Words: Miljan Milekić
For more than two decades now, the Street Musicians Festival is a staple in the cultural scene of Novi Sad. Over the years, the festival grew into a real international event, showcasing talented musicians and performers from all over the world. Singers, dancers, one-man bands, acapella groups, DJs, and street performers of all kinds would roam the streets of Novi Sad, turning the city into one big stage. In the last couple of years, the festival found its home in the Lower Town of the Petrovaradin Fortress, making a perfect choice. Narrow streets between the beautiful Baroque buildings, just beneath the colossal fortress, provide the perfect scenery for an event like this, making it even more special.
As the festival grew, its program slowly opened to more diverse artists, including more traditional genres and art forms, more associated with classic music venues. Therefore, over the years, the crowd at the festival had a chance to see many names from the pop, rock, jazz, and hip hop scene, in addition to the ones representing the art of street performances. One of those names is Novi Sad pop punk and emo trio See It My Way. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen this band live, in all kinds of different settings, but this show was certainly not one to miss. Not only that everything around it was one of a kind, but it was also their first performance with new member Mladen Nikolić as a full-time member, after periodically playing with the band for a while.
So, everything was leading to a great night, and that’s exactly what we got. The band took their place on a tiny stage just outside of the monumental church of Saint Juraj, and kicked things off with ’19.’ It didn’t take long until the fans in the first rows took their part in the show, erasing all the tension if there ever was any, considering the majority of the crowd at this festival traditionally consists of casual music enthusiasts roaming between stages. Most of those people stuck with the band until the very end, joining the core up front. The trio, however, didn’t seem to have any worries about it, delivering the best from their catalogue.
With so many great songs under their belts, See It My Way combined their own heavy hitters like ‘Showdown,’ ‘Firestarter,’ or ‘dirt.,’ with their own renditions of Bullet For My Valentine‘s career-defining hit ‘Tears Don’t Fall,’ and My Chemical Romances legendary track ‘Helena.’ As the show was nearing the end, the trio once again went to their early stuff with ‘Wait a Minute,’ and ‘Days Out,’ dedicated to all the people who are with them from the very beginning. And it was the moment that sums up very well what this band is all about. See It May Way may not be a household name, they may not headline festival stages, but their music is just where they want it to be – it reaches people who need it. And it’s those people that stick around, that follow them wherever they go, and slowly spread the world around.
