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Rating: Well, yes, finally the dirty bombs have exploded in Italy too...
The Roman date of their little tour through our beautiful country was somewhat like this: I wish I could say it was fantastic, exceptional, metaphysical, and overwhelming as well as unique and unrepeatable, but unfortunately I cannot.
The evening was plagued primarily by the terrible Roman heat of the weekend which carried into the evening inside the artist's circle, turning it into a crematorium, something that certainly did not help the audience enjoy the performance or the artists (in this case Mick Collins & C.) who were literally swimming in sweat while performing it.
The band's very long wait, preceded by no less than four supporting acts (all clones of the Kills plus Margaret Doll Rods who performed solo and looked like Totò with a bass drum on her back) did nothing but waste time, energy, patience, and faith in world music, ended only well after midnight, and after the various members had improvised as roadies, awkwardly adjusting their own instruments (Mick Collins cleverly changed his shirt and put on dark glasses when he went up to play, but he didn't fool me: I recognized him anyway). Adding to that, the poor things battled with a truly poor amplification system and a horrible mix (zero vocals and very few guitars, especially from the young woman) perhaps in my case worsened by my position under the stage. It can be said that they were good but never over the top.
They proved to be an energetic, raw, definitely rough band (from a guitar perspective, I expected more from the two Fender-strapped minstrels, but Collins' big hands didn't always slide away artfully), very tight but not overwhelming in the rhythm section and enjoyable in the particularity of the two drums (Blackwell & Pantano, precise, not overflowing, truly tight) and with Troy Gregory (with an old Rickenbacker) doing his part well without overdoing it. As soon as they entered they launched into leopard man at c&a and then went on with much of the latest (wreck my flow, indivisible, the cover sherlock holmes etc. etc.) and a nice solid but varied setlist, however, fighting against the sound that came out of the amps proved too much even for them... I appreciated the professionalism that didn't let them give up even when Ko Melina was left without a microphone because the one she had was gone and apparently there was no replacement, but the performance was nearing an end. I don't know if the final interlude with the drummer Ben Blackwell leaving the drum set to throw himself into a conference among the audience was intentional and rehearsed for every night or the result of desperation, but it served little to ignite enthusiasm and for sure the invitation to dance was not well received.
I imagined I would be overwhelmed by the music, but despite proving to be good they didn't blow me away as I had hoped: funky riffs amidst flashes of rock fury made in the USA, garage soaked in r&n'b, cleaner and more fluid in the performances than other shows I've heard, it's clear they're good, but saying it was the right night is difficult. I hope to see them again and reevaluate in better conditions. Or if someone goes to see them on the next dates and reviews...
Mick Collins (lead vocals, guitar)
Ko Melina (fuzzy bass)
Ben Blackwell (drums)
Pat Pantano (drums)
Troy Gregory (bass)
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