NoMeansNo
Live @ Spazio 211, Torino 11.05.10

THE REVIEW

Second evening in 4 days...

Someone tells me I'm crazy about them, and they're right. I'm so eager to see them again knowing the tracklist already, but in Milan at Magnolia, the audience wasn’t the most enthusiastic, at least it seemed that way to me. So I tell myself:
in Turin, they love them to death, and the club is smaller, too bad there are the Invasives (absolutely unbearable) instead of The Pack AD, a female duo from Vancouver who opened their concert in the Segrate venue, receiving a really great reception. White Stripes but also Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, from acid blues to stoner on tunes that get into your head on the first hit with Becky Black’s voice, at times reminding you of Blondie. That was Milan.

Well, very strategically I arrive at 11 PM. Fortunately, the Invasives are finishing. I skip them out of respect and wait for the arrival of "old are the new young." Because these adorable oldies are the greatest and most powerful rhythm machine in the world. Proof that a 90's drum set sounds divine if there’s a God like John Wright behind it with his exquisite technique (especially in snare drum accents, the right foot pedal of the bass drum, and the constant variations on the china) or a bass abuser like Rob. Then you add that lively presence of Tom Holliston, and the recipe is done, as my friend Chef would say.

Starting with "Old" from the last 10", a truly structured piece on the use of timpani and low notes, moving to "Valley of the Blind" that helps a dual call to the past, the glorious early days of "Day everything became nothing" and "Dead Souls". Here the audience really starts getting excited, with incredible displays of affection even from the younger audience who knows everything by heart, and a burst of enthusiasm as soon as John takes off his shirt because of the heat and remains with his cumenda belly behind the drums. A quick trip with "Jubilation" and then after "All Lies", "Slave" which recalls certain very catchy rock themes, as if it were the group's "My Sharona". Someone loudly requests "Oh no Bruno" but they dive into the footsteps of the German Ausfahrt release with "Mondo Nihilissimo" and "Hawk". But we’re just past halfway through the concert. "Faceless" until reaching the genius of "Metronome" from Sex Mad. And then "Till I die", "Happy", and "Humans" but also a devastating and fiercely physical "It's catching up", the only track taken from the unmatched genius of "Wrong".

The concert closes after a loud call for the second encore: "Victory (for every defeat there will be a victory)" and finally with "Now" which everyone, everyone sings at the top of their lungs.

Fun, unique. Even after 20 years, they remain my idols. Without them, just as without Joy Division, CCCp, or Slint, I wouldn't be me. For better or worse

Heading back home, happy once again. Tomorrow, there are the Liars.

Let’s keep going like this, let’s treat each other well!