Idroscalorock 2007

Idroscalorock, September 1 & 2, 2007

Half an hour's bus ride outside Milan there is a massive recreational complex with greenery and an artificial lake. For the past few years at the start of every September, a two-day music event has been held there. Last year was a massive line-up that included the likes of Iggy & the Stooges, the Damned, the Buzzcocks, the (I) Noise Conspiracy, Pennywise, Rise Against, Gogol Bordello, and so on and so forth (I think you get the picture). All that for no more than 40 quid. Yeah: it was fantastic. This year, the organizers changed, things were a little more low-key and more than a little smaller. Still, I wasn't going to miss this, even though it was the weekend after Reading Festival and my stay in London, making me, in theory, far too exhausted.

Saturday, September 1 : After a little trouble with getting off at the right bus stop that has me traipsing around fast lanes not really intended for pedestrians, I finally make it to the idroscalo shortly after 16.00 where Wet Dog have just started their set. They're a trio full to the brim with girl power, but while they look absolutely kicka*s on stage they have so many sound problems I'm still not sure what exactly they sound like live. They, along with the next few bands, also deserve the utmost respect for courageously playing sets to no more than a few dozen people out in the daylight, most of which are relaxing on the ground some distance away from the stage (yes: the first day did not draw many people this time around). Following them are Chin Up Chin Up [ photo ] from Chicago who deliver a soft rock/hard pop sound with a somewhat folksy inflection perfect for relaxing in the summer sun. After them Italians Hot Gossip [ photo ] take over with their own brand of punk pop rock (with surprisingly fluent and correct English lyrics - that's a rarity). There's nothing overly new or original here, but the three of them are simply fun to watch on stage: three distinct individuals with character and charisma to spare, delivering funky dance moves along with their energetic beats. After a short breather, Irish rockers Humanzi [ photo | 2 | 3 ] take over. You want to check these guys out. Now. Nownownow. After their first song, frontman Shaun takes a good look around before admonishing "This is a fu*king rock show, so get up off the ground!" That's better. Humanzi play rock n' roll that has the rock attitude but doesn't sound like it's been taken off the dusty shelves from rock's golden days - instead, they manage to bring something fresh into their sound that hits you like a punch in the face. Yes! Here's where I have to throw in that their label Sound Foundation Recordings also plays host to one of my personal favourites Channel One (which I only found out after seeing them, so don't take that as influencing my views but rather a definite reinforcement of first impressions of awesomeness). Basically, the music scene needs kids like these, and it doesn't hurt that they're also sexy to boot. Following them is Italian band Il Teatro Degli Orrori (translated: the Theatre of Horrors) and they are... horrific. Somewhat tragically they are also the first to draw a larger crowd ready to really get into it - somehow not entirely surprising as their tracks are politically motivated screaming (in Italian, of course, and we all know how passionate the Italians get about their politics) layered over disjointed stuff I don't really want to call music. So it goes. I walk off to protect my ears, but obviously return to catch London kids Blondelle [ photo | 2 | 3 ] : I had pretty high expectations for these kids when I found out that their stuff is being released on Rude Records, the same label that handles the Italian distribution of SideOneDummy (label of Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello, The Casualties, Bedouin Soundclash... am I making myself understood?). And they don't disappoint. Stepping out on stage looking like a bunch of 11-15 year olds - in truth, they are apparently 19/20, though I