The Uđi slobodno Tour was a tour by Serbian[1] singer Lepa Brena, and was staged in support of her fifteenth studio album, Uđi slobodno... (2008). Comprising 47 shows, the tour visited Europe and Australia. It began on November 1, 2008, in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Club Grodoonia and concluded on May 28, 2011, in Düsseldorf, Germany at Club Ambis.[2] This was Brena's returnee tour. For the first time in 20 years she performed in Zagreb, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Ljubljana and Mostar. It was officially announced in April 2008, with dates for Balkan venues revealed.

Uđi slobodno Tour
Tour by Lepa Brena
Promotional poster for concert in Munich at Tonhalle, February 2010
Associated albumUđi slobodno...
Start date1 November 2008 (2008-11-01)
End date28 May 2011 (2011-05-28)
Legs3
No. of shows
  • 3 in Australia
  • 44 in Europe
  • 47 in total
Lepa Brena concert chronology

Background

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Brena's latest album, "Pomračenje sunca", published in 2000, has not experienced much success. In order to regain her status as a star in the former state Yugoslavia, Brena collected a team of experts for the new album. She chose Marina Tucaković for writing lyrics for new songs, and for music and production Aleksanar Milić - Mili, who was known for his previous cooperation with Ceca. With the new album, a large returnee tour was planned in all major cities of the former Yugoslavia. Brena also hired a team of stylists who will create a new image for her team that will develop her stage performance.[3]

Protests against concerts

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In the turbulent years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, ethnic tensions started rising in Yugoslavia and eventually led to the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Brena was one of the main tabloid targets at the time, as she was a Bosnian Muslim who sang and spoke in the Serbian Ekavian dialect and married a Serb man. Several tabloids claimed she had converted from Islam to Serbian Orthodoxy and had changed her name from Fahreta to Jelena. She denied those claims intensely and has never publicly spoken about her religious beliefs although she was raised a Sunni Muslim.[4]

In 2009, Bosniaks and Croats protested her concerts in Sarajevo on 30 May and in Zagreb on 13 June.[5] The reason behind the protests were pictures allegedly shot in 1993 during the Bosnian War wearing the uniform of the Army of Republika Srpska in her besieged hometown Brčko. Croatian and Bosnian protesters were angered that she was performing in their newly established independent countries and called her a "traitor" and četnikuša (feminine version of chetnik). The concerts went ahead as scheduled with no incident and she claimed the uniform was from the set of a 1990 music video for her song "Tamba Lamba", in which she wore a similar uniform while filming at a zoo in Kenya for the movie, Hajde da se volimo 3. Brena also claimed she was only in Brčko in 1993 to rescue her parents.[6][7]

Shows

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List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold
Date City Country Venue Attendance
Europe[8][9]
1 November 2008 Zürich Switzerland Club Grodoonia 3,000
15 November 2008 Vienna Austria Club Nachtwerk 3,500
20 December 2008 Stuttgart Germany Carl Benz Arena 5,500
25 December 2008 Bochum Taksim Club 2,700
31 December 2008 Budva Montenegro Town square 20,000
17 January 2009 Bansko Bulgaria Club Nai 3,000
7 February 2009 Frankfurt Germany Union Hall 4,000
7 March 2009 Duisburg Club Intakt 3,000
14 March 2009 Zürich Switzerland Club Grodoonia 3,000
21 March 2009 Ljubljana Slovenia Tivoli Hall 10,000
4 April 2009 Kotor Montenegro Club Maximus 3,000
24 April 2009 Malmö Sweden Amiralen 3,500
25 April 2009 Stockholm Gamla Tryckeriet 3,000
30 May 2009 Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina Olympic Hall Zetra 15,000
11 June 2009 Mostar Stadion pod Bijelim Brijegom 15,000
13 June 2009 Zagreb Croatia Arena Zagreb 16,500
8 July 2009 Banja Luka Bosnia and Herzegovina Gradski stadion 20,000
5 September 2009 Portorož Slovenia Amfiteter Auditorija 3,600
7 November 2009 Vienna Austria Club Nachtwerk 3,000
Australia[10]
28 November 2009 Sydney Australia Withlam Centre 5,000
4 December 2009 Perth Herb Graham 3,000
5 December 2009 Melbourne Springvale Hall 6,000
Europe[11]
9 February 2010 Ptuj Slovenia Karnevalska Dvorana 5,000
27 February 2010 Munich Germany Tonhalle 4,000
3 April 2010 Düsseldorf Club Ambis 3,000
1 May 2010 Pforzheim Flash Club Lounge 2,000
8 May 2010 Montlingen Switzerland Club Flash 3,000
18 May 2010 Tinjan Croatia Gradski stadion 5,000
10 September 2010 Mostar Bosnia and Herzegovina Club Bidge 3,000
24 September 2010 Malmö Sweden Slagthus 4,000
25 September 2010 Norrköping Folkets Park Borgen 3,000
1 October 2010 Horsens Denmark Torsted Hallen 3,500
2 October 2010 Gothenburg Sweden Hogsbohallen 5,000
10 December 2010 Nuremberg Germany Club Bodrum 3,000
11 December 2010 Berlin Universal Hall 5,000
18 December 2010 Riazzino Switzerland Club Boomerang 2,000
25 December 2010 Hamburg Germany Club Balkannight 3,000
29 January 2011 Littau Switzerland Club Perosa 3,000
5 February 2011 Munich Germany Inclub Munich 3,500
5 March 2011 Rijeka Croatia Dvorana Mladosti 5,000
8 April 2011 Salzburg Austria Diskoteka Triebwerk West 3,000
9 April 2011 Frankfurt Austria Union Halle 4,000
16 April 2011 Skoplje Macedonia Boris Trajkovski Sports Center 12,000
30 April 2011 Härkingen Switzerland Diskoteka Atlantis 3,000
7 May 2011 Pforzheim Germany Flash Club Lounge 2,500
27 May 2011 Baar Switzerland Club Diamonds 3,000
28 May 2011 Düsseldorf Germany Club Ambis 3,500
Total 250,300

References

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  1. ^ "Serbian Folk Legend Lepa Brena: Borisov Is Phenomenal!". novinite.com. 26 October 2011. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
  2. ^ Schindler, Felix (2010-08-25). "Balkan-Disco Grodoonia ist pleite". Tages-Anzeiger.
  3. ^ "Lepa Brena opet kreće na turneju po bivšoj državi". 21 April 2008.
  4. ^ "Lepa Brena u Centralnom Dnevniku 1 dio". YouTube. May 2009. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  5. ^ "Lepa Brena zapjevat će 13. Lipnja u zagrebačkoj Areni". 8 April 2009.
  6. ^ "Lepa Brena u uniformi Vojske Republike Srpske u Brčkom". 24sata. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  7. ^ "Branitelji dijele slike Lepe Brene u srpskoj uniformi". Jutarnji. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  8. ^ "Lepa Brena 'zapalila' publiku u Sarajevu".
  9. ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.
  10. ^ "24sata.info - Turneja po Australiji: Lepu Brenu dočekala 15-metarska limuzina".
  11. ^ "Lepa Brena-Kurentovanje Ptuj 9.2.2010;Oskar Mile voli disko.avi". YouTube.