Laibach: controversial yet brilliant

I went to see the concert of Laibach, a Slovenian band that rarely performs in Slovenia. They have always had a very controversial image, since they play with Nazi insignia and leftish texts. It’s all a bit of political provocation and as Richard Wolfson wrote once:

“Laibach’s method is extremely simple, effective and horribly open to misinterpretation. First of all, they absorb the mannerisms of the enemy, adopting all the seductive trappings and symbols of state power, and then they exaggerate everything to the edge of parody… Next they turn their focus to highly charged issues — the West’s fear of immigrants from Eastern Europe, the power games of the EU, the analogies between Western democracy and totalitarianism. [Wolfson, 2003, source Wikipedia]

However the performance was impressive. A pure, hard electronics with plenty of guests. 1,5 hours of something that comes close to Rammstein, surrounded with superb video screening. The lyrics full of politics, not always easy to swallow. All in all, brilliant