Wire
Live @ Traffic Torino Free Festival - 11/07/08

THE REVIEW

Majestic.. that's the word I was looking for..

also monumental, epic, and grandiose suit them; dazzling, granite-like, and tectonic convey the magnitude of the sonic power, but "majestic" is the only adjective that perfectly captures the class with which Wire performed the other night at the Traffic in Turin during the short time they were given before those unfortunate Sex Pistols.

I came to Wire very late and only after insistent recommendations from much more advanced musicophile friends than myself, but I immediately appreciated their iconoclastic force of atypical punks, breaking elements within a genre of rupture, new wave of the most personal and interesting kind, if there ever was one. I followed their work post-breakup only a little and appreciated "Send" without exaggeration, but last night they truly won me over.

Wire today consists of Newman, Lewis, and Grey. In place of Gilbert, there's Margaret McGinnis. They have their age and their style and such a clear and violent style of interpretation is a surprise... a surprise perhaps foretold given the caliber and experience of the musicians, but since other historical revivals from the stage that reveals all either barely convinced me or slightly disappointed me (Stooges, Dinosaur Jr, etc... the Sex Pistols, on the other hand, at least amused me: they seemed like the Muppets doing the Rocky Horror Show!) I must say that finding such beautiful music that is thick, dense, compact yet fluid for the heart and the ears was a blessing...

Labels? Why use them for Wire? Great pure rock, hard, solid, immense and in immense style, very modern but timeless, immortal music like the Mona Lisa, never enough of it, who throws THEIR songs at you with such power from a stage is, for me, a true artist. I'm rushing to get "Object 47"!