It often happens that after a concert break, concerts pile up. It was the case this time, too, namely, on 11 February, Eluveitie, Infected Rain and Ad Infinitum played at Ljubljana's Kino Šiška, and the day after, legendary industrial metallers Pain played at Cvetličarna with support band Oceans. Since attending both events was out of the question, Jerneja and I decided on the latter after an approved interview with Peter Tagtren (Pain), and we don't regret it.

We arrived at the venue a little before 7 pm, called the responsive and helpful tour manager, and the interview with the friendly and talkative Peter was already taking place backstage. The previously approved 15 minutes dragged on, so you can expect a slightly more extensive interview with the metal legend - soon.

Then we waited for quite a while, in the pleasant company of Marko and Sabina, waiting for the start of the musical event. I should mention that drinks in the Cvetličarna club are quite expensive, especially beer; the only available drink was a small can of Union beer, which cost as much as a large beer in other clubs, if not even more. Otherwise, the club is well and "darkly" designed; in my opinion, it is one of the best in Ljubljana and just right for concerts by bands like Pain. Anyway, it was time to start, and first, we listened to the German nu-death/metalcore/modern metal or whatever band Oceans.

The band hasn't convinced me with their albums, probably because I'm not into this kind of music. However, they tried their best live, and certain tracks were quite interesting. Oceans' music combines influences from many subgenres, which makes it hard to define it. It was an energetic performance, especially thanks to singer Tim Schwämmlein, who tried in every possible way to animate the audience, which he succeeded in doing - to a good extent. The setlist, I think they played around 10 songs, was made up of all three albums, although the emphasis was on last year's Happy and 2022's Hell Is Where The Heart Is, both released through Nuclear Blast Records. Oceans justified its role as the opening act for Pain with a solid and energetic performance.

Now Pain. The I Am tour started in 2023 and stopped in Ljubljana already then. As for the tour, this time in Ljubljana, Pain - after previously being a co-headliner - performed as a headliner for the first time. Of course, a longer setlist was expected, and, of course, we got it. The hall was quite full, although the day before, as already mentioned, there was a concert at Kino Šiška, which was almost sold out. Peter and his group, including Peter's son Sebastian Tägtgren, who has been playing drums since 2016, offered us incredible entertainment from the first minute. Of course, with an emphasis on the latest album, I Am, from which we got six songs. I must say that some of the songs from this album, such as "Don't Wake The Dead", "Go With The Flow", "Party In My Head", "Push The Pusher", and "Revolution", gained hit status in a very short time and are also accepted by the audience, as almost everyone knew every note and word.

Of course, Pain can't do without old hits like "Same Old Song", "It's Only Them", "Zombie Slam", or "Shut Your Mouth", with which it also ended its performance. Uncompromising, dynamic, fun, powerful - all that and more was Pain's performance. Peter didn't waste too many words during the songs, but the band members changed clothes several times during the performance. Among other things, they appeared in colourful "queery" clothes during "Party In My Head" and in cowboy style during "Have A Drink On Me". I don't think there was a person in the hall who didn't have fun, and I believe that Pain also felt this relaxed energy that they somehow co-created. But when Sinatra's "My Way" came out of the speakers, we knew the end was not just near but already there. We got 17 songs in about an hour and a half of performance.

I have nothing to add. The concert was excellent in every way, and the fact is that Peter Tägtgren is a great performer, regardless of what role he appears in on stage, whether it's as Pain, Hypocrisy, or something else. Until next time.

Report by Tomaz
Photos by Tomaz
Edited by Jerneja
Links: Pain, Oceans, Dirty Skunks (promoter)