Thompson (band)

After the release of E, Moj Narode in 2002, the band began touring to promote the album. The height of the tour was a[8] concert at the Poljud football stadium in Split. The concert was attended by some 40,000 spectators. During the song "Lijepa li si", Miroslav Škoro, Alen Vitasović, Mate Bulić, Giuliano Đanić, and Mladen Grdović joined him on stage. At the concert, Perković stated that his songs mark his three loves: God, homeland, and family.[8]

The concert sparked controversies. Two seats in the audience were reserved for Mirko Norac (convicted war criminal, who was on trial at the time) and Ante Gotovina (found not guilty in 2012 on all charges by an appeals panel at the ICTY, but at the time a fugitive). At the beginning of the concert, just moments before Perković stepped onstage, the audience sang the Ustaše song "Evo zore, evo dana".[5][8]

In 2003, Thompson released a best-of CD. Also in 2004, vocalist and bassist Tiho Orlić released a solo album, Tiho, which contained a couple of Thompson songs, and on which Perković collaborated. This tour continued sporadically into 2005. Internationally, he played at Sydney's Entertainment Centre and Melbourne's Vodafone Arena in May 2005.[1] By the end of the tour, the album was declared a Diamond Record after more than 60,000 copies were sold.[2]

Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj was released in December 2006. Despite the late release, it became the second-highest selling Croatian album of the year. Thompson soon after announced an initial tour of Croatia and select European cities beginning after the Lenten season through summer, culminating with a performance at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb. The tour began in Vukovar in the Borovo Naselje neighborhood, where approximately 4000 fans came out to watch the group perform.[9]

The tour continued to Đakovo before going to Frankfurt, where he performed for a crowd of approximately 15,000 at Ballsporthalle. By June, the album had sold 100,000 copies—very high by Croatian standards. The first tour leg in Croatia ended with the biggest concert at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, where they performed in front of 60,000 spectators. The concert was broadcast live on Croatian Public Television. As part of the second leg, Thompson performed at Split's Stadion Stari plac in front of 25,000 people. The show was recorded for a live CD release.[10]

Banner from Toronto-area concert

He had two shows scheduled in November 2007 for New York City, which provoked protests from several Jewish groups.[11] These groups called on the Archdiocese of New York to stop the show, but the diocese declined, reportedly finding no evidence that the group promoted neo-Nazism.[12] A Washington Post reporter who attended one of the concerts also questioned the purported neo-Nazi link.[13] The band's concert in Toronto attracted 5000 people to the Croatian center where it was held, after the original venue with a capacity of 2,500, Kool Haus, cancelled.[14] The rest of the tour continued as planned.

Thompson returned to Croatia in November 2007, and continued with shows in Bosnia and Herzegovina cities including Mostar, Tomislavgrad, Novi Travnik, Široki Brijeg, and Čapljina.[10] His last show in Croatia before heading to Australia was Cibona's annual Christmas benefit show at Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall with proceeds going to the Zagreb Cathedral.[15] The tour in Australia included shows at Melbourne's Festival Hall, Sydney's Sydney United Sports Centre on New Year's Eve, Adelaide, and Perth. The B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission of Australia lobbied to prevent the band from receiving Australian visas, but government officials found the band did not violate any terms which would impede their receiving visas. After several guest appearances in Croatia, the rapper Shorty was confirmed to be joining Thompson for the Australian leg of the tour, which collectively drew in 22,000 fans at four shows.[16] In the new year the tour continued with shows in Rijeka, Krapina, and Čakovec before pausing for the group's usual Lenten break.[17]

After the break the group had shows in Zadar's Jazine Arena and in Gothenburg, Sweden.[17] A show in Nova Gradiška had proceeds going to the construction of a local Catholic church. After Nova Gradiška the band proceeded with shows in Varaždin, Karlovac, and Županja. Local authorities threatened to block the band's 21 May concert in Stuttgart, Germany.[18] However, they backed down after the concert's German Croat backers threatened legal action against the city and translated twenty of the band's songs into German for the authorities' benefit.[18]

Thompson was asked by Croatian veteran groups to perform at the Defender's Day celebrations at Zagreb's Ban Jelačić Square, the concert being free of charge.[19] An estimated 55–60,000 people attended the concert by the official police estimates, some figures placed the number at 100,000.[20]

