The forbidden concert and nostalgia over times I didn't even live in.

I am dedicating this post to one of our closest neighbors. Croatia.

There is a lot of things I envy Croatia, like the beautiful coast line, the islands, the nature, their patriotism, I mean nobody loves their country more then Croatians love Croatia, I'm not saying that it's always a good thing but most days it is. Lord knows we need a bit of that in our lives. Maybe things would be better, but as long as nobody cares what goes on in this country, if everyone says that politics and referendums don't matter and why vote it will never be better anyways...you know where I'm going with this right? If you love your country, your nationality, you're willing to fight for it too. You're willing to stand up and make a difference but with this apathy the rest of us who want to fight lose all will to do it too. I always say it takes one person to make a difference in the world but some things aren't quite as easy.

Anyways that's not the point right now, the point is, amongst other things I envy Croatians there's the music too. Some of the best musicians that I really love are Croatian. Did you know that Mike from Steelheart is actually Croatian? And Tomo from 30 seconds to mars? Amazing. And then there's this band...A band that literally made history.

This is a band formed in Zagreb back in 1977 in the working part of town and it was and is one of the most popular rock bands in former Yugoslavia as well as they are in Croatia now. They're named after an Alan Ford comic, ''Prljavo kazalište'' or dirty theatre if I translate it. They started out as a punk band, drew a lot of inspiration from the Stones which were they favorite band. Judging by the logo we'd never knew huh? They changed musically quite a bit too, mostly with so many members coming and going. I guess the new singer which used to be a backup singer took them on a different path, a more rock and less punk kinda path.

Now they had a concert on October 17th 1989 in Zagreb, Croatia. Amazing concert. They say from 250.000 to 300.000 people showed up, some sources even said 500.000. Nobody was ever capable to do something on such a huge scale ever again as they did. They were actually promoting a new record and that excat record ''Zaustavite zemljo'' was kind of what announced the ending of Yugoslavia. It was funny actually the police showed up 20 minutes before the concert to shut down the power but they couldn't get through the mass of people, and they told the band to tell the people that the concert is cancelled. The singer literally shrugged it off saying ''you tell them, you're more the authority then I am'' and the show happened after all.

It was a different time back then, music meant something, a movment, rebelion and identity. And this concert literally was the end of a former system. The end of Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia and the begining of war. A war that was bloody and horrible and what makes it even worse it was a war between former brothers. Completly pointless. But then again which war isn't? There's a statment by the guitarist and singer, he told the crowd ''Samo da vam kažem narode, neka u ova teška vremena Bog čuva i vas i nas'', which means something along the lines of ''I just want to tell you, in these difficult times, may god keep us all safe''. It was an iconic statment and he got an explosive reaction.

It's funny that the most important song turned out to be a song he wrote for his mother. It's titled ''Mojoj majci'' and it became kind of a symbol for independence, it was a hair raising moment, I think it was the first time this song was preformed live *2 times on this concert actually* and everyone in that square sang that song back to the band. It literally wasn't just a concert, or just a show but an actual iconic moment. A moment packed with emotions and a moment that passed with no injury and no material damage. Amazing isn't it? Such a huge mass of people, fireworks even and nothing happened, nobody got hurt, nothing was damaged. Different times. People went to the concert because they wanted to hear the music, they wanted the experience and in these days I honestly ask myself ''do people go to shows to drink?''. What is the point? Would it make a difference to you if you watch youtube clips on stage or an actual band? Probably not, you're too drunk to notice. It really upsets me you know. It's not only unfair to the band but it's also annoying to the fans that came to see and support the musicians.

Here are some highlights, from the show I wish I was at just as badly as I wish for Queen and GN'R and that god damn Moscow peace festival...

And my personally favorite song of theirs...

I've seen them live before, they are totally badass and literally are one of the best bands on this part of the world. Why does this matter today? The band is celebrating it's 40th birthday. And they decided to celebrate that birthday in our country. Believe me I am thrilled. And even more so because the tickets are selling as fast as Green day is.

Obviously I get excited each time a big name decides to come around. Usually every single tour skips us. Of course. Slovenia is such a tiny country. Which is another thing that was different when we were Yugoslavia. To all those people saying we were living behind an ''iron curtain'' don't fall for it, fucking bullshit. In the years '79 and later bands such as Jethro Tull, Deep purple, Frank Zappa, The rolling stones, Paul McCartney, Wings, The Stranglers, Eric Clapton, Queen, they all played here. The near thought of someone as huge as Freddie Mercury standing in that same venue I've been in more then once is so surreal. Queen in Slovenia. And these are just a few of many.

There are so many lies going around these days, you are in literal danger if you prance around in a shirt with a red star on it. People are acting insane. Hating on the former system, the system and the president, both which gave them so much good. Well fuck, try being my age in this system now and you'll see hell. I don't understand it. People had good lives, times were good, they had good health care, they had free and good schools, they had jobs, they had comfortable lives, they had vacations, they could move out of their parents houses, the neighbors didn't hate eachother as we do now. I don't understand, what the hell brought on this hate and lies and delusions? How can older people that build themselves good lives in the former system talk so much crap about it now? Believe me, you couldn't of done now what you did then.

Not all of them, there's still some who don't even want to hear a bad word about either Tito or Yugoslavia or politics or whatever else. I don't want to hear it either. I have friends who have Yugoslavian flags in their houses and Tito's pictures, friends that are my age mind you. People that see through the lies and the hate we've been force fed for a long while now.

Seriously though lord knows Slovenia and Croatia has it's issues, we can't get along at all. As well as Serbia and Croatia and after the bloody war nobody can really blame them. Though I really wish it was different. This war had to be the most idiotic and pointless thing ever. We used to be brothers and sisters, one nation, we used to love eachother and our country. Yugoslavia was different, stronger, people were different, it had prosperity, it was better. And all the hate that we're spreading now about former times, and the hate we throw at eachother? What for? What is it even good for? It's pointless, it's tiring, it's just plain awful and it needs to stop. The sooner the better. There has been enough of it through the years.

Hate me or love me but I think we can agree on one thing. And that is that music has the power, power to make a change, heal, make a difference or just make you happier. The power to make a statment and that's excatly what this band did. I just fear that maybe we lost the ability to really listen.