There are concerts you go to just to see the performance, and there are ones where you suddenly catch yourself singing every word along with a thousand other people around you. Dragan Lukić Luky's concert on 31 July 2026 in Zadar's Kapetanski park was exactly the second kind of night, and that's why this time I showed up both with a camera and as a completely ordinary fan in the crowd.

Entry was free, so it's no surprise the park was filling up an hour before the show. The organisers had announced in advance that numbers would be limited by the venue's capacity, purely for safety and to keep the evening pleasant for everyone, and that decision proved spot on when the park was packed to the last metre and people kept arriving.

A comeback worth the wait

Thirteen years is a long break for anything, let alone a break from performing for an audience that remembers you well. So from the very first song you could feel this wasn't the same artist Zadar remembered: on stage in the renovated park stood a Luky who sounds more mature, more confident and more emotional than before.

What sets him apart from other singer-songwriters of his generation is that people know him not just for his own songs, but also as the man behind a string of hits that shaped the Croatian music scene. He has worked with, among others, Oliver Dragojević, Dino Dvornik, Đavoli, Urban, Laufer and Daleka obala. With a CV like that, his comeback naturally carried extra weight, yet the atmosphere stayed intimate, just as his style deserves.

A good part of the credit for the night also goes to his band, mostly musicians from Korčula: Jakov Selačić, Tina Andrić, Marija Žanetić, Dario Mrgudić, Rafaela Petrić, Josipa Dužević, Ante Dužević and Denis Štimac. They played cleanly and with composure, in a way that let the songs stay emotional without ever tipping into sentimentality.

Kapetanski park as the perfect backdrop

The newly renovated Kapetanski park turned out to be a perfect fit for this kind of concert. The relaxed atmosphere and the greenery made an ideal backdrop for a night full of love stories, emotion and Mediterranean sound. The production was very solid: the video wall and light design rounded off the experience without ever stealing attention from the music, which to me is the sign of good production decisions.

As someone who spends a good part of my work behind the camera, I admit that was an interesting part of the evening for me too: seeing how a simple but well-thought-out technical setup can make a bigger difference than a pile of unnecessary effects.

The songs that defined the night

A good part of the setlist went to songs from the new EP “Grad pored luke”, which is pretty emotionally charged anyway, but the older hits were there too. We heard “Svitlo u tebi”, “Provaj”, “Ti si more” and “Nigdi mira nimam”, and the park sang them along with him, the way Zadar sings when a song is the real thing.

What I find most interesting is how Luky manages to reconcile that relaxed Mediterranean tone with lyrics that are honest to the point of discomfort, and that's exactly why his songs stay in your head long after the last chord. He didn't need any spectacular effects to do it, just honesty, and the audience felt it. By the way, next year is special for another reason too: it marks 25 years since “Ararita”, one of his most important albums.

The view from behind the lens

I shot part of the night, and I have to say that moments like these, a crowd singing in unison, lights following the rhythm of the song, emotion you can see on the faces around you, are exactly why I love this job. Not every concert is the same, but when the energy of the crowd and the artist head in the same direction, you feel it through the lens too, not just in person.