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Rating: March 8, 1997, we leave home shortly after 5 in the afternoon, not before having stopped by Castelgomberto's Only Flower Shop to pick up the Order of the Day first:
"F.: Mo, take out a fifty...
Mo.: Pray tell, for what?
F.: For tomorrow's concert...
Mo.:(thinking that 50 bucks each for some Smoke was a bit much...) Okay..."
...so, after collecting the hundred thousand liras' worth of Mimosa from the honest merchant, we take the Brennero towards Modena, fill up on gas on the highway, and F. starts distributing small branches to the ladies we meet (we can't be generous, says F., we need to find a way to give them to as many girls as possible...), especially the girl at the gas station who looks touched, as she points out that we're the first to remember the date... I think we might be out of smoke, but we've made someone happy...
We arrive in Nonantola, just enough time to refresh ourselves with Gnocchi and Tigelle at the little restaurant in front of the Vox (meanwhile, the patient floral operation continued...) and we enter the venue...
If anyone was there and has memories, I was the fool who, with another similar one, was pestering all the lovely women in the Venue with fragrant yellow flowers...
Suzanne takes the stage with about a half-hour delay, accompanied by the band that has been with her for a few years now (if I recall correctly, since the "Tour of Solitude Standing"), everything is very familiar, no unnecessary frills on stage, no proclamations, no need to stand out... she's there, elegant, delicate, and professional (which I tend to reiterate, in Rock, is not a flaw...).
The setlist is dominated by tracks from the album "Nine Objects of Desire", which the good Juanito reviewed on DeB just before I posted this (life is beautiful...), but of course, dear Suzanne also gives ample space to historic albums like the aforementioned "Solitude Standing" and what I consider my favorite from her output, "99.9 F°". And here comes an interlude...
99.9 F°, a Mini Review, by Captain Howdy:
Released in '92, "99.9 F°" is the album in which the American Folk Singer experiments the most, indeed, along with the remix experience of "Tom's Diner", this is where you can best appreciate the infatuation the artist had in the early '90s for Electronics. Even though we're far from defining this work as "Folktronica" (something that can, for example, be said about Beth Orton's productions), key pieces like the title track and the beautiful "Blood Makes Noise" are pleasantly spiced up with synthetic touches that not only bring a fresh breeze to a genre that often risks (excessive) melancholic attachments to past clichés, but they also enhance even more the beautiful, warm voice of our singer. Adding even more depth to the album are the tracks that move in the opposite direction, the more traditional ones (in the style of the talented singer-songwriter), especially the beautiful In Liverpool".
Ten years have passed, so objective memories risk being mixed with the "Legends" that might have formed in my head, but I think by now you've already realized that this is just a pretext to pay homage to a great Artist, too often absent from DeB, while trying not to duplicate...
What I can say, because I remember it with certainty, is that Suzanne hypnotized the entire audience with her usual lightness, pleased by the fact that songs like "Luka" and others mentioned earlier were known by heart by the audience, but even less known ones like "Fat Man and Dancing Girl" were experienced by everyone with emotion...
It was cute that just before this piece, she asked for the Italian translation of the term "Dancing Girl" and upon hearing "Ballerina," she amusingly remarked with a "Like in Spanish..."
For me, the highlight moments were the first encore with "In Liverpool" played in an extremely extended version with a final chorus that seemed to never end (as it still occasionally loops in my head) and the tossing of Mimosa onto the stage, with her gathering a bunch of it... I don't know if it was the one I threw, but statistically, a high percentage of the flowers in the Vox passed through my hands first, so I like to think I gave it to her...
Leaving satisfied, F. handed me one of his "creations," telling me, "You didn't think I came without, did you?"
"For a moment, yes..."
Mo.
P.S: A curiosity, here you can find an article that came out the day after, not directly related to the concert, but still...
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