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Rating: THE SHOW
An attentive and diverse audience for the approximately hour and a half showcase of "3," set to release in April 2008.
THE NEW TRACKS
The first track - "Machine Gun" - is a single from the third, yet released album ("3") and preludes a series of new tracks very different from the usual P sound: noise rock guitars at the forefront, very full sounds, evolved vocals and lyrics.
It is followed by an excellent distribution of old tracks (from both Dummy - 1995 and Portishead - 1997), greatly appreciated by the audience, as well as new ones, interesting and never banal: "Magic Doors", "Nylon Smile", tracks that retain the painful and harrowing atmosphere of the '90s; "The Rip" stands out for its originality, with acoustic guitars and almost narrative lyrics, in third person singular, very different from the usual introspective melancholy typical of P and - in the reprise - a wall of full noise guitars (Sonic Youth on my mind) and a "I'm TIRED" sung surprisingly, very emotionally, obsessively shouted (Death Valley '69 on my mind).
The general feeling is that the new "3" will not disappoint the decade-long wait not only for nostalgics still attached to the refined P of the '90s but also for those in search of a modernist evolution.
THE CLASSICS
Interspersed with 5 or 6 new ones, the tracks from Dummy and Portishead warmed the ever-demanding Milan audience in a constellation of otherworldly sounds and melodies.
Portishead are an elegant and refined dandy, polished, not a hair out of place, confident but not arrogant, competent, slightly lascivious, fascinating, and svelte. Simply perfect. Playing devil's advocate, one could say it’s possible to stay comfortably at home and listen to a CD, given that of the known tracks there isn't a note, sound, or word different from the studio version, but it would be like watching a starry sky on a PC monitor instead of in the sky, at night, atop a hill.
The tracks of P are simple, what composes them is sufficient and necessary and the richness lies entirely in the skillful mix of instruments and sounds and - of course - the wonderful (especially live) voice of Beth Gibbons.
In a season so rich in concerts that one must (perhaps) select the proposals, this concert will serve as a benchmark.
marble sometimes
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