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Rating: The wait for the new album "California Crossing" has been long, which honestly left me a bit disappointed, but not discouraged from attending their concert at the Columbiafritz in Berlin, a small former cinema hall with a very familiar atmosphere and an appearance similar to City Square in Milan in a small version. What surprised me on this occasion was not only the huge number of people (almost sold out), but especially the rather low average age (20-25 years), confirming that the stoner-rock genre is more alive than ever, despite the legendary Kyuss (unfortunately) being no more for quite some years now: but undoubtedly, while other trends like grunge have more or less tragically faded away, the Stoner has survived.
Back to the concert, and the first surprise was definitely the band's new look, all with well-groomed and short hair, almost as a sign of solidarity with Josh Homme and Co. of QOTSA. But no worries, it was indeed time to abandon once and for all the metalhead cliché, no longer in fashion in this millennium. And what to say about the two transparent guitars with just a single pickup. One might think of anything but the powerful and low sound that has always distinguished Fu Manchu, despite using Marshall heads and cabinets, not really suitable for spreading the sound that characterizes this style (J.Homme has made a mystery out of the Ampeg amp, since the Kyuss days). However, it takes little for Fu Manchu to convince me otherwise, indeed, compared to the superfuzzy sound of live records, the distortion is even denser, richer, and more concentrated!!!
The first four tracks, including "Hang On" and "California Crossing", all from the new album, indeed, only few were thrilled, even though Scott Hill's voice was identical to the studio recordings and Brad Davis's backing vocals were spot-on like on the records. There was a need - and you could feel it in the air that it was about to arrive - for a superb "Hell on Wheels" from the previous album "King of the Road" to incredibly warm up the crowd, who at this point initiated one of the longest collective mosh pits ever observed: UNTIL THE END OF THE CONCERT!!!! And everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time, also Fu Manchu, who often smiled when some teenager managed to get on stage, pat Scott twice on the shoulder, and then jump thanks to the timely kicks in the butt by the staff, into the crowd, which was never absent to carry them around the hall above the audience's heads. The concert seemed to have just started now, with classics like "Boogie Van" or "King of the Road" that provided no respite for the now insane crowd. Yet with QOTSA and Nebula the audience hadn't let themselves go like this, now it felt like being in Italy! Cool, really amazing and friendly. At the audience's request, they even played two very old tracks, including the long and psychedelic "Godzilla"! Find a band that starts playing off-program and upon the audience's request.
After 2 hours of raw and unfiltered rock, of Fu Manchu at full blast, they honored us with two fabulous encores, I will only reveal the first one, "Freedom of Choice", because the second was from the first album which I don't know well but I guarantee you the chaos unleashed was absolute. Great, for me one of the best concerts and an honest band that brings drive, joy, and honesty. Don't miss it if you still have the chance!!!
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