Thompson played in Kupres on 19 July at the Croatian Defenders Stadium as part of the town's Saint Elijah celebrations. The band played in Livno on 27 July to end Canton 10's international Tera conference in front of a crowd of 15–20,000 people. In 2008, in celebration of Victory Day in Čavoglave, Thompson drew a crowd between 60,000 and 100,000.[21]

Guests included musicians Mate Bulić and Dražen Zečić, former Croatian international footballers Ardian Kozniku and Ivica Mornar, and international basketball player Dino Rađa.[22] Thompson played in Neum on 29 August in front of 5,000 spectators with profits going to the building of a new church in the town. On 30 May 2008, Thompson held a concert on Ban Jelačić Square. The tour officially ended on 28 December 2008 at the same Borovo Naselje venue in which it began,[23] with another humanitarian concert with profits going to Vukovar's hospital. It was attended by hospital's director and war-time heroine Vesna Bosanac, who greeted him on stage.[24]

It was estimated by Thompson's staff that almost 950,000 tickets were sold during the whole two-year-long tour.[25] In June 2008, Perković was named the third most influential person in Croatian show business by Globus magazine.[26]

Marko Perković and Ivan Ivanković

The tour started on 22 June 2013 at the Zenith in Munich, Germany in front of 4,000 people. The tour continued with the concert at the Poljud football stadium in Split on 30 June 2013. The concert was reportedly attended by 50,000 spectators.

1. Sokolov krik (Falcon's Shriek)
2. Dobrodošli (Welcome)
3. Uvijek vjerni tebi (Forever Faithful to You)
4. Nema predaje (No Surrender)
5. Bog i Hrvati (God and the Croats)
6. Kletva kralja Zvonimira (The Curse of King Zvonimir)
7. Moj dida i ja (My Grandfather and I)
8. Zaustavi se vjetre (Slow Down, Wind)
9. Bosna (Bosnia)
10. Zapali vatru (Burn Fire)
11. E, moj narode (Oh, My People)
12. Duh ratnika (The Spirit of the Warriors)
13. Maranatha (Maranatha)
14. Neću izdat ja (I Will Not Betray)
15. Geni kameni (Genes Made of Stone)
16. Samo je ljubav tajna dvaju svjetova (Only Love is the Secret of the Two Worlds)
17. Sine moj (My Son)
18. Lipa Kaja (Pretty Kata)
19. Bojna Čavoglave/Neka ni'ko ne dira u moj Mali dio svemira (Bojna Čavoglave/Let No One Touch My Small Part of the Universe)
20. Moj Ivane (My Ivan)
21. Lijepa li si (How Pretty You Are)
22. Diva Grabovčeva (The Diva of Grabov)
23. Put u raj (Road to Paradise)
24. Početak (The Beginning)

Controversy regarding the alleged promotion of the fascist Ustaše regime led to a number of banned performances, including the band's concert in the Netherlands in 2003.[30]

Thompson became popular with their 1991 hit song "Bojna Čavoglave", which was released during the Croatian War of Independence. The song depicts a battle involving a battalion of Croatian soldiers from Čavoglave, a village in the Dalmatian rural hinterland (and Perković's birthplace). The song opens with the WWII fascist slogan Za dom spremni (Ready for the homeland).[31]

In 2007, the Anti Defamation League reported that many of the Thompson concert attendees, who were primarily young people, wore clothing with Ustashe symbols and carried banners with "anti-Serb, anti-semitic and anti-Roma rhetoric". They performed Nazi salutes in response to the band's "traditional “war cry” of the Ustashe" done at the beginning of the concert.[32] Ustashe material was also allegedly sold at venues.[32]

In 2003, the band was barred from having a concert in Amsterdam.[30] Regarding the cancellation of the concert, Perkovic allegedly told a Croatian newspaper, "It is all to blame on the Jews. I have nothing against them and I did nothing to them. I know that Jesus Christ also did nothing against them, but still they hanged him on the cross. So what can I expect as a small man?".[32]

Two weeks after the concert in Zagreb on 17 June 2007, Perković made this statement regarding claims by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that he is a fascist: "Me and members of my band saw nobody with Ustaša iconography among 60 and more thousand people on Maksimir."[33] The performance included the use of Ustaše slogans.[34] At Thompson's Zagreb concert for the Day of Defenders, a group of youths was heard chanting "Ubi Srbina" ("Kill the Serb"), according to some Croatian media sources.[35][36]

