Deve’s Blog

Yesterday I headed to Bologna for a nice concert… I-Day Festival 2010, a day dedicated to punk, with Leeches, All Time Low, Simple Plan, Sum 41 and Blink 182. Pictures here.
I must admit I’m not a punk expert, I know some of the most famous singles (and not that many actually), but I don’t mind it as a genre, although it tends to be a bit repetitive (both in a single song, but anyway the songs rarely last more than 3 minutes, and across different songs). Anyway I didn’t want to lose the chance to see Blink and that’s it.
I skipped the Leeches, I arrived after them and anyway they told me they sucked.
All Time Low were note bad, and were also funny (they even commented on a crazy guy who was being carried around on an inflatable boat and was holding a huge inflatable phallus… “Wow, that’s the biggest erection I’ve ever seen!” ).
Simple Plan were good, although I didn’t even know one of their songs; Sum 41 were a bit worse, nice moshing and ignorance on In Too Deep and Still Waiting, but then they hinted too much to covers or other bands’ riffs… and the concert was very short, barely an hour.

And finally Blink came in. Really good. I didn’t know several songs, as I said before I just know the most famous singles (All the Small Things, What’s My Age Again, The Rock Show, Man Overboard etc.), but they were really spring-loaded, got along well on the stage, entertained… and Travis came up with this crazy upside-down drums solo, as his battery was installed on a rotating platform… the video I took ends before the upside-down part, but I alsto took a couple of pictures of him like that… well, an idol, he didn’t miss a beat…

After the concert, a “crescentina” with french fries at the Festa dell’Unità, and just to hurt myself a giant Nutella doughnut near midnight…
Well, a nice day of ignorance was what I needed before beginning the work adventure in Turin…

On Saturday, July 24th, I went to Arezzo. What for? To satisfy one of my teenager dreams… seeing Litfiba play live!
Unfortunately they broke up when I was almost starting to go to my first concerts… a big letdown… and after I missed the first dates of their reunion like a jerk, I looked for a concert from their summer tour that I could easily get to, and there Arezzo came up. Three hours by train, then everything can be reached just by walking… And the nice things of these small concerts is how easy it is to get to the front…
The concert was supposed to begin around 9.30 pm, with no bands playing before them, so I showed up around 7.30 pm and there’s a little bunch of fans, waiting at the barriers. At 7.45 they let us in, so we ran in, to sit down on the grass, and there you go, I was in the third row (well, some pogo-ing at the beginning of the concert helped a bit…)!

Awesome! Ghigo is 57 and Piero 48… but they played so hard! The setlist was great, with some pearls like “Cuore di Vetro”, and of course the usual hits (”Fata Morgana”, “El Diablo”, “Lacio Drom” etc. etc.), even if starting from a song-base of 150 tracks it was obvious they were going to leave some behind…
The new “Sole Nero” is also worth mentioning, as I really love it… I think it’s one of the best Italian songs of the last years, and it’s one of those rare songs that I can’t stop listening and that I feel I could loop for hours, even after just a few times I’ve listened to it…

Did they reunite for money? Well, I’m sure that was one of the factors… but after seeing how much fun they had, and the chemistry going on between them, I don’t find it hard to believe that the desire to get back on the track was very sincere…

I uploaded some pictures and videos of the concert here. In this other set, instead, are some pics I took while going around Arezzo; a really nice town. Also, I found out they shot a part of “Life is Beautiful” by Benigni there, and in some places you can find signs telling about the main scenes that were shot there (for example, the key that was thrown from the balcony ).

“Faccio a botte coi miei sogni…”

Damn it… I didn’t like Venezia much as a city (see this post)… but now it’s official, I also hate Mestre and its fucking storms that come out of nowhere in an hour…
At least not everything was a disaster for this Heineken Jammin’ Festival of mine…

Saturday, July 3rd, we entered the park around 2.30 pm, relaxing under a little tree, then walking through the (useless) water atomizers, then Stereophonics (I didn’t know them but they were not bad at all), then we get closer to the stage for the Cranberries. Dolores was in great shape, excellent concert, and having heard Zombie live is a nice “kill notch on my rifle”, so to speak…
And then Aerosmith… we were all worried about how Steven Tyler would sing, as it seemed he was going to leave the band just a few months ago… then he went to a clinic to “clean up”… 62 years old…
So I think everyone shat their pants when, at the end of the second songs, he screams a high note… and begins coughing heavily… … “oh fuck”… but he waves to us to hold on… catches his breath… AND BURPS LOUDLY IN THE MICROPHONE!!
He was having fun with us all… and from then one he pulled off a brilliant performance to say the least, with the highlights being, for me, “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” and obviously “Dream On”; he sang them perfectly, as if they were recorded… shivers and goose bumps… The setlist was almost complete, maybe it missed “Dude” and “Crazy”, but almost everthing else was in there.
Awesome concert.

