Saturday, March 5, 2016

Zagreb, Croatia

next comes Zagreb at the end of June...and the amazing edition of InMusic Festival...




I don't know if it is still too early, but so far Im kinda not impressed with this year's line up....I am like all the time praying for Sigur Rós to be announced since they will already be on tour at that time, and they will mostly be playing at music festivals, so it is kinda logical that the guys from InMusic should try and bring them to Zagreb....but so far, they are not even giving any indications for such a possibility even though people, including me, have posed the question...so far, what has excited me the most was yesterday's announcement of Django Django coming (a cool British rock band)...and for that I would consider going...other than that, some of the cool artists that will be playing are Wilco and PJ Harvey, but still not that good enough to take that 800 km something road...though now with Django Django, it may be considered...anyways, this post should be about last year, not this one :)

So first of all, Id like to wholeheartedly thank Agi for making me company during the last InMusic...she was like the perfect company and it just contributed to the greatness of the entire festival.
 It was also my first sleeping-in-tent experience (yeah, I know it is kinda strange I haven't done it yet, but there goes my tent-virginity...) and it is something I'd do it again (well I already did it actually last August when I went mountain climbing, but that is a completely different story  and cannot compare the two).

it is a fantastic surrounding to camp at, dont you think?




and after trying to figure it out for a while..



we were set! voila!!



Anyways, the festival lasted three days, so it was three nights in the tent...and the first and the third one were ok...but oh my the second...that one is unforgettable...to me at least....even though the first day was all sunny and warm, things drastically changed during the second while we were in town...it started raining and there was this wind blowing and we were of course under equipped so we started freezing and were desperate to find some cheap umbrella or a rain coat, but guess what - all rain coats were like sold out..so at last we got into H&M and even though I am the anti-shopping kind of type, this time I felt like blessed and found this sweater for like 3 euros that felt so welcoming on my skin...I still wear it today, it is a nice one...now if we did get through the day, the night was a different issue...I think that I put on all the clothes I had with me, but it was just impossible to warm up...impossible....I think I barely slept that night...well, my mistake, didnt bring any mattress for underneath the sleeping bag...but then again,  I didnt really expect the temperatures would drop down so much that day....
Third day was good...the sun came out and everything felt different....and music-wise it was also a fabulous one, so the whole rain, freezing thing was like just forgotten...

Chillin' out with some JJ Cooler if I recall correctly (Agi discovered this one and it was really cool!)



The very main reason I decided to go to the last edition of InMusic were Placebo...and they played the very last like for closing the event...and boy were they awesome...awesome!!! I even managed to get myself in the very first row and was like aaaaahhhhh....yeah, I always do that at concerts...if it aint first row, doesnt count :) And Brian Molko is still one of the most charming and charismatic men out there....and yes, they played "Running Up that Hill" - even though it is a cover song (Kate Bush sings the original...sorry Kate, but Placebo beat you to this one)

yes, his majesty, Mr. Brian Molko



me after it was over...and there were fireworks marking the end of the 10th InMusic Festival


So as I said, Placebo were absolutely fantastic...but if it wasnt for them or if I was not so biased maybe, I would have announced the appearance of Of Monsters and Men as the absolute best - an Icelandic indie folk band that sounds sooo powerful on stage, cannot find the words to express that...so if you ever get the chance to watch them live, I ABSOLUTELY recommend it...they are just way too amazing!!
Another appearance worth mentioning from Day 3 would be the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - kinda pity I haven't listened to them much before but gave them more credit once I got back home...

As for the other two days - day one started with Paulo Nutini....Scottish guy with some Italian origin...found out about him before the festival, gave him a listen and loved it...and yeah, a great appearance on stage, great voice, charming guy...he played my favourite, Iron Sky...downside, he didn't play "Diana" but I may be asking too much...
Another band for that night which I learned about prior the festival and loved them...and which proved to be awesome, "Future Islands"...an American synth-pop band which have something so unique in their sound and stage appearance and that is so haunting and so catchy...one of those bands that I regret not having discovered earlier (they've been around like since 2006 and I discover them almost 10 years later =[

In the end I will mention FFS (or Franz Ferdinand and the Sparks) - they were like headliners I think but FFS is NOT the same as FF...it just isn't =/ I don't wanna say I was disappointed cos I didn't have expectations on this one, but it is like they have the popularity based on the good old glory days...

After all those concerts, Agi and I went to this Silent Music party that turned out so cool! You know, you have these headphones with like four different music stations and you choose which one you like most and you like dance and sing to it...but of course nobody listens to the same thing and everyone moves in his/her own rhythm...kinda really cool....well now there were groups of people that were singing altogether but still...loved the concept...too bad we couldn't do it the other two nights...but on the second night after having frozen during the day I wasn't really much into it...

Speaking of Day 2, I'd mention Death Cab For Cutie (aside from Placebo, another reason I decided to go to InMusic, since I've been listening to them for ages)....and you know,  everything kinda fit together that night...with the rain falling, their music and lyrics were just right...and you have this slow music and the rain falling on your face...though they have some strange lyrics..I mean who else would sing something like
'Love of mine, some day you will die' or
'But I'm thinking of what Sarah said that "Love is watching someone die" So who's going to watch you die?..'
I don't know where that obsession of love and death comes from...kinda wicked and creepy, but I still say they are a fantastic band...

But most importantly, they played "Transantlanticism" - that is like my all time favourite by them and I almost cried when they played it....oh and I ended up with a guitar-pick as a souvenir :D



ok, apart from the festival, we spent some time in the city as well, and this was when Agi showed me the beauties of Umami - an awesome Asian-Fusion restaurant...delicious food and reasonable prices!


wondering if Id know how to eat with chopsticks (that is the sweater that saved me btw =))


yummie!! yummie! yummie!!



and then there was this great pancake place (Milky whey or something) but the pancakes were awesome...and so rich that I didn't manage to finish mine....I tried, but I just couldn't...



and the great cakes at Amelie and the kind people working there (I think I will tell you that story in some future post cos I already talked way too long here, Im kinda sure I lost you somewhere on the way :))




so, as with all good things, this one came to an end..but hoping for a new edition this summer

farewell...




*bonus photo and the million dollar question, what the hell was I doing here...




I don't know how relevant the stamp would be after so much rambling, but it is a lighthouse, so I cannot not mention it (yeah, Agi took me to the philately shop so I could choose some nice stamps for the cards ;-)




It is from the set of 4 lighthouse stamps issued in 2015 - this one shows the Grebeni lighthouse.

Photo credits within this post go to Agi! Big hug to her for letting me use them here :*


huh, I seriously need a break before moving on to Turkey...and I actually started all this two days ago...

2 comments:

Anu said...

I've just read all of your travel posts and really enjoyed them. What a great idea, and really interesting to read! :) I'd love to see more of these in the future :)

I hadn't realised Placebo were still together.. :o I used to really, really love them years and years ago but haven't listened to them for years now... *hangs head in shame* I think I'll have to dig up all the old favourites (Placebo, Suede, Blur, Muse...) for a bit of nostalgia.

Ana said...

oh thank you Anu! I really appreciate it, esp. since I personally had so much fun while doing them but didn't really know how appropriate they would be for here...or also bearable for reading :))

Placebo are like one of my all-time favourites...and too bad that during the upcoming InMusic Muse would be in Russia...Id love to see them live....and also Blur and Suede...I haven't listened to these last two in a while...good reminder :))

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