Brkovi in Rijeka on 21 March: Exportdrvo brings a concert before Dubai and a new single causing reactions

Before Dubai, Brkovi are coming to Rijeka: on 21 March, Exportdrvo becomes one of the key stops of the spring tour

The Rijeka audience will be among the first to hear live the new single “My Friend Became a Woman”, a song that in just a few days triggered strong reactions from part of the audience and the media, but also opened a new round of debate about where provocation ends and where social commentary in music begins. The band Brkovi will perform on Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 9 PM at Exportdrvo in Rijeka, and according to data from official and sales channels, this is a concert already being presented as their biggest Rijeka performance so far. Tickets are available in presale via Entrio, and the organisers highlight that date as one of the more prominent spring concerts of the domestic alternative and rock scene in Rijeka.

For a band that has been building its own audience outside classic genre drawers for more than two decades, the Rijeka performance comes at an important moment. Brkovi confirmed that after Ljubljana and Rijeka at the end of March, they continue towards Split, and then towards international dates, among which the concert in Dubai on 25 April is particularly notable. That is precisely why the Rijeka concert is not just another incidental stop on the tour, but an evening in which the audience will get a cross-section of older songs, newer singles and the current stage identity of a band that has long outgrown the status of a curiosity on the regional scene and become a serious concert name.

Rijeka as a city where Brkovi have a proven audience

Brkovi are not coming to Rijeka as an unknown band only testing the ground. On the contrary, the Rijeka audience has for years shown that there is strong interest in this type of concert, and the band itself lists Rijeka among the important cities of the current tour on its official pages and concert announcements. Additional weight to this performance is given by the fact that they skipped Rijeka in 2025, which is why this year’s return is being awaited with increased interest. The announcements therefore especially emphasise that they are performing in Exportdrvo for the first time as a venue with greater capacity, which is also read as a sign of the growth of their audience in a city that traditionally nurtures a lively concert and club scene.

In recent years, Exportdrvo has profiled itself as one of the more important Rijeka venues for larger urban events, concerts and festival programmes. Located on Delta, by Grobnička riva, that space allows for production-wise larger performances than standard club gigs, and precisely that kind of format is logical for Brkovi given the reputation of a band whose concerts are rarely reduced to merely performing songs. Their performances rely on collective energy, a loud audience and almost ritual joint singing of choruses, so it is no coincidence that the Rijeka date is being announced as an event that could gather the largest number of their fans in that city so far.

The new single has already become the central point of interest

Special attention ahead of the Rijeka concert was drawn by the new single “My Friend Became a Woman”, released at the beginning of March. The song itself fits into Brkovi’s recognisable poetics: a provocative title, direct language, edge-of-the-line humour and the deliberate opening of space for different, sometimes even opposing readings. What further increased interest in this case is the timing of the release, immediately ahead of International Women’s Day, as well as the fact that the band already in its first public appearances and in the description of the music video emphasised that the song and video do not intend to belittle, insult, discriminate against or incite hatred towards any person or group.

The music video was filmed with the participation of the HUI-HUI Productions team, and the description of the official release states that the music and lyrics were signed together with Vedran Pehar, the frontman known by the name Shamso69, while the production was led by Ivan Mihaljević in the Supersonic Songbird studio. Special attention was also attracted by the visual concept: the band members in the video are dressed as women, and among the acknowledgements the Zagreb venue Route 66 is also mentioned as the filming location. That visual framework does not try to soften the provocation of the title, but further intensifies it, following the logic by which Brkovi have for years built their identity between satire, caricature, social commentary and conscious exaggeration.

Provocation as an old tool of a band that made a recognisable brand out of a joke

Since their founding in 2004, Brkovi have built their career on the clash of the incompatible: punk, rock, heavy sound, tavern melodics, Balkan humour and stage exaggeration. On its official pages, the band describes its style as “PunkFolkWellness”, and that name is not just a neat quip but a summary of the formula by which they became recognisable across the former Yugoslavia and beyond. In that formula, guitar riffs, choruses adapted to mass singing and lyrics that often act as parody are equally important, yet at the same time they often touch very concrete social patterns, gender stereotypes, Balkan myths and everyday frustrations.

Because of that approach, over the years Brkovi have provoked both enthusiasm and objections. One part of the audience sees in them a band that uncompromisingly mocks social hypocrisies, while another believes that provocation sometimes overpowers nuance. That is exactly why the new single was not met with indifference. The debate it sparked is not irrelevant for understanding the Rijeka concert either, because it is very likely that precisely that song will be one of the moments of the evening most talked about, not only because of the title but also because the audience likes to check how controversial or newly released things sound live, outside internet comments and without music video editing.

What the audience can expect at Exportdrvo

Although the official set list has, as expected, not been published in advance, from Brkovi’s concert practice so far and from the announcement itself it is clear that the Rijeka performance will not be focused only on one new single. The audience can expect a cross-section of different phases of their career, from earlier songs that built the core of the band’s loyal audience to newer releases showing that Brkovi still count on the effect of surprise. Such a concert structure is almost standard for them: the alternation of recognisable favourites and fresh material maintains the intensity of the performance, while at the same time giving the audience the feeling that they are not listening to a mere reproduction of the old repertoire.