Sunday, July 4th, same routine, resting in the shadow of another little tree… Rise Against played a decent music, then Editors, sounding like Depeche Mode clones (and I don’t like Depeche much), then the horrible 30 Seconds to Mars, really awful. Unfortunately, during their concert a huge black cloud got closer and closer… the wind was crazy continuously, changing directions, and for a while it seems like the cloud would avoid us and head straight for Venice… but then it goes back and the first raindrops come down. The 30 Seconds must stop the concert, and so we ran for cover, just in time, under one of the food stand tents.
One and a half hour of downpour, with a moment of real violence (they said 80mm of water came down in half an hour). At 9.30 pm we finally left the tent, but there were 10cm of water in front of the stage, and the concert was cancelled… we walked through water and mud, got a bus to Mestre, walked to the hotel, had a kebab, a shower and went to bad… huge disappointement…
For the time being, Green Day will keep playing only in my iPod… but we’ll try again…

Good intentions. Again. To write more on the blog. Work is not an excuse anymore; it seems unreal, but after May 15th if I’m not just fooling around at the office, I’m quite close to that.
And so I’m writing.
I’m writing about Ligabue’s new record, “Arrivederci, mostro!” (”Goodbye, monster!”). I must confess I wasn’t expecting it with a lot of impatience, maybe because I felt it was going be a certain kind of record that wasn’t going to amaze or elate me.

A little introduction: my love for Liga dates back to secondary school (1995) and, as many others I think, to the timeless “Buon Compleanno, Elvis!” and its “Certe Notti”, which was for many the initiation to Ligabue. From there I began discovering the older records (which ended up being my studying companions, together with Litfiba), then the wait for the double live “Tra Palco e Realtà”, then the subscription to the Fan Club… and finally the first concert. My first Liga’s concert, my first concert overal, maybe a bit late: 2002, San Siro. First we endured the rain shower, then we enjoyed being right under the stage… and from there I started following Liga in a string of concerts… Palaignis in Varese, Palamalaguti in Bologna, Teatro Medica in Bologna, two fan club meetings in Modena, one at the Festa dell’Unità in Reggio, the humongous Campovolo, then the Alcatraz, San Siro again, the Arcimboldi, Assago Forum and the marvellous frame of Verona Arena…
Sure, some are waaaaaaay crazier than me, but I can say I hold my own.

Lately, though, I must say my passion for Ligabue has decreased a bit… who knows, maybe I had too much of it… but I can say that I didn’t find “Miss Mondo” as good as the previous records… “Fuori Come Va?” was better again, I liked it a lot… but “Nome e Cognome” didn’t capture me much. Yes I have to say it, musically speaking Liga doesn’t convince me as much as in the past… less rock, more melodic/pop… less new stuff, more similarities to old stuff…

That’s why I didn’t expect much more from “Arrivederci, mostro!”. And indeed it isn’t more. After the first listen I didn’t notice anything especially new, with the exception of the marvellous and at the same time terrifying “Quando Mi Vieni a Prendere”, which tells about the tragedy of Dendermonde nursery in Belgium, from the viewpoint of a child. A very unusual track for Liga, but it really turned out perfect.

And still… and still, Liga is Liga. Just in the same way as I rediscovered “Nome e Cognome” after a few years, also this record, after listening to it more carefully, can pull out that special something…

It can’t be helped, Liga can always catch me, and I realized why.
Because when he wants, even if sometimes it’s only in parts of a record, he can write that kind of music that gets inside you and can touch the right strings… a solo, a chorus, a verse…
Because, even if he isn’t creating many new things, he always pulls off those catchy songs you end up singing in the street or under the shower…
Because even if his music hasn’t always convinced me recently, his lyrics always strike… sometimes they might seem trivial, but it’s rare when Liga doesn’t sing little big truths…
Because his tracks have that feature that I think is fundamental to make you fall in love for a song: they can be universal. They had a meaning to the one who wrote them, and it shows… but at the same time they’re indefinite enough to allow everyone to “wear them”… to make them his own… to live them in a way, and relive them in another way after years…
And exactly because of this, because Liga is always there when you need him… when you think too much and you want to keep hurting yourself (metaphorically speaking)… when you don’t want to think, but to smile… when you want to scream towards the sky…

Oh yes, Liga is Liga.

Objective vote: 6/7
Vote for Liga: 8 e 1/2

Non è tempo per noi
(Ligabue)

Ci han concesso solo una vita
Soddisfatti o no qua non rimborsano mai
E calendari a chiederci se
stiamo prendendo abbastanza abbastanza
Se per ogni sbaglio avessi mille lire
Che vecchiaia che passerei

Strade troppo strette e diritte
Per chi vuol cambiar rotta oppure sdraiarsi un po’
Che andare va bene però
A volte serve un motivo, un motivo
Certi giorni ci chiediamo è tutto qui?
E la risposta è sempre sì

Non è tempo per noi che non ci svegliamo mai
Abbiam sogni però troppo grandi e belli sai
Belli o brutti abbiam facce che però non cambian mai
Non è tempo per noi e forse non lo sarà mai

Se un bel giorno passi di qua
lasciati amare e poi scordati svelta di me
che quel giorno è gia’ buono per amare qualchedun’altro
qualche altro
dicono che noi ci stiamo buttando via
ma siam bravi a raccoglierci.

Non è tempo per noi che non ci adeguiamo mai
Fuorimoda, fuoriposto, insomma sempre fuori dai
Abbiam donne pazienti rassegnate ai nostri guai
Non è tempo per noi e forse non lo sarà mai

Non è tempo per noi che non vestiamo come voi
Non ridiamo, non piangiamo, non amiamo come voi
Forse ingenui o testardi
Poco furbi casomai
Non e’ tempo per noi e forse non lo sarà mai…

Verona. The Arena. So many times I passed next to it, several times I entered it, but I had never been welcomed by its wall for the reason why it was built: a show.

For those of you who don’t know it, when I was little (from 6 to 9 yo) I lived in Verona; I’d say I hadn’t come back there for 15 years or so. What better occasion than a Ligabue concert in the Arena, including a supporting orchestra, to go back there?

So I organized a quick “amarcord” week-end, arriving on a Saturday morning, the day of the concert, and walking around many familiar places: piazza Bra, piazza Erbe, porta Borsari, but also my old house, my school, my parish, the playground, the clinic where I often went to keep asthma in check (luckily asthma one isn’t there anymore!), the pastries shop with those awesome mignons (and I bought some… just as good as then)…
I must say I was impressed. Going back to Bergamo didn’t have the same effect, as after all I only have some vague memories having lived there since I was 3 to when I was 6. Going back to Bologna is a whole different thing, I’ve always visited it even when I wasn’t living there, so it’s never been “foreign” to me. Being back in Verona, instead, literally filled me with flashbacks… loads of more or less buried memories popping up every few steps… “this is where I first bought a book on my own”… “hey, here I fell from the bike and grazed my knee”… “sheesh, this newsstand is were I bought my first number of TGM, with the review of Monkey Island 2!” [yeah I know, I'm a nerd :asd:].
The power of memory… fascinating subject, but no time now…

So let’s talk about the concert. The opening was overwhelming, an orchestra supporting Liga is something awesome… the pinnacle was on “Sarà un bel souvenir” and “Ho messo via”, really breathtaking… but what happened then? The orchestra essentially vanished, just a light accompaniment on some pieces, and then just “electric” songs. And from a very “commercial” repertoire, too, and with the usual overused jokes and remarks between songs…
So, a great experience, with peaks of pure audio-visual pleasure, with the emotion of finally being there, in the Arena full of people… but probably a wasted occasion. Maybe there wasn’t enough courage to propose something more “extreme”, with a real predominance of the orchestra, rather than the usual blend of singles?

Overall, certainly a week-end to remember with pleasure…

Bologna, June 27th.
Arena Parco Nord.
Gods of Metal.
“Somewhere Back in Time” World Tour.

Iron Maiden are back, and …

On Friday 27th I took a nice day off, and a well deserved one at that, and I headed for the Gods of Metal in Bologna. Remembering my experience at the Heineken Jammin’ Festival of a few years ago I decided to avoid showing up when the gates opened (10.30 am or so!), but also arriving just in time to only see Maiden (after all the ticket cost 60 euros…). So I took the 1 pm train from Milan and entered the Arena around 4 pm, in time to see three more bands before Maiden.

It was much hotter than I expected, even if a few passing clouds provided some relief. Anyway, the 1.5 litres of water I took with me soon turned out to be not enough, as I had to pour a good part of it on my head to avoid collapsing. But well, if I survived that Heineken, I certainly had no problems in this occasion…
I immediately got a standing spot amidst the people, at a good distance from the stage, and soon after that Apocalyptica began playing.

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Alcatraz, Milan, April 13th. Kamelot in concerto for their Ghost Opera Tour, dedicated to the omonymous “Ghost Opera” album.
They were supposed to open the gates at 18, so Aresius and I diligently queued up around that time (we probably passed in front of several people in line, but nobody cared). In the end they only opened up around 19, but oh well. We easily got under the stage, as it often happens at the Alcatraz when not that many people are coming; the stage was the side one, that despite being smaller than the main one has the advantage of putting the band just two or three meters from you.

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I noticed it’s quite common among bloggers to write posts with just the lyrics of a song. I never did it before, but today, after a went-and-come-back to Turin, for work, I’m gonna do it too…

(sorry, Italian song…)

Tutti vogliono viaggiare in prima
(Ligabue)

Quelli come me si svegliano alle tre
E dicono che i giorni sono corti
E poi quelli come me si svegliano a metà
Rimangono coi sogni mezzi aperti

Avrai ragione te a fare come fai
A stare con chi vince cambiarti le camicie
Ma sta’ a vedere che sappiamo già com’è
Ci riposiamo solo dopo morti

Tutti vogliono viaggiare in prima
L’hostess che c’ha tutto quel che vuoi
Tutti quanti con il drink in mano
Sotto come va fuori come va?
Fuori come va?

Quelli come me si va finchè ce n’è
Ma è come non venisse mai il momento
Con quei progetti lì e quei difetti lì
Che ci fanno stare più contenti

Avrai ragione te a fare come fai
A startene da furbo nel mondo dei più furbi
Ma sta’ a vedere che sappiamo già com’è
Non ci teniamo a togliere il disturbo

Tutti vogliono viaggiare in prima
L’hostess che c’ha tutto quel che vuoi
Tutti quanti con il drink in mano
Sotto come va fuori come va?

Tutti vogliono viaggiare in prima
E che il viaggio non finisca mai
Tutti con il posto finestrino
Sotto come va, fuori come va?
Fuori come va, fuori come va?

Siamo quelli che da quelli come te
Non si fanno mai pagar da bere
Perchè siamo quelli che
È meglio se lo sai
Con quelli come te son sempre pari

Di qua tutti vogliono viaggiare in prima
Tutti quanti con il drink in mano
Sotto come va, fuori come va?

Tutti vogliono viaggiare in prima
Tutti con il posto finestrino
Sotto come va, fuori come va?

Aaaaaaargh! 20 days without having the strength to write ont he blog… insane.
I’ll try to make up for it, with a quite atypical post for me.

Lately I’ve been so lazy and tired that in the morning I don’t even want to choose which album to listen to on my iPod. I’m usually an album guy rather than a playlist guy, and when I want some differences I go for the live albums. Anyway, lately it’s been shuffle and away, with the finger stuck on the forward button, brutally skipping on if the first notes don’t convince me. Moved more by a search for audio stimulation rather than by desire to listen to music.
Well, as the songs kept spinning, a spoken track from the movie Radiofreccia (spoken track which I won’t quote now ’cause it’s much cooler quoting it when closing the post) played: I had always agreed with what they said, but in the morning slumber, on the subway, with the iPod on shuffle, I realized it’s really true.

(Picture courtesy of Steve Crocker)

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