Death In Vegas
Live - Milano, Magazzini Generali 07.11.2002

THE REVIEW

My crazy partner is hungry.
It's ten to ten, the concert starts in ten minutes and he's hungry... I brake at a food stall, the partner gulps down a warm sandwich and off we go to Magazzini Generali. We enter and the lights go out, perfect timing.

Death in Vegas are on stage, a duo formed by graphic designer/dj Richard Fearless and sound engineer Tim Holmes. However, there are seven of them on stage. Two guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, and a pair of synths and various cymbals.

They start with "Leather," kicking off with the new album. The impact on my ears is devastating, a sonic avalanche flavored with distorted guitars and electronic screams takes me back to the days of Sepultura & Manowar, when I could still hear well.
They continue with "Girl," while images of an Indian goddess with six arms keeping time to a slow and cadenced yet inexorably crescendoing rhythm are projected on the screen.
A welcome break for my ears; it doesn't last long though, as the distorted alchemy of "Death Threat" and "Rekkit" arrives, before Liam Gallagher's voice takes over in "Scorpio Rising." In the background, Newton's prism splits light into colors.
It's the moment for "Dirge," someone among the unenthusiastic audience remembers it was the soundtrack for a Levi’s commercial and goes wild. In the background a military parade in Beijing.
The extended journey begins with "Help Yourself," Hope Sandoval’s voice accompanies us among some opium-stoned Indians swaying on the screen before my eyes.
A brief pause, then the seven return for the grand finale with "Hands Around My Throat" amidst applause from the audience.

However, it's the last song, the lights come on after barely an hour and twenty minutes, honestly a bit short, despite the high quality of the performance. The visual installations were especially beautiful and held the scene, compensating for the lack of a "real" voice on stage.
A few more old tracks would have been the cherry on top, "Rocco," "Aisha," or "Opium Shuffle" would have delighted the staunchest fans, scattered here and there in an audience that was, all in all, a bit cold and perhaps unprepared for this chameleonic indie-electro combination.