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Rating:
Milan is not Kingston, and there's quite a difference between the Rumble Fish Festival and the Reggae Sunsplash.
"Eek a Mouse" is here, however, to bridge part of that gap, at least for a night, and we mobilize from our mountain retreat to see him. Once before, I missed out due to my negligence (sold out), it wouldn't happen again. The evening is well organized, no crowding, a nice warmth, everything's great; the wait for the concert is filled by DJ Vito War (formerly of the Sud Sound System scene) whose banal selection only makes us more impatient for the start of the concert.
Eek a Mouse passes by me a centimeter away, and I don't even recognize him (otherwise, I would have gotten an autograph dedicated to a friend who didn't come with us because he's a coward, but that's another story...). The reason is clear: he's still tall, still black, he has a beard, but forget the skinny, lanky young man: I think the mouse has spent the last ten years bulking up, he's now a kind of muscular hulk, completely bald (steroids?) and dressed in a mesh tank top... quite the character. But with great relief, DJ Vito War takes his leave. The backup is provided by the DubLive band, precise and orderly, sure the 'Roots Radics' of the old days were a different thing, but still. After the customary intro, the mouse takes the stage. It must be said immediately that his stage presence is absolutely pitiful. I've been following him for more than twenty years and it breaks my heart to say it, but goodness, he moves like some kind of orangutan, with all those muscles he can barely drag himself around the stage, and his falsetto seems less "powerful" and maybe even less sharp than in the past, but what can I do if when the notes of "Queen Elizabeth", "Assassinator", "Bad Friday" hit, my brain disconnects and my legs start dancing like I'm sixteen?
The bass of the Dublive band hits deep and powerful like a stick on the back of a rabbit's neck, and Eek a Mouse's shrill voice sings his ironic nonsense lyrics in pure sing jay style. Almost all the historic tracks are played, with "Anarexol" and the concluding "Wa Do Dem" sending me into extrasystole, but it's worth it, after all if I remember correctly it was with that track I celebrated my millionth joint...
We could have done without the too frequent skits in which the audience was invited to chant in unison "ganja - ganja" or "eek a mouse - eek a mouse", or the fake exits from the stage to be called back, especially as the audience wasn't very large and no matter how much we tried to shout, the effect was always a bit lackluster.
A very entertaining concert from a "secondary" reggae legend who, in terms of showmanship, has nothing to envy anyone, if you want to (re)discover him, check out Mouseketeer with the already mentioned Roots Radics. Who knows what the grand Reggae Sunsplash of 1982 must have been like, with Eek a Mouse in top form and without some dozen kilos of muscle on him, but oh well, we could use more often concerts like this, for free, moreover.
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