Joker Out celebrates decade together with 17,000 fans in Ljubljana

Joker Out, the pop-rock band who gained international recognition after representing Slovenia at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, celebrated their 10th anniversary with a massive carnival-style open-air spectacle that attracted around 17,000 people to Ljubljana.

The spectacle included some 1,500 fans from nearly 50 countries, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

More than a year in the making, the project combined a concert, festival, contemporary circus performances, and immersive visual production, turning a park near a Ljubljana student campus into one of the country's largest live music venues for a day. Organizers deployed over 150 tonnes of equipment.

The event faced a major challenge when a severe thunderstorm hit shortly before the concert. Organizers temporarily suspended activities and cancelled part of the planned schedule while conducting safety and technical inspections of the stage and electrical systems. After the weather cleared, the concert was given the green light to proceed.

Fans soon forgot about their drenched outfit as Finnish artist Käärijä got them into the groove before Joker Out took the stage to a rapturous welcome. The band performed an almost three-hour set featuring more than 30 songs, joined by special guests including Serbian rapper Devito, a brass band and the RTV Slovenija children's and youth choirs.

The show featured lighting and LED effects, pyrotechnics, confetti, and CO2 cannons. A distinctive visual element came from Fuskabo Circus, whose aerial acrobatics, tightrope acts, dance performances, and fire displays added a theatrical carnival atmosphere to the night.

The concert concluded with an emotional encore after thousands of fans called the band back to the stage for one final performance of their hit song Umazane misli (Dirty Thoughts). Reflecting on the night, the band described it as a journey "from huge anticipation to disappointment, from sadness to hope, and finally to complete euphoria".

Following the event, Joker Out thanked fans on Instagram, recalling how "raindrops mingled with tears of fear that everything would go down the drain, literally", but then the fans started dancing barefoot in the puddles and turned the concert into one of the most wonderful experiences. "We won't remember this carnival for the storm, but for how magical we were together beneath it," they wrote.

Photo: Instagram/joker_out_official