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Rating: What Modena City Ramblers are carrying out this autumn is a celebratory tour but in my humble opinion, one of the best tours in many years. There is an important album to celebrate, for many the best and for many the only true Modena City Ramblers album. I wouldn't be that drastic, having appreciated the desire for musical and ideal renewal of the "big family" over these fifteen years following the release of "Riportando tutto a casa". Certainly, the defections that have alternated over these years have sometimes had repercussions on the musical and poetic quality of the music, but the attitude and commitment in live performances have never been lacking.
The basic idea of this "Riportando tutto a casa tour, fifteen years later" is to exactly reproduce the setlist of concerts from fifteen years ago, playing the entire first album and various covers that give us the exact starting point of the group: irish folk.
With the last two defections within the group, the departure of Kaba and Betty, for this tour the Modena group makes use of the contribution of one of the founding members, Luciano Gaetani and singer-songwriter Luca Serio Bertolini on guitars.
The Koko Club is nothing more than the continuation of what in the nineties was definitely one of the best live venues on the peninsula, the Babylonia of Biella. The venue is divided into two spaces, one dedicated to live music, the other serves as an alternative rock disco. Unfortunately, this division limits the venue's space, so it takes very little to fill the room with the stage.
I have to say it had been many years since I last saw Modena City Ramblers in such form that I was pleasantly surprised, also thanks to the warmth of the venue, the post-Christmas atmosphere or better yet the set of songs. As I was saying, the debut "Riportando tutto a casa" was played in its entirety. The opening with "Tant par tacher" was the path to a night that saw twenty-year-olds, thirty-year-olds, and forty-year-olds united in jumping and participating from start to end, sweating proverbial buckets. Dudu Morandi is increasingly taking possession of the stage (let's not forget that he has been orbiting around Modena since that distant 1994) transmitting energy and good cheer. The "veterans" Ghiacci, Zeno, D'aniello, and Moneti, plus the newcomer on accordion Leo Sgavetti, are having fun, you can feel it, and the audience reciprocates. The alternation of fast songs like "Quarant'anni", "Bella ciao", "The Great Song Of Indifference", more atmospheric pieces like the splendid "In un giorno di pioggia" and "Ninnananna", covers of the beloved Pogues (beautiful "Dirty Old Town", itself a cover of Ewan McColl) and Waterboys and humorous conversational bits meant that the more than two-hour concert passed in the blink of an eye.
As I was saying, what emerged most from this evening is the group's desire for music, unity, despite the continuous lineup changes over the years and perhaps this return to the music that started the entire Modena City Ramblers project could truly be a glue for the band's musical future.
With this tour, the circle has been closed, the Modena group has reclaimed their folk roots, and who knows if this might be a new starting point.
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