stage events were visible even to the ones in the last rows due to the video beam of huge dimensions, and the lucky ones who were in the middle could literally touch the Stones when one part of the stage, on which they were standing, split and started 'floating' among the audience.

Unlike this concert which is still being retold, or seen over and over again by those clever people who recorded it for the sake of their and their friends' pleasure, the perfomance given by the Peppers in Indjija on 26th June can be regarded as a fine rehearsal in the backstage. 'The four Californian men', whose arrival had pompously been announced for months in advance and the price of whom was terribly high, while the departure from the place of the event was mission impossible, didn't even give it a try. At least it seemed that way- the concert lasted a bit longer than one hour, the energy which characterizes the Peppers seemed to have been saved for 'another time', and the communication with the audience was, basically, nonexistent. To someone who had given their two student loans per month for the ticket, the trip to Indjija and back, who came to the stage at noon in order to get the best position (and the concert started after 10 p.m.), and who got sun burnt at more than 40 degrees (measured that day), the music 'pleasure' presented by the Peppers was, mildly put, a disappointment.

And finally, between those two great concerts, the EXIT festival took place. Unlike the events in Belgrade and Indjija, the state of Petrovaradin was an oasis for hip-hop and soul admirers. Big stars like the Beastie Boys, Woo-tang Clan, Snoop Dog and the Prodigy gathered an impressive number of young people not only from Serbia and the neighbour countries (Croatia, Slovenia, the Republic of Macedonia), but from other European states as well. The statistics show that most of them came from England. The rain which usually spoils the joy has skipped the festival this year, so the fortress was jumping every night till dawn, under ideal circumstances.

All in all, it turns out that the music that our parents listen (the Stones) can make a greater impression and that those musicians 'with experience' hold the audience in higher reverence, that the happening presented as 'the biggest music event of the year' (the Peppers) has not proven to be so, and that bands like The Prodigy never get tired. And that's the way it is.