An important element of their concert is not only the song, but also the dynamics between the stage and the audience. Brkovi have earned the reputation of a band whose performances are not watched passively. The audience sings almost every other section, follows the rhythm by jumping, and the concert often functions as a shared outlet for energy that is harder to achieve in more conventional concert formats. In that sense, Exportdrvo is a venue that suits them: large enough to accommodate increased interest, yet direct enough that the contact between the band and the audience does not lose club intimacy.

The Rijeka concert as a domestic peak before an international step forward

An additional layer of interest comes from the fact that several important dates follow after Rijeka, among which Dubai on 25 April stands out in particular. That performance is also listed on the band’s official concert page, which states that the concert will be held at the OAK venue, and in recent days domestic media have also reported on it. In those publications, frontman Shamso says that the band hopes for the calming of the situation and the possibility for people to travel without fear, which shows that the performers themselves do not ignore the broader geopolitical context in which that performance is being planned.

Such a context is not irrelevant. In mid-March, the official travel warning pages of certain countries were already recording increased risk for travel to the United Arab Emirates due to the threat of armed conflict and regional instability. That does not automatically mean that the concert will be postponed or cancelled, but it explains why the announcement of the Dubai performance attracted more attention than a foreign tour date of a regional band would otherwise attract. In such a situation, the Rijeka concert also gains additional symbolic weight: the domestic audience will follow the band immediately before their departure for a performance planned in a more sensitive international atmosphere.

From garage provocation to concert institution

Brkovi have long passed the phase in which they could be described only as a band of unusual genre combination. The official biography states that they have been active since 2004, that they have a series of studio albums and hundreds of concerts across the Balkans and Europe behind them, and their long-term survival on the scene is probably the best proof that this is a project that has outgrown the initial shock effect. At a time when many bands fade away after a few seasons, Brkovi have managed to retain recognisability without giving up their main mechanism: mixing irony, entertainment and deliberate discomfort.

Their success also largely stems from the fact that they hit the space between the alternative scene and the wide festival audience. They can play in a club, but also on a large open stage. They can be a band for those who love punk energy, but also for an audience that follows them primarily because of anthemic choruses and undisguised Balkan folkloric nerve. That is exactly why their concerts are not limited to one generation or one subculture. Long-time fans, the curious, lovers of domestic rock, festival audiences and those for whom Brkovi are difficult to classify but easy to experience live all mix there.

Why the new single is important right now

The release of the song “My Friend Became a Woman” shows that Brkovi, even after more than twenty years, do not want to play it safe. At a moment when many bands in their place would live mainly off proven concert favourites, they still come out with material that provokes an immediate reaction. That is important both in the market sense and in the authorial sense. In a market saturated with short-lived viral content, Brkovi use provocation to maintain visibility, but at the same time remain faithful to the model according to which a song must also function as a concert piece, and not only as an internet headline.

Rijeka will be among the first places where it will be seen whether the new single can make the journey from digital curiosity to a real concert moment. That is a test more important for any band than the number of comments on social networks. A song that triggers a heated internet debate but does not come alive before an audience remains a short-lived episode. A song that works live becomes part of the repertoire. Brkovi are clearly counting on this second possibility, and the Rijeka performance could be the first more serious indicator of its real reach.

Tickets, timetable and expectations before Saturday

According to available data from the Entrio platform, the concert at Exportdrvo is being held on Saturday, 21 March 2026, starting at 9 PM, and the location is listed at Delta, Grobnička riva in Rijeka. At the time of the last check, tickets were available in presale at a price of 20 euros, with a separately indicated ticket issuing fee. The event organiser is listed as MAAN ENT d.o.o. Those data are important also because they confirm that this is a concrete, operationally set event, and not just a preliminary tour announcement.

For the Rijeka audience, that means that towards the end of March a concert is being prepared that combines several strong elements: a band with established status on the regional scene, a venue capable of carrying a larger production format, a new single that is already being talked about, and additional interest because of the band’s international plans in a period that carries more uncertainty than usual. In such a combination, it is not difficult to understand why Brkovi’s performance at Exportdrvo is not read merely as another concert date, but as an evening in which it will be tested how powerful their formula still is, how much the new song can withstand a clash with the audience, and how much Rijeka remains one of the cities in which this band most easily turns from an internet provocation into a full-blooded live spectacle.

Sources:

• Entrio – official event sales page with date, timetable, location and ticket information (link)
• Brkovi – official concert list listing Rijeka on 21 March 2026 and Dubai on 25 April 2026 (link)
• Brkovi – official band biography with information on the founding, style and discographic continuity (link)
• YouTube / official Brkovi channel – publication of the video “My Friend Became a Woman” with production data and a publicly published note on the intention of the song and video (link)
• Glas Slavonije – report on the announcement of the concert in Dubai and frontman Shamso’s statement about the hope that the situation will calm down (link)
• Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia – consular recommendations and travel warnings for the United Arab Emirates (link)
• U.S. Department of State – official travel advisory for the United Arab Emirates, updated in early March 2026, with a warning about the threat of armed conflict (link)