Rock Monsters Romania

The last week of February was a memorable one for me, as I had the opportunity to attend my first-ever concert at Quantic and witness my first-ever live performance by Dirty Shirt. As the saying goes, “you never forget your first time,” and this was definitely true for me.

After amazing performances all over Europe, including participations at Hellfest and Pol’and’Rock, they were back again in Bucharest, but for the first time in a sold out Quantic.

I’ve entered the concert hall a few minutes before the concert was about to start and the first thing I’ve said to myself was “Is this Romania?”. Around me, I was hearing Italian, Serbian or Bulgarian more than Romanian. It was an amazing feeling to see how appreciated Dirty Shirt is in Europe.

The show consisted of two big parts with a 15 minutes break between them, one of them contained the songs of “Freak Show” and the other the songs from their latest 3 albums: “Dirtylicious”, “Lechtology” and “Get Your Dose Now!”. The show began at 21:00, not even one minute later, with thematic TV images that included iconic moments from Romanian Television history with shows like “Tezaur Folcloric” or “Dan Diaconescu Direct”. It was a moment enjoyed by everyone who knew the referrences and a freaking good idea to introduce themselves.

Few seconds later, the band hopped on the stage in their iconic orange jumpsuits from their release concert back in 2013. And the first part started… With iconic songs as “Freak Show”, “Bad Apples” or “Extreme Funky Disco”, the band made everybody sing as loud as they could.

Another special and very emotional moment was at “Saraca Inima Me”, a song dedicated to Ana, their fan and friend who passed away in January due to the wounds provoked by a stray dog in Bucharest. For aproximately 4 minutes, the song had a new meaning for me and probably for everyone at the show.

After a small break of aproximately 15 minutes, Dan Rini Craciun and Robert Rusz came back on the stage to thank the public for the first part and also tell us some backstage stories from the recordings of “Freak Show”. It was truly an amazing moment where I could see their passion and emotions through their gestures and words. I felt lucky to attend this moment. A calm before the storm…

Only about 30 minutes later, we could all see Rini crowdsurfing in an inflatable boat. Yes, I can confirm you read that right. The second part contained something that I can only describe in two words: pure energy. They played some newer songs, which were more familiar to me (sorry, guys, I was only 12 years old when you released “Freak Show”), including “Palinca” or “Hot for Summer”, last one being stuck in my head since seeing Solomonar’s reels from Hellfest. (It just started playing again when I wrote the last phrase, is it normal? Jokes aside, I really think that is among the Top 5 songs released in Romania in the 2020s.). The band’s tribute to Ukraine at exactly one year since the war began, in which they performed “Când S-O-mpărtit Norocu’ ” and expressed their solidarity with the country and its people, was another unforgettable moment that gave me goosebumps and left me with a tinge of sadness in my soul. They also gave a very clear message to the Russian president at the of the show, I think you can already imagine it so I do not have to reproduce it here.

I left Quantic with another perspective about life and also Romanian music. The show was truly special and even though it was an anniversary and they knew that it should be a happy moment, they wanted to show us the both parts of this crazy and cruel world, or we could say… this incredible freak show we live in. Dirty Shirt is and probably will remain Romania’s biggest metal band for many years to come and I think that their kindness and meaning of lyrics will change their lives and our lives. When I started this small publication, I was hoping to see a Romanian band reach this certain level of success. It’s an amazing feeling to see them now winning more and more awards and gaining popularity every year that passes by. They have come a long way and it’s exciting to see their amazing progress.

And a message for them if they will ever reach this article… Dirty Shirt, you put on a show. Congratulations for everything you do, you rock!

Review and photos by Radu Mihai