„Hotel“ band plays with „Wild Strawberries“ in Srebrenica

On the day of „YU Rock’s“ music festival in Srebrenica (3. 6. ’05.), with Wild Strawberries as the main attraction for the crowd, the place was crawling with bikers. They came from all parts of Bosnia, recognizably uniformed (tattoos, leather, long hair), raising dust with their noisy bikes in this, otherwise peaceful, little town.

The Special reason for their (noisy) arrival was that they brought aid to children with special needs from the region. That’s why their preparations for the evening’s concert had the same message as their mission – no alcohol was consumed in front of children.

We believe they made up for lost time later.
In the evening bikers also dominated the concert space. They went in an out of the demolished high school yard, always with a different girl on the back seat. Some times they would make their way through the crowd to reach the stage although they didn’t really care what was happening on it. The Bands tried hard to take some control over the atmosphere, often to little success. Beer was flowing in enormous quantities.

It was in under these circumstances that Hotel took to stage.

The realistic question was: how will someone with such a neutral name and mellow sound measure up to the bands with names such as The Boars, Patients, Mean Machine and similar?

The local crowd, led by the bikers, was reserved at first. They came to the festival for hard noise and complete madness. However, after the second song Hotel turned the situation around to their advantage and the advantage of the tamer audience members. For a moment world music won over tougher sound. Even those who, out of contempt for soft Dutch men in their fancy suits and flip-flops (people from the north are always a bit warm in these parts), lied down on their bikes and turned their backs to the band, were soon on their feet, hands busy clapping. „Hotel“ was, as is the rule on the tour, joined by local musicians. The excitement in the crowd was such that some people climbed on the stage and started dancing with band members. This didn’t please the security guards and soon everyone was on stage – the band, the audience and the guys in yellow security vests.

Although „Hotel“ kept announcing the last song general mood kept them playing. The real party started when Wild Strawberries, the stars of the evening, started their show. Madness reached its peak with the song Bikes – the singer was accompanied by loud motorcycle noise. To make everything more convincing the bikers burned tires, simulating the effect of smoke machine.
By the end of the concert no one was left sober. That’s why empty glasses and bottles are probably more relevant witnesses of the event than the passed-out crowd.