Laibach's Volk Konzert in Bulle, Switzerland

by Mirko Vidovic

I have had the utmost chance to see Laibach live four times. Even though the sets were similar (2 x WAT and 2 x Volk), I have to say it's never the same thing: They never gather the same people, be it in the public or on stage...

I. Awaiting the unexpected
Whenever I read on LAIBACH-NSK's mailing-list that Laibach is about to play within a 500-km radius from Bern, where I live, I cannot just expect them to skip Switzerland. And they never failed me. This time, it was on January the 17th that Simon Barbarossa posted about a forthcoming performance in Torino (Italy) on March 31st. I had to ask... Our Comrade Zlato answered me on the 23rd.
I'm back to make your day. ;-)
How far from Bulle are you living?
Well, I didn't answer "Not enough" because I prefered contacting the place where they would be playing to reserve for my wife and I.

II. D-Day rush
My wife and I drove from Bern to Bulle in order to attend this huge event for our fourth time ever. Well, Laibach were here, so would we be. Finding the place was not really easy, the town's streets are under heavy repairs and this didn't make parking an easy thing either. Also, the club was to remain closed until the last minute and we had to land in a nearby restaurant for a quick drink and a leak. All that blab is just intended to give you an accurate idea of how stressed we were before the concert.

III. Getting ready to shoot
Once in the room, we noticed nobody was standing near the stage. Most of the industrial folks were having beers in the back, so I took place a few centimeters from the central mic. The camera in my hand (I only took one fixed-range -30mm- but really luminous optics -which I opened at f/2.8-) I then waited. It took Laibach more than one hour to finally launch the show.

IV. The show
I have the impression that Germania went really quick. I almost thought Laibach were feeling so claustrophobic on this tiny stage, in that overcrowded, smoky, room that they wanted things to go fast. I was wrong.

The show went expectedly similarly as one year before, in Fribourg (CH). There were 5 people playing during the first part: the Laibach singer, the synth guy, his piano fellow, the drummer and Jadranka.

What I can say about this part was that it felt more groovy than I expected: we had both keyboardists exchanging smiles while the synth guy was literally torturing his hardware while jumping around like the showman he was (sorry, but I'm not their biograph, hence the lack of names).

The drummer was also having a lot of fun, literally yelling while pounding, adding some furious rolls to what sounded comparatively so solemn on the record. I think, one of the pics I took shows him yelling with both girls in the background.

Milan was singing, I mean, he wasn't using his mike but his lips were moving along with Jadranka's singing even though he wasn't supposed to sing. I guess he was as amazed as we were.

It's during "Nippon" that we got hit by Grace: Jadranka has to have a classical background to maintain such a perfect pitch across 4 to five octaves... especially in this awfully smoggy place. Propz to her excellent singing. It was a marvelous initiative to have her replace the also marvelous Mina.

The second part was also typical of this tour's set. The musicians remained as focussed as during the first part. One of the backing vocals/percussions girls had her mic's stand broken while she was pounding. She didn't stop, nor seem embarrassed: the show had to go on and it did.

In the end, they all came back, applauding us as we were applauding them. They didn't look as relieved as much as they seemed happy. Of course, there were glitches, but nothing actually went wrong: we were attending a live performance, and it was rockier, less solemn/industrial as usual. It was that kind of performance that reminds us that Laibach are also live beasts and deserve to be seen on stage. I thank them for that great evening. In its way, it was an unusual Laibach concert, but it was still one to attend.