Dragana Mirkovic: "Thank You, Zrenjanin, for the Love"
The singer performed at Trg Slobode square on Saturday, August 8, the fourth night of the 41st Beer Days festival, her first major concert before a home crowd since cutting short a show in Croatia.
Dragana Mirkovic sang for about three hours at Trg Slobode square in Zrenjanin on Saturday, August 8, the fourth night of the 41st Beer Days festival, before several thousand people. It was her first major concert before a home crowd since she cut short a show in Croatia in mid July because of health problems.
This year’s festival ran from August 5 to 9, with free admission for everyone. The City of Zrenjanin booked 14 performers across the five festival nights, and Dragana’s evening was the one people had been waiting for since the lineup was announced.
That Saturday’s schedule was packed. Sofija Peric took the main stage at 9 p.m., and while Trg Slobode filled to capacity, Tap 011 played a set of nineties hits at Zitni trg. Following the schedule, the crowd shifted between the two locations through the evening.
What Dragana said before walking on stage
The singer spoke with reporters before going on stage and previewed the kind of show she was about to deliver.
“I’m so glad to finally be in Zrenjanin. The audience can expect the ‘little Dragana’ they’ve known for so many years now, who will give everything she has and offer them a heart full of love, because that’s what connects us.”
She also brought up her 1993 concert at Zrenjanin’s Medison hall. Thirty three years stand between that hall and this square, which explains why part of the crowd on Saturday had first seen her as teenagers. She praised the city center as well, singling out the poppy seed strudel from her welcome.
Near the end of the show, she addressed the crowd from the stage.
“This is one of those nights you remember for the rest of your life. When I see this many people singing along with me, all I can be is grateful and happy. Thank you, Zrenjanin, for the love you’ve shown me, I’ll carry this in my heart for a long time.”
The performance ran without a break, and the setlist drew on songs from across her entire career. Thousands of fans sang along to every song, and the front of the square was a sea of raised phones. Clips from the concert went up that same night and the following day, August 9, when the first reports from Trg Slobode also appeared.
Why this particular concert was a test
In mid July, Dragana Mirkovic cut short a concert in Croatia because of health problems. Since then, the open question had been how much she could handle on stage, and her summer schedule was built around open squares, meaning no air conditioned hall and no shortened program. Zrenjanin was her first major date after that break, and the first place it could be tested.
Three hours on stage answered that question. The tour continued after Zrenjanin with no changes to the schedule.
Where the summer tour goes next
The very next night, August 9, the singer performed in Velika Kladusa. Coming up on the tour:
- Orasje
- Trgoviste, August 16
- Nis, August 22
For Zrenjanin, Dragana’s night stayed the best attended of that week, and for the festival itself the question now is what comes next: the 41st edition closed on August 9, and the model of 14 performers with free admission, funded from the city’s own budget, will be debated again, as it is every year, once preparations for next summer begin.
