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Rating: Dissonanze is an event organized in Rome starting from the year 2000. In these five years, this festival has managed to present high-caliber artists such as Underworld, Miss Kittin, and Swayzak in a city somewhat lacking in culture related to the world of electronica. This year, the event spanned three days, from Thursday 19 to Saturday 21, and involved artists well-known to club culture enthusiasts... but let's proceed calmly and analyze this festival day by day, which concluded just a few hours ago at the Palazzo dei Congressi in EUR. Unfortunately, my participation in the festival was partial, and the opinions that follow are OBVIOUSLY limited to the evenings I attended.
The first evening took place at Goa, certainly one of the most avant-garde clubs in all of Italy. To be clear, this venue has hosted Kruder&Dorfmeister to Timo Maas, including Deep Dish and Sven Vath... so there couldn't be a better start. The protagonists of the evening are Nathan Fake and James Holden, directly from England and for the first time in Italy. The first, a 22-year-old, performed a rather engaging live set, although slightly monotonous. The sounds are intense and decidedly minimal... perhaps, indeed certainly, a bit exaggerated. The young man plays a good hour and a half before leaving the stage to his companion. Holden performs a dj set, lasting about 2 hours, offering more danceable sounds but no less intense or minimal. Quite the contrary.
The following day, Friday, May 20, the festival changes location and moves to the Palazzo dei Congressi in EUR, expertly arranged. On the terrace, various DJs take turns at the console, accompanied by a spectacular array of lights. In the main room, inside the building, several large screens have been mounted along with plasma monitors surrounding the perimeter of the room... everything is well organized, then. The main guests of the evening are Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos. Of the former, also known as Plastikman, you can also find a review on this site... the latter is one of the most established DJs and producers in this field. The uniqueness of the dj set lies in the back-to-back involving the two... in simple terms, they will play one track each, which isn’t entirely positive if you consider that a true dj set sees the console person crafting a well-thought-out musical journey. With this method, that will not be possible. The sounds are refined and minimal, closely resembling techno... and the audience shows they appreciate the offering of the two DJs.
The third evening, the main one, also takes place at the Palazzo dei Congressi and unfolds, besides throughout the night, starting at 8 p.m.
Until 11, the fun, if you can call it that, is on the terrace, where various DJs take turns accompanied by the usual spectacular light effects.
At midnight, the main room opens: tonight's guests are Karl Bartos (yes, the one from Kraftwerk) and Tiga. Karl keeps everyone waiting until one (the scheduled start was midnight).. and plays for only an hour. The sound is that of Kraftwerk, indisputable... but it all falls a bit flat. Luckily, to revive the about five thousand people attending the event, Giancarlino, resident DJ at the aforementioned Goa, steps in to fill the gap left between the two main guests. He's given little time to play, but good old Gianca is still appreciated. After half an hour, Tiga, the real guest of the evening, takes the console. He departs from the sound proposed in the previous two evenings and delivers much more open and danceable tracks. The crowd is thrilled, and the situation becomes a lot of fun. In the meantime, Tiga establishes a perfect rapport with the audience, who eagerly follow every beat. The music continues until 5 a.m., and when Tiga bids everyone farewell and the lights come back on, the five thousand attendees, still all present, whistle. They want to keep dancing. The 34-year-old Canadian delivers a lesson in style: he engages with the audience, makes thousands dance, and offers a different interpretation of electronic music compared to the artists who preceded him on other nights of the festival. Extremely positive.
Dissonanze ends here, leaving behind certainly some good memories. The musical offering was wide and the organization perfect. Finally, an event of this caliber in Rome. If the rating doesn't reflect my enthusiasm, it's only because of the disappointment with Bartos's performance and the somewhat excessive sounds offered on Friday evening, which nonetheless was very interesting. We await next year!
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