About twenty years ago, names like Beyoncé, Leonard Cohen, Rihanna, "Muse", Alicia Keys and "Public Enemy" came to the Belgrade Arena, and then a long-term concert drought followed. Apart from a few spent rock dinosaurs and rare flashes when it comes to the arrival of current bands and performers, in recent years it has mostly been a "dead sea". We looked longingly towards Zagreb, where things were really happening, while EXIT in its last phase had a slightly different programming focus. However, this year has changed everything, at least for now. What happened? Is it about a better organization of local promoters, regional tours, a higher standard or about a new audience that was formed with the arrival of tens of thousands of Russians?
FILLING THE EMPTY SPACE
Zoran Vulović, director of the "Long Play" concert agency, which was quite active this year, tells "Vreme" that there are several reasons for the long list of bands coming to us. "Perhaps everyone forgets that in addition to domestic promoters, there are at least five Russian agencies in Serbia, several Croatian promotion companies have their subsidiaries in Belgrade, and there are also large foreign agents. Also, I think that the absence of EXIT has created a large empty space and that the series of concerts in Belgrade is in some way a compensation for the lack of a large festival. The increased number of concerts was directly influenced by large festivals in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, which brought together important names this year, as well as a large offer of foreign agents and large agencies. Certainly the fees of the performers, which grow by an average of 20 percent every year, were not affected." Vulović believes that our standard has not risen so much that the potential audience could follow everything that was offered. "However, there is an increasing number of audiences in Serbia who are very interested in music events and travel more and more often to large concerts and festivals all over Europe. However, I think that at all concerts of foreign artists, the attendance here was generally on the edge or below expectations. The reason is primarily the high price of tickets, which is justified by the high price of fees and production. In particular, at the "Kraftwerk" concert, which we did on July 19, more than 40 percent of the audience were The percentage of foreigners at the concerts is increasing significantly, and perhaps this is the main reason that some of the concerts ended successfully," says Vulović.
NEW AUDIENCE AND NEW PROMOTERS
Ivan Lončarević, founder of the publishing house "Pop Depresija" and someone who often organized concerts of alternative bands in the past, tells "Vreme" that, when it comes to this year's rich offer, nothing happened suddenly. "Things have been happening continuously, it has practically been going on since when a large number of Russian, and then Belarusian, Armenian and other foreign promoters got involved in the organization of concerts in Serbia. During that period, there was also cooperation with Russian promoters, with 'Sky Music' on big concerts, and then expensive solo bookings, so the number of those 'big' concerts increased significantly. We should not forget that in Belgrade last year we had successful concerts of 'Fontaines DC' and 'Altin Gun', two big festival 'alternative' names around the world, so even then one could sense what could happen this year." On the other hand, he adds, "Charm Music", "Long Play", "Odličan Hrčak" and many other more or less economically potent promoters have been working in Serbia for decades. "They were joined a few years ago by the extremely active and genre-diverse 'Hangtime', and all of this together contributes to a more diverse and current concert offer. This year is different, as 'Long Play' entered the 'god mode' and booked a double-digit number of foreign concerts, and all of them are from the category of 'people like it, and it's of good quality', and that is certainly something that will be talked about, analyzed and, I hope, repeated. Yes, there is a risk that the concert you are working on open and to which you count that, in addition to our audience, Russians will also come, the latter simply does not come and then you have a spectacular concert by a spectacular band for less than a thousand people, but Vule and 'Long Play' have been present here for a very long time and know what they are doing and how to compensate for such situations", says Lončarević.
photo: Nemanja ĐorđevićThievery Corporation
SPACE FOR ALTERNATIVES
One of the biggest alternative bands today that had a great time in Belgrade this summer is the British IDLES. Lončarević says that it is not a surprise. "This is the music that the Russian audience listens to and follows, and I think that even without the contribution of Serbian fans of this group (and such music), that concert would have been a success, but with elite regional support ('Zhen' and 'Repetitor') and a strong PR campaign through almost all local portals, radio stations and website, the Russian promoter turned it into something important for Serbia and the scene, and that's a great move. Sometimes such concerts only attract a few hundred people (like "Shame"), sometimes it's a spectacle like IDLES, but yes, in recent years we've had the opportunity to see current bands and it's never happened before to this extent." According to him, perhaps the more interesting question is whether the concerts (in Belgrade) are organized for Serbian audiences - or for Russians and foreigners. Yes, we are also at those concerts, but three quarters of the audience are Russians, and that makes it possible for those concerts to pay off and for the organizer to continue working. We have a fundamental problem and it will not be changed by the 'vigilance of promoters' because we live where we live and that's how it is. I also find the question of whether the Russian audience, and that is for research, has the same financial conditions for living and working in Serbia as we do? It should certainly be emphasized that the situation at the level of 'small bands' and small concerts is much more positive and that the cooperation of Russian and other foreign promoters with domestic forces is both direct and equal, both at the level of organization and program and planning. This is perhaps the best thing that is happening in Belgrade and here and there in Serbia, and I hope that soon it will fundamentally change the situation at higher levels as well", notes Lončarević.
YEARS OF EFFORT
Dragan Ambrozić, editor of Dom omladine program and long-time artistic director of EXIT "Main stage", also tells "Vreme" that several factors coincided at the same time for Belgrade to return to the concert map of Europe. "First of all", says Ambrozić, "the fact that EXIT was not held, at which several big and medium-sized names would certainly have performed, because they obviously could have been in the region during the usual times of the festival. I assume that the change of the team that runs the 'Arsenal' festival led to the fact that some bands ended up playing in Belgrade and not in Kragujevac. Furthermore, we have at least three active local promotion agencies that are up to the task of constantly monitoring events on the world concert market, and they know how the situation is and the current European They are usually combined with a geographically close market, in this case Croatian and Hungarian, but now more than before they are active organizers in Bulgaria, which, along with events in Greece and Turkey, makes it easier to hold more ambitious Balkan tours." Ambrozić also mentions the Russian audience, "who have enough to double their attendance at musical events, and it turns out that they can also pay a higher ticket price, which is now close to the European one". And he continues: "The most important thing to conclude is that we haven't lost our audience, which is obviously still open to new experiences and has a culture of going to music events. In one word - it loves concerts. Especially exclusive, international ones."
For me personally, this year is the definitive proof that I was right all along when, since 1990, I invested a lot of professional effort in order for serious foreign concerts to take place in Belgrade. From the famous concert of the group 'Nova Mob' by Grant Hart at the Academy (1990), through 'The Prodigy' in Hala Pionir (1995), to the first major guest appearances in two thousand: 'Tuxedomoon' (SKC, 2000), 'Stereo MC's' (Hala sportsova, 2001), 'Manu Chao' (Tašmajdan, 2002), 'Blondie' (Hala sportsova, 2003), 'Soulfly' (Hala sportova, 2003), 'Kraftwerk' (Tašmajdan, 2005) and others, and then came EXIT and the Belgrade Jazz Festival. We had to build our concert market and learn the system of working with big names. I am especially glad that I have taught or encouraged many future colleagues who are working today to engage in this activity. Obviously, we succeeded in that", concludes Ambrozić.
It remains to be seen whether this year's concert boom was the result of specific circumstances or the beginning of a new phase of the domestic concert scene. If the trend continues in the coming years, Belgrade could once again become an indispensable stop on European tours after a long time.