still find that extremely difficult to believe (if they ever happen to read this, sorry kids... I bet you get ID-ed all the time) - they are electrifying and immediately win everyone's hearts. Ginger frontman Will is so scrawny that skinny jeans are loose on him, but his eccentric red jacket makes everything okay as do his stage antics: the kid is all over the damn place! This is the sort of music you can't stand still to. A beam of sunshine to the heart. Whazzam! Seriously: infectious melodies, witty lyrics, and a wacky energetic performance... what more could you want? High expectations met. One does have to wonder how much inspiration Will draws from Eugene Hutz as far as stage antics go - I do love his later mini-cameo in Gossip's set when he skips across stage during Standing in the Way of Control decked out in a Gogol Bordello shirt. Next up is The Lost Patrol Band [ photo ] . I remember Dennis Lyxzen's other band, The (I) Noise Conspiracy, being great fun to watch last year, but this... simply bored me out of my mind. With almost every song being in the same time signature and stupidly cheerful and happy, the performance simply became a drag. "Did you see those kids Blondelle? They're half my age and twice as good," he jokes and is very tragically right. Taking over the stage from them are Gossip [ photo ] who I was admittedly very curious to see. You know when you wonder what a singers' voice sounds like when they're talking? I can now tell you that Beth Ditto's voice is the epitome of girly, and she is simply...well, *cute* with her attempts at Italian and complaints about the mosquitoes - "Zanzaye?" (actually, zanzare, but she's getting there). Performance wise the woman is definitely a power-pack on stage though music wise some of the songwriting could use a little work - if all you have to work with are beats, low guitars that do little more than add more rhythm and a (admittedly fantastic) voice, you need to kick up the variety in melody a little or else run the danger that all your songs sound more or less the same. The crowd is fantastic: from flipped out kids all the way to the middle-aged homosexual couple next to me, it is a pleasure to see them all jumping and dancing like mad. Criticism: if you're campaigning for sexual freedom, you might do well not to alienate the straight kids by announcing half of your songs as "gay" or "gay love song" or "for gay people". We all love in the same ways, don't we honey? An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, and at some point things just get plain silly. I assume it's just her not keeping her head in the stage talk, and if so, it's time she learned. After quite possibly the longest soundcheck in the history of music, Editors [ photo | 2 ] take the stage to finish off the night. It's bliss in the form of smooth sounds and flashing lights while Tom Smith pours all the passion he possesses into his voice...and his crazy hands/fingers. Whether it's a subconscious performance tic or done purposely, it ends up being just a little disconcerting. It's a good set with standout tracks still being the old classics, which perhaps does not bode too well for the new album (that might just be personal opinion, however). Happy and exhausted, I get on the bus back to Milan. Never trust bus drivers in Milan: at the airport where I need to change and am for a minute afraid I've missed the last bus, I am told that no no, it's okay, just take the next one that arrives over there. I do, and end up at the end of the line somewhere in the periphery way outside the city limits, stranded along with a lesbian couple who were given the same faulty indications (it turns out that they had travelled to Milan especially to see the Gossip, as this was their only Italian date). Taking mercy on our poor souls (his is the last bus to pass that way), the bus driver (somewhat illegally) takes us back to the city and drops us off back in 'civilization' where at around 1 am exhausted little me stumbles into a pub to meet up with some friends (the party never stops).

