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Rating:
I have a friend who claims that Belgians are insignificant, that she finds nothing interesting or characteristic about them. I, on the other hand, have nothing against them; in fact, I must take a trip over there eventually. However, after this concert, I must say that maybe my friend has a bit of a point.
Post-Halloween night 2008, still a few skeletons, pumpkins, or other elements lingering around related to a celebration that essentially does not belong to us except as an excuse to organize an extra night to have fun. At the Velvet in Rimini, they were no different.
By 10:00 PM, there were enough people around the venue to justify the admission at the hour recommended to me by the Velvet's management following my phone call a few hours earlier when I sought information about the concert's starting time: the support band would start at 10:00 PM and dEUS would follow, presumably around 11:00 PM.
Among the attendees were also two friars: I think of some reason why someone might have disguised themselves, but I can't find one; they are indeed two friars (perhaps the name of the band prompted the religious organization to investigate and send two unsuspecting secret agents). But then, staying nearby and listening to their conversation with a girl who has struck up a conversation with them (imagine that, these friars!!), I hear that one of them is one of the most avid dEUS fans in Central Italy.
Meanwhile, there's not a trace of the support band, we wait, and around 11:00 PM, someone goes on stage, the stage lights turn on. I try to understand who are the folks who will play before dEUS, since the poster only had "+ Special Guests" written on it. But… wait… to me, these definitely look like dEUS.
And what happened to the "Special Guests": maybe they didn't list the name because it's always them... Oh well, it doesn't matter... I came for them and it's not important if they're alone.
It quite obviously starts with "When She Comes Down", following the beginning of their latest, excellent work "Vantage Point". The concert proceeds mainly drawing from the more rhythmic tracks of the latest albums, bringing them a bit closer to their cousins, Soulwax), like the excellent "If You Don't
Get What You Want", the track I enjoyed the most, much more intense than the original version (already quite engaging on its own) with the necessary breaks to catch a breath with tracks like "Nothing Really Ends". As I had a chance to see, taking a peek at the setlist placed on the mixer, this was supposed to be the end of the set before the encores. Instead, it continues with more tracks until reaching the pinnacle of the awaited "Suds & Soda" with the audience going wild exclaiming "and there's always something in the air sometimes, suds & soda mix OK with beer". According to the aforementioned setlist, this track should have closed the show definitively.
Instead, our guys feel good with the Romagna crowd and obviously return to the stage, continuing for at least another half an hour with less rhythmic pieces, retrieving even from the older albums where they didn't always press the accelerator, touching upon almost jazz and country atmospheres, but with those outbursts of transversal rock between grunge and punk that characterize many of dEUS's tracks.
The concert was great, two hours went by without excessive moments of fatigue, the turbo engines of Tom Barman's and Mauro Pawlowski's guitars purr flawlessly on the incessant rhythm and the hypnotic and dissonant violin and for this they earn 4 stars, not 5 only because despite the great concert and the warm Romagna public, if they had just a bit more in terms of stage presence it would have been perfect. This is only why perhaps my friend has a bit of a point finding Belgians a bit bland, but it also gives us more reason to go see them again because maybe you just need to meet more than once to have the right acquaintance.
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