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Rating: 83
There are 83 steps I have to take from my house to the Teatro Nuovo ("Nuovo" only in name) where Múm played last night.
They've never driven me crazy, in fact, I've always found them quite soporific (much better are the Sigur Rós, IMHO), but 83 steps are really too few not to take advantage of the opportunity!
First surprise of the evening: Mugison, the opening act.
He enters with a can of beer in hand, sips and greets, introduces a girl dressed as an elf with a strange headpiece that reaches down to her knees who starts tap dancing; he brings the microphone closer and records everything: it will become a part of the first song's base.
Not bad, I think, but not everything that glitters is gold: in the end, I'll remember Mugison more for the nonsense he said/did than for the music.
It's worth mentioning just two or three things: he has problems with the computer (him too??? a Mac too??) so he kills time drinking beer (in 30 minutes of performance, 3 cans), telling about his day in unlikely Italian ("I saw friends, drank some beer, went to the bathroom 3 times"), lamenting his girlfriend ("three weeks apart without sex is terrible") interspersed with some electronic songs (=mishmash of noises) and some songs with just the guitar (=banal) occasionally letting out some heavy metal screams... well...
Then he reassures us by saying "this is my last song" and at the word song he sings Ramazzotti ("se bastasse una sola canzone ecc ecc"), opens his shirt, scratches his chest, drinks a bit more, finally follows the advice from the gallery (a representative of the people shouted "take up horse racing!") and leaves.
Chapter Múm
The final tally talks about 4 suicide attempts, 2 successful, 6 people still sleeping in the theater, another two who got stuck in the seats and were rescued by the fire brigade.
All jokes aside, they confirmed to be good but a bit boring.
There were 6 of them on stage, and they played literally everything, to the point that at times it felt like being in a psychiatric hospital: one played a trumpet, another blew into the mouthpiece attached to one of those Chicco toy keyboards (I couldn't tell if he was intubated or doing spirometry), another was spinning a colored sausage in the air (and I won't tell you what it looked like...), the "whisperer" (because you can't really call her a singer, come on!) was playing a saw(!) like a violin, while the sound of water in the background came from a tin bucket(!) where someone was pouring water from another unidentified gadget.
I swear it's all true! All that was missing were Aldo, Giovanni, and Giacomo playing the clothesline!
The constant presence of an accordion gives that folk touch to their music that distinguishes them from the aforementioned Sigur Rós, but as good as they are, it's really tough to watch an entire concert of theirs; I'd be curious to know how many can listen to one of their albums from start to finish while staying even slightly focused on the music (without doing anything else)...
Last song "Green Grass of Tunnel" and there I understand the frustration of bands like Radiohead that no longer perform live the song that launched them (Creep): seeing people who are just waiting for that and who "explode" only when they hear the beginning of *that* song must be truly depressing.
In the end, there’s room for an encore with friend Mugison, introduced as "Iceland's Lenny Kravitz" (Icelandic humor), who drinks a little beer (again??) before picking up the guitar and making a few more noises into the microphone.
In conclusion, let's give the ratings: 3 to Múm (because they are still talented, eclectic and at times brilliant), 5 to the evening (because it had been a while since I had such laughs), 1 to the concert itself (a bit boring).
Average 3 and everyone goes home!
Last anecdote: at the exit, next to the stall selling Múm merchandise and CDs, I see a piece of cardboard written by hand, taped to the wall: "My grandfather and my girlfriend handmade 10,000 copies of my CD: 300 copies remain for Italy. Thanks Mugison".
He's truly a madman out of his mind!
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