Sunday, September 2: I wake up exhausted and with the mother of all hangovers after only stumbling into bed at around 7 am the night before. More music festival? Now? Initially the plan is to drag myself out in time to catch Ignite whose set at Reading Festival was quite impressive (it can never hurt to watch good bands again. And again. And then some more), but it wasn't to be. While I couldn't find anyone interested in coming along for day 1, the same friend who did Reading with me is coming along for day 2 and she's (mercifully) a little lazier than me and decides it's okay if we just get there for an hour later...meaning sometime shortly after 5. My camera is dead, so there are no photos. Sunday, partly due to the very different line-up and partly due to there now being two stages, has drawn out a lot more people (probably way over ten times more) and an entirely different crowd from Saturday: many many many Italian punks, half of which are young and the other half decidedly middle-aged, plus those geeky looking types who don't cultivate Mohawks but listen to NOFX. You know which ones, to stereotypically slap labels on them. We laze around in the grass catching a few songs of Persiana Jones' show on the main stage: this is good, solid, Italian ska-punk-rock. It's hard to capture the exact atmosphere of this place, but it is special - I've never lived anything like it in England. It may have something to do with different cultural attitudes (don't try to argue when I say that Italians are generally far more laid-back than the English). Ska is massive in Italy, and it is a type of music perfectly suited to large stages outside with its full, energetic summer sound. This is happiness, this is the life (this is way better than lounging on the grass in the arena at Reading). Neville Staple tragically cancelled his performance last-minute due to personal issues. Shame, but Sick Of It All make up for it with a performance that packs more power than I could have imagined, plus emo-bashing thrown in for free: "I want to see you jump! You think you're too cool to jump? I'm sorry I don't have tight black jeans and a white belt and one of those [he makes an accompanying hand gesture to cover half his face] fringes." Ah yeah, myspace also gets its share of the criticism, as does the internet - "I like you Italians because you can still appreciate live music. You come out to shows! You don't sit at home in front of your computers watching videos of the live shows and then criticize them without having lived them." Amen to that. I think I also have to say at this point that I'd never put on a Sick Of It All album to listen to in my room, but that live show was incredibly good. Live music is the way, kids. Have a look at what's going on in your town nownownow, and gogogogo! - small, big, doesn't matter. Turbonegro starts off promising, and their instrumental musicianship is doubtlessly good, but the vocals irritate the hell out of me. So, off to get more drinks it is, and more lounging on the grass, paying attention only here and there. In retrospect, they probably deserve way more credit than I'm giving them, but tired on a sunny Sunday afternoon I simply didn't have the nerve to deal with that distinct kind of nasal whine (it's worse live than on studio recordings). I will say that the songwriting itself is impressively good. As a sidenote, the two bands that have played on the smaller stage since our arrival - Strength Approach and Sottopressione - are both easily missable after a song or so, but that might just be because I'm not knee-deep into my hardcore (and definitely not deep enough to like Italian hardcore). This may sound like I'm not having a great time, but I assure you that I am, very very very much so (think back a few sentences and remember what I said about live music: it makes me a happyhappyhappy bunny). Next up is the definite highlight of of my day: The Locust. What a show. The most surreal of surreal experiences: all it takes is three kids dressed up in bodysuits including hoods and masks with their instruments and a few lights. They take you places you didn't know you could go, and with a mastery of their instruments of choice and more importantly a coordination and sense of time and rhythm that leaves you staring wide-eyed, mouth gaping open, jaw on the floor, brain disintegrated. This is not a comfortable show; this is something that pushes boundaries. My friend excuses herself, saying "This is really good, but it's starting to make me feel a bit sick". I urge you: should you ever get a chance, catch these kids and see for yourself, because words are really failing me here. That only leaves NOFX and god they are unbearable. While I could have perhaps sat through their songs (the performance of which also strikes me as weak), it's their inbetween-song banter that really ticks me off. Sure, they're parodying themselves and all of the punk rock that falls into their category (at least I hope it's self-mocking humour, otherwise I think the apocalypse and resulting end of humanity maybe can't come soon enough), but I really don't need to hear about their hairy backs ("Does anyone here have some wax? Cause, look at this!") or the standard alcohol/drugs fare, or.... well, you get the image of the typical teen jackass (which they no longer qualify for). Tongue in cheek or not tongue in cheek, it's just neither funny nor interesting nor anything else. I spend my time getting acquainted with a random Italian punk kid instead ("I have an idea: come home with me tonight." Thanks for the offer honey, but really, no). Day 2 concluded, I find my friend from among the NOFX crowd and we happily head back to Milan (right bus, this time).

It hasn't been as big or as impressive as 2006's edition, but it's been good and I'll definitely be there next year (if they run another installment...). Is it worth travelling to Milan for? Check the line-up first - if it's to your liking, ticket price-wise, definitely yes. As of now, I can't say whether anything will even be happening next year due to this year's massive cut in size and also the weak turnout for day 1, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Any questions etc, email me darlings, and I'll try my best to answer.

For more photos (not taken by me): click here, look among 'Settembre 2007'