

The legendary Finnish band Apocalyptica is coming to Opatija as part of their “Plays Metallica Vol. 2” world tour!
In the world of heavy metal, few artists can claim to have changed history, and even fewer can say they have done it twice. Enter the world called APOCALYPTICA. On Saturday, August 23, 2025, at the Summer Stage, Apocalyptica will offer the audience an incredible performance of their covers of Metallica songs, in a unique combination of classical music and heavy metal.
This performance is a follow-up to the extremely successful album “Plays Metallica by Four Cellos” from 1996, as well as their second album “Plays Metallica Vol. 2″ released in 2020. Apocalyptica will perform Metallica’s iconic hits in their recognizable style, with an emphasis on virtuoso performances on the cellos.
“Being able to re-perform Metallica songs in this way is always a special opportunity. We’ve been talking about recording a new Metallica album for about 20 years now, because there were still so many great songs we wanted to play! We were waiting for the perfect moment to do it. Thinking about the teenager in me now playing his favorite songs gives me goosebumps! Out of maybe 20 songs, nine ended up on the album, and we had to figure out which songs from the last albums would also work,” said Eicca Toppinen, founder and leader of the band, on the occasion of the release of the album “Plays Metallica Vol. 2”.
Tickets for the concerts on this tour are regularly sold out, so don’t miss the opportunity to see Apocalyptica live and experience the fierce combination of classical music and metal at the Summer Stage in Opatija. Tickets are already on sale, and the number of seats is limited.
EVENTIM TICKETS: https://www.eventim.hr/…/apocalyptica…/event.html
Sector A: 55 EUR
Sector B: 50 EUR
Sector C: 45 EUR

Inspirirani albumom “Awaken The Guardian” benda Fates Warning, članovi su odlučili promijeniti ime u Blind Guardian, a uskoro im se pridružio i novi gitarist Marcusa Siepen, koji je član i danas. Njihov rad obilježavaju epski tekstovi inspirirani književnošću, mitologijom i fantazijom, posebno djelima Michaela Moorcocka, Stephena Kinga i dakako neizostavnih i Georgea R.R. Martina i J.R.R. Tolkiena. Bend je pionir power metala i jedan od prvih koji je u žanr uveo kompleksne orkestralne aranžmane i zborske vokale.

Gypsy punk pioneers Gogol Bordello return to Zagreb
Tvornica kulture, Zagreb // Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Support: Bob Vylan
One of the best live bands on the world music scene is coming to Zagreb as part of a European tour, and they are returning to a venue that they have sold out many times so far. The favorites of the domestic audience bring to another meeting the inexhaustible energy that has cemented their position as one of the most recognizable bands over more than two decades of work.
Combining elements of punk and gypsy with humor and effective, chaotic and energetic stage performances, Gogol Bordello tell a story about immigrants and diaspora. Enchanted by the mystical tones of gypsy music that does not belong to the mainstream, but to which he is connected through family roots, Ukrainian frontman Eugene Hütz started his own musical story. Living as a refugee in Europe, he himself experienced a life in which he did not belong anywhere before moving to the USA, where he founded the band.
In 1999, they released their first album “Voi-La Intruder”, which represents world music sound played at full punk speed. A full-blooded multicultural band with guitars, drums, accordion and saxophone that combines the traditions of the East, West and Latin America sounded powerful, and additional popularity was ensured by Hütz himself playing gypsy music in clubs.
Since then, the band has had countless tours and performances that conquered stages around the world, performed with names like System of a Down, Primus or Dropkick Murphys, made a duet with Regina Spektor, made an album with names like Rick Rubin and Steve Albini. All this was accompanied by Eugene’s unstoppable penetration of the art and film scene and the support of global superstars such as Madonna.
The current album “Solidaritine” is a confirmation of their inexhaustible energy and a return to their roots with numerous folk styles, with the theme of solidarity with Ukraine. Personally connected to the topic, the band also organized numerous humanitarian actions with names such as Patti Smith, Suzanne Vega or Magnetic Fields. At the same time, the documentary “Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story”, executive produced by Liev Schreiber, won numerous awards at international film festivals.
Gogol Bordello has so far released nine albums, numerous compilations and countless tours. They can rightly be considered big international music stars whose indomitable stage energy our audience knows very well.
The London duo Bob Vylan will perform as an opening act, and vocalist Bobby and drummer Bobbie together create a unique sound that combines rock, rap, punk, dance and alternative music styles.
Tickets are on sale from Friday, March 7. at 10 a.m.
They are available in the Core Event system, and in Dirty old shop, Rockmark and Dallas Rijeka.

