With the superb performance of Rufus Wainwright (in the photo, Stefano Masselli) at the Conservatorio last Saturday, bringing to a close a week of concerts of the highest quality. It is not often that one gets the chance to admire such great artists who do not yet belong to the mainstream: in the space of just a few days we have brought to the Italian stages the Latin and funky sound of the The Cat Empirethe rousing guitars of Rodrigo y Gabriela and the magic of Rufus Wainwright. Tuesday, 20 November, with The Cat Empire a real music festival was staged at the Muisc Drome:
diverse audience, who danced for the two hours that the Australian band played, demonstrating all their talent. The setlist focused on tracks from their last two albums, with their funk mixing with Latin sounds, before exploding into reggae with a strong rhythmic impact. The Cat Empire, still little known to the general public in Italy, have already obtained four platinum discs in the rest of the world, and proved to have an additional plus point in their live performance: seven members on stage, with a horn section in great form, they brought Latin American music to unprecedented heights of modernity and freshness.
Great promise!
Always at Music Drome, Friday sees the two hottest guitars in Central America arrive from Mexico.
Rodrigo y GabrielaAfter a full house in Rome, they repeated in Milan with equal success: the setlist initially focused on covers of the Metallica including One, Master of Puppets, Fade to Black e Orion... the audience explodes on their Tamacun and on the notes of Starway to Heaven.
Gabriela is sensual, as well as great, as she tells of their metal past, so distant and so close in heart to their current sounds, capable of transporting those notes to traditional instruments. Rodrigo is a true wizard of the guitar, he is the one who writes the mantra melodies and his partner is entrusted with an impressive rhythm section: there are two of them but they play for a whole band.
The audience leaves the hall enthused, aware that they have seen something unique.
The date at Conservatory is the Milanese premiere for Rufus Wainwright as provocative as he is blessed with immense class. His was a perfect concert, in terms of performance, warmth, audience reaction and choice of venue. His music, capable of mixing the sounds of Radiohead with symphonic ones, immediately won over the fans: the tracks from his latest album were stupendous and dragged the whole set along. Great encores, with first the American singer-songwriter in a bathrobe then in a suit, complete with lipstick and earrings.
The musical by Be Happy and of Gