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Rating: I went without even knowing if I would be able to get back home, and it was worth it. I don't know if you are familiar with Azzano X. It's a small town in the province of Pordenone, a few kilometers from Veneto, surrounded solely by cornfields and sparse little houses, served only by a private company's bus that shuttles from Pordenone to Portogruaro from seven in the morning till seven in the evening, excluding Sundays. I never would have thought of reaching this poorly connected place if it weren't for the fact that I won two tickets to the concert on July 9th: Moby + A Certain Ratio. So, a friend and I decided to set off on an adventure, aware of the fact that a general train strike was declared for Sunday.
La Fiera della Musica is practically a record fair/festival organized within a sort of multifunctional student center. Shortly after settling in front of the stage, the opening act A Certain Ratio starts, an indie/post-punk band from the '80s that ranges from jazz to funk and psychedelic and experimental electronics. Unfortunately, the band is forced to improvise quite a bit during the concert, as a couple of total blackouts at the system leave the band acoustically improvising samba pieces. The band plays for about an hour, and then there is a long wait before seeing Moby and his band on stage.
After countless soundchecks, the lights go down and the intro of God Moving Over the Face of the Waters begins, and in all its melancholic poetry welcomes Moby and his musicians, who start with a house version of It’s Raining Again. Moby on stage is versatile and professional. He doesn't stop for a moment, moving from guitar, to bongos, to keyboards with incredible speed. The band accompanying him, composed almost exclusively of female members (a violinist, a keyboardist, a bassist, and an excellent singer named Joy Malcolm who proves to have an extensive vocal dynamic) as well as a singer look-alike as the drummer. The band mixes and reimagines Moby's great classics like Honey, Why Does My Heart Feel so Bad, Porcelain, Honey, Disco Lies, and Go in a continuous form that seeks to engage the audience more by focusing on the live aspect in a very direct way. Noteworthy is a good version of We Are All Made of Stars done in a '70s dance version. Moby proves to be a lively character on stage, as well as a good guitarist. He doesn't give up on his DJ past at raves with a long final jam session on the notes of Feeling so Real, his flagship in the early '90s. Moby urges and thanks a somewhat stationary audience, perhaps prepared for a more ambient show, which only gets excited towards the finale, on the chorus of the hit Lift Me Up. The musician also proves to be an excellent rocker by covering the usual but never boring Whole Lotta Love in a version that starts almost bluesy and then becomes epic. An excellent live show made with great lights and music lasting nearly two hours, varied and engaging, which forgoes the soundtrack-like sounds of recent albums to deliver to the audience an excellent sum of his greatest hits.
In any case, we are still not on the highways of Friuli. By a stroke of luck, we managed to get a ride home, for anyone still interested in knowing what happened to us.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Honey (03:30)
When my honey come back, sometimes
I wanna rap that jack, sometimes
I get a hump in my back, sometimes
I'm goin' over here, sometimes
Way down yonder, sometimes
Gonna get my pal, sometimes
03 Porcelain (04:01)
In my dreams, I'm dying all the time
Then I wake it's kaleidoscopic mind
I never meant to hurt you
I never meant to lie
So this is goodbye
This is goodbye
Tell the truth you never wanted me
Tell me
In my dreams, I'm jealous all the time
Then I wake I'm going out of my mind
Going out of my mind
04 Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? (04:25)
Why does my heart feel so bad?
Why does my soul feel so bad?
Why does my heart feel so bad?
Why does my soul feel so bad?
Feel all alone
05 South Side (03:50)
I see myself in the pouring home
I see the light come over now
I see myself in the pouring rain
I watch hope come over me
Here we are now, going to the east side
I pick up my friends and we start to ride
Ride all night, yeah, we ride all day
Some may come, love, and some may stay
Here we are in the pouring home
I watch the light man fall the comb
I watch a light move across the screen
I watch the light come over me
Here we are now going to the west side
Weapons in hand as we go for a ride
Some may come, love, and some may stay
Watching out for a sunny day.... where there's
Love and darkness and my sidearm
Hey, elan, elan....
Here we are now going to the north side
I look at my friends as they start to ride
Ride at night we, yah, we ride all day
Looking out for a sunny day
Here we are now going to the south side (to the south side)
I pick up my friends and we hope we won't die (hope we won't die)
Ride at night, ride through heaven and hell (heaven and hell)
Come back, love, and feel so well (feel so well)
07 Bodyrock (03:36)
so lets rock y'all
non-stop y'all
to the beat y'all
the bodyrock y'all
we rock the body, rock the body, c'mon
get down wi'me gonna make you freak, uh-huh
we rock the body, rock the body, c'mon
get down wi'me gonna set ya free, yeah
08 Natural Blues (04:14)
Oh, lordy, troubles so hard
Oh, lordy, troubles so hard
Don't nobody know my troubles but God
Don't nobody know my troubles but God
(repeat three times)
Went down the hill, the other day
My soul got happy and stayed all day
Went down the hill, the other day
My soul got happy and stayed all day
Oh, lordy, troubles so hard
Oh, lordy, troubles so hard
Don't nobody know my troubles but God
Don't nobody know my troubles but God
(repeat twice)
Went in the room, didn't stay long
Looked on the bed and brother was dead
Went in the room, didn't stay long
Looked on the bed and brother was dead
09 Machete (03:38)
Yesterday, I felt so cold, I felt like I could die
Took the needles from my arms and put them to the sky
Watched the cold come take me, pull me down like I did know
I saw it gone, I saw it gone, I saw it gone, I saw it gone
Hold myself up 'til tomorrow holds me down again
Feel the darkness coming over, see how it begins
Come with me into the willow garden out tonight
Feel the darkness come, my moon will touch you with its light
Help me, life was over, love, I want to have you in my sights
See and I was overlooked, I had you in my hands
Like a lid of no survivors, nothing I don't mind
Help me break you, baby, help me break you with my mind
With my mind
With my mind
With my mind
With my mind
11 Run On (03:45)
Lord God Almighty let me tell the news
My head got wet in midnight dew
Great God i been down on my bended knees
Talking to a man from Galilee
Michael spoke and he sounded so sweet
I thought i heard the shuffle of angels' feet
He put one hand upon my head
Great God Almighty let me tell you what He said
[bridge:]
Go tell that lonesome liar
Go tell that midnight rider [???]
Tell the gamblin', ramblin' backslider
Tell them God Almighty gonna cut 'em down
[chorus:]
You might run on for a long time
Run on, ducking and dodging
Run on, children [?], for a long time
Let me tell you God Almighty gonna cut you down
You might throw your rock [?], hide your head
Work in the dark with your fellow men
Sure as God made you rich and poor
You're gonna reap just what you sow
[chorus] x3
Some people go to church just to signify
Trying to make a date with a neighbor's wife
Brother let me tell you just as sure as you're born
You better leave that woman alone
[bridge]
[chorus] x8
13 If Things Were Perfect (04:19)
(Give me summer)
(Give me summer)
(Give me summer)
(Give me summer)
Broken darkness my cold end
I look for places I've never seen
Nothing moves but the quiet on the street
Now I open my eyes to this
Isolated, walking long hard hours
When a cold springs me with its shower
It's so brutal with the cold sky
Wrapped in cold, late at night
(Give me summer)
(Give me summer)
Come clean, there's no sun yet
The only lights here are naked
I can't speak, I can't hear, but I know I'm real
There's no warm here anyway
The darkest light's before the dawn
You remember the sun, but it sank
In the water that eats the light
Wrapped in cold, late at night
(Give me summer)
(Give me summer)
I open my eyes, it's cold
The errant souls go by
Lift the bridge out of the water
The stone black, light
Living is easy when it's night
The cold has covered the rain
I can see forever, to the deep
Wrapped in cold, late at night
(Give me summer)
(Give me summer)
(Give me summer)
(Give me summer)
17 The Sky Is Broken (04:18)
see the storm is broken
in the middle of the night
nothing left here for me
it's washed away
the rain pushes
the buildings aside
the sky turns black
the sky
wash it far
push it out to sea
there's nothing left here
for me
I watch it lift up to the sky
I watch it crush me
and then I die
speak to me baby
in the middle of the night
pull your mouth
close to mine
I can see the wind coming down
like black night
so speak to me
like the winds outside
it's broken up, pushing us
hear the rain fall
see the wind come to my eyes
see the storm broken
now nothing
speak to me baby
in the middle of the night
speak to me
hold your mouth to mine
'cause the sky is breaking
it's deeper than love
i know the way you feel
like the rains outside
speak to me
18 My Weakness (03:38)
weakly mind, weakly,
ooh I go home...
weakly...
weakly mind, weakly,
ooh I go home...
weakly...
weakly mind, weakly,
ooh I go home...
weakly...
weakly mind, weakly,
ooh I go home...
weakly...
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Other reviews
By luciano
Play by Moby (1999) has the great merit of giving artistic dignity to electronic music made of samples and various manipulations that until its release seemed like an expedient for those who didn’t know how to play.
After the unexpected success of the previous singles... Richard earned the weight in his record company to be able to decide to release as a single a track he liked.
By lovi
Moby seems to be praying to someone, tired and impatient, he seems to want only one thing; "speak to me / speak to me".
It is here that "Play" achieves its goal, which is to open a world in the mind of any person.