The most discussed concert was the first ever banned in Croatia, in the Istrian town of Umag.[37] After this ban, Thompson asked for permission to hold a concert in Pula, Istria's most populous city. When this was denied, the band initiated[38] and lost court actions against the city of Pula for "human rights violations". After the court decision, the band's lawyer declared that sooner or later Thompson would perform in Pula. In late December 2008, he managed to secure permission to organize a concert in Pazin, despite fierce opposition from the Istrian Democratic Assembly, the region's leading political party. These attacks led to an increase of tensions, which reached their climax the night of 11 December, when an explosive device was ignited outside the concert venue.[39] Although IDS MP Damir Kajin accused Thompson's fans, it turned out that the offender, Vilim Bon (then aged 59), who was injured in the defragration and arrested by police, was acting to stop the concert. The concert took place as planned on 20 December 2008, followed by two more shows on 21 and 22 December due to reported demand.[40]

Thompson was banned from performing in Switzerland multiple times, including in 2009.[41] Their planned 2014 Berlin performance was cancelled[42] and in 2017, they were banned from performing in Austria due to their extremism[43] as well as in Slovenia.[44]

It has been noted in Serbian media that Thompson might have used the melodies of a Chetnik song, Nad Kraljevom živa vatra seva, for their Anica − Kninska kraljica, and a Partisan song, Sivi sokole, for their Bojna Čavoglave.[45][46]

Perković has stated he is neither an Ustaša nor a fascist, but a patriot.[9] The Croatian Helsinki Committee has come out against any potential bans, with its president Ivo Banac referring to such calls from Stipe Mesić and Damir Kajin as a "weakening of the democratic order".[47] At his concert in Vukovar on 13 April 2007, he stated:

I can't command anybody what to wear at my concert, and I have never encouraged anybody to wear a cap or shirt with letter 'U'. My message to all of them (and that I would say this evening too, if I saw [anything like that]): wear the insignia of the victorious Croatian army from Croatian War of Independence. It is sad that young people return so far in history and fall for propaganda.[9]

Perković's last tour, Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj, was protested by various Jewish organizations. Held in Frankfurt, the organizations vehemently requested that the German government ban the concert because of its alleged fascist lyrics. When the German government received the transcript of Thompson's songs, the request to ban the concert was immediately rejected. At the 17 June 2007, concert at Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Perković repeated his claim that he is not a fascist.

The audience, in a sign of approval, shouted a medieval Croatian battle-cry (mostly known from Ivan Zajc's opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski and today used mostly to boost morale at soccer matches), "U boj, u boj – za narod svoj!" (English: To the battle, To the battle – for your people/nation!). In anticipation of a New Year's Eve tour in Australia and New Zealand, Perković released an interview with the local Croatian community magazine, Hrvatski Vjesnik, a translation of which was published in the "New Generation" English language supplement,[16] in which he stated that the vast majority of Croats (including himself) do not have negative feelings towards Jewish people or their religion, and expressed sympathy after the recent controversy with the Simon Wiesenthal Center. However, based on his tumultuous history, which includes many incendiary and hateful remarks towards Serbs and other ethnic groups, coupled with his seeming support for Ustaše movements, this retort was widely believed to be nothing more than politically correct posturing.[16]

After the concert in Ban Jelacic square, planned concerts in Switzerland and Austria were banned, allegedly for security reasons; a similar effort in Stuttgart was rebuked by local Croatians and Germans of Croatian descent, threatening legal action.

• 1992 - Moli mala
• 1995 - Vrijeme škorpiona
• 1996 - Geni kameni
• 1998 - Vjetar s Dinare
• 2002 - E, moj narode
• 2006 - Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj
• 2011 - Glazba iz Filma Josef
• 2013 - Ora et labora

• 1992 - Najveći hitovi
• 2001 - The best of
• 2003 - Sve najbolje
• 2008 - Druga strana
• 2015 - The best of collection
• 2016 - Antologija

• 2002 - Turneja: E, moj narode
• 2007 - Turneja: Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj
• 2013 - Turneja: Ora et labora