After two years, Polish black metal band Batushka (Батюшка), led by founder Krzysztof “Derph” Drabikowski, are returning to Močvara to put on another metal spectacle, just like last time! The date when the popularly called “real Batushka” is coming to Zagreb is October 1st, and they will be joined on this European tour by French maritime black metal band Houle. Early bird tickets for 27 euros can be purchased through Hangtime ticketing. The pre-sale price of a ticket is 31 euros, and on the day if there are any left they will cost 34 euros. They will soon be available at Dirty Old Shop.
Batushka is a band formed in 2015 in Białystok. Their songs deal with Orthodoxy, and their lyrics are in Old Church Slavonic. The band’s name comes from the word for “father”, or any Orthodox priest, hieromonk. Multi-instrumentalist Drabikowski got the very idea of founding a band while reading comments on YouTube under a video with Orthodox music and how “holy songs are more metal than any satanic black metal”. In the beginning, the band decided to be anonymous and masked, in a way deprived of identity so that the listeners could focus more on the music itself. The band released the first single “Yekteníya VII” and then the debut album Litourgiía (“Litourgiya”) (“Lithurgy”) in December 2015. The album became a big hit on the metal scene and secured the band great popularity and performances at numerous festivals, and their performances in Russia and Belarus were canceled due to protests. Batushka soon split into two bands: one led by Drabikowski, the other led by Bartłomiej “Bart” Krysiuk, now called Patriarkh. In 2019, Drabikowski and the band released the eight-song album Панихида (“Panihida”) (Requiem), which received rave reviews and was also very well received by the metal scene. In May 2024, the Polish courts ruled in favor of Drabikowski in a first-instance ruling regarding the rights to the band’s name. However, the legal dispute over the name “Batushka” has not yet been fully resolved. In any case, Batushka’s performances are not to be missed, see for yourself on October 1st at Močvara!
FB: https://www.facebook.com/truebatushka/
YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvBkvjhXtBk
Houle was formed six years ago in Paris, and their style can be described as atmospheric black metal. Interestingly, their lyrics deal with oceans and maritime themes, which is not particularly typical for this genre. They have behind them the EP “Houle” from 2022, while last year they released the studio debut “Ciel cendre et misère noire”. Band members are:
Græy Gaast – bass, Vikser – drums, Crabe – guitar, Zéphyr – rhythm guitar, Adsagsona – vocalist.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/HouleOfficiel
YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_7H3ZYTMLQ
IG: https://www.instagram.com/houle_officiel/
SP: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6zS0YEPIRESv50RqqhIzCX

Swedish prog metal legends Opeth are returning to Zagreb!
Tvornica kulture, Zagreb // Tuesday, October 7, 2025.
One of the most significant bands of any fierce musical style of the last three decades, Opeth are returning to Zagreb as part of a European tour accompanying their new album “The Last Will & Testament”.
Following the release of “In Cauda Venenum”, when they held a highly acclaimed premiere performance in Croatia as part of the concert promotion, the album “The Last Will & Testament” is being praised by critics as another confirmation of the band’s great catalog. Metal Injection calls it “a fascinating and progressive album from the Swedish masters of progressive death metal that you can’t stop listening to”, and the story is set in the dark 1920s.
Mikael Åkerfeldt and his team are considered by many to be one of the best groups of musicians that the metal genre has produced in a long time. With 14 studio releases behind them, Opeth have gone through many genres throughout their career, staying lately on classic progressive rock, which, with occasional detours towards the old harder directions, had more and more influences and jazz. For more than three decades, the band has been committed to creating a catalog of albums with which they constantly progress in sound, at the same time uniting the power of mysticism, the influence of hard rock giants, but also the Scandinavian heritage of death metal.
Armed with a very rich catalog and according to many at their playing peak, Opeth are an institution of progressive modern sound and a band that has influenced a whole range of today’s progressive bands. The opportunity to hear the Swedish prog metal masters will be this autumn at Tvornica kulture.
Tickets at the early bird price of 42 euros go on sale on Friday, February 28. in the Core Event system.

LACUNA COIL
SLEEPLESS EMPIRE TOUR 2025
Special Guests: NONPOINT
Admission: 7:00 p.m. | Start: 8:00 p.m.
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For over three decades, Lacuna Coil from Milan have been working tirelessly on the development of multifaceted metal and their international career. On nine studio albums, they have developed an individual sound between death metal, threatening gothic, modern alternative metal and that successful touch of pop that has helped their music gain great recognition outside the scene. This has brought the band around the charismatic singer Cristina Scabbia worldwide success. “Sleepless Empire”, their tenth album, which will be released on February 14th, provides further proof of their special class. Like every album they release, “Sleepless Empire” is a richly textured soundtrack of its time: dark, cinematic, orchestral, and unmistakably true to the unique qualities that have earned Lacuna Coil a celebrated entry in the annals of metal music.
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LACUNA COIL
SLEEPLESS EMPIRE TOUR 2025
Special Guests: NONPOINT
Admission: 7:00 p.m. | Start: 8:00 p.m.
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For over three decades, Lacuna Coil from Milan have been working tirelessly on the development of multifaceted metal and their international career. On nine studio albums, they have developed an individual sound between death metal, threatening gothic, modern alternative metal and that successful touch of pop that has helped their music gain great recognition outside the scene. This has brought the band around the charismatic singer Cristina Scabbia worldwide success. “Sleepless Empire”, their tenth album, which will be released on February 14th, provides further proof of their special class. Like every album they release, “Sleepless Empire” is a richly textured soundtrack of its time: dark, cinematic, orchestral, and unmistakably true to the unique qualities that have earned Lacuna Coil a celebrated entry in the annals of metal music.
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