Punctual as two Swiss clocks, Alfio and I arrive precisely at 8:30 pm in front of the doors of the Loft in Berlin. The evening is very cool, not to say autumnal. After a few minutes of waiting, while people were already crowding in the square in front, we began to have our first doubts: There’s something fishy here besides the chill! We call parisg (G__á), aka Mr. Flaker, on the phone, and amid various excuses (don’t take it personally), he informs us that the concert has been moved to the Metropol, a larger venue located directly above the Loft. After a quick stop at the snack bar and a comforting smoke, we decide together to go watch the Italian teams playing in the Champions League at the little Neapolitan bar not far from the venue. A few minutes into our walk, we hear a roar from the crowd, quick math: well, they’ve opened the gates, the concert starts in 15 minutes, we miss the first songs but we catch the second half (ironic) of Juve. After the match ends, we quickly head to the Metropol, and as we enter and climb the stairs, we’re told Baldy has just finished the first song. We slip in to the left towards the stage and place ourselves comfortably in an excellent position. It’s 10:50 pm, the hall is packed even on the balconies with a very polite audience, Badly is there, just a couple of steps away from us exactly as we know him from the videos: wool cap on his head, little beard to cover the rounded features of his face (like djd’s, if you know what I mean), green shirt and worn gray jeans. Behind him, a band consisting of a bassist, a guitarist, a keyboardist, and a drummer. The concert flows pleasantly, though the "singer-songwriter" pauses between songs are a bit too long. Badly often lights a cigarette, takes a sip from his glass, looks at two photos kissing them (?), talks and jokes with the audience, even mocking the Strokes and managing to win over a good part of the crowd. However, we are more sensitive and critical, as reviewers, and as such, we feel it important to highlight the pros and cons of this concert. Criticisms: as mentioned, the pauses were too long, moreover the unjustified wait in the cold annoyed us, but what matters most is that Badly struggles when his voice should play with ups and downs as in the first album; the highs are systematically replaced by lows or poorly sung, he often starts a song and stops after a few notes for the aforementioned reasons, the final encores were missing, and the new track presented exclusively at the end was not very convincing. Overall, he tends to weigh down the rest of the band with his status as a songwriter. Praises: He plays almost exclusively tracks from “The Hour of Bewilderbeast,” including “The Shining” (short version, but very well sung), “Everybody’s Stalking,” “Bewilder,” “Fall in a River” (by a fan's request) with a great guitar solo, “Stone on the Water,” “Once Around the Block” (best performance, impeccable voice), “Magic in the Air” (only him on vocals and piano), “Disillusion” (the single that made him famous), “Say It Again,” and closing the concert with “Pissing in the Wind” (renamed “Shiting in the Piss”); then he engagingly entertains the audience during the breaks, finding a connection with gestures like giving guitar notes to select members of the audience, tossing towels and pamphlets, mocks the Strokes, and often improvises on the guitar earning applause, highlighting his qualities as a songwriter. Counting the pauses, the concert lasted over 1 hour and 30 minutes, ending at 12:20 am. Also nice is the Metropol redecorated in Egyptian temple style. All in all, a nice concert, recommended as a romantic evening, although still in need of some qualitative fine-tuning. djd P.S. He plays in Milan (Alcatraz) on 09.22.
Loading comments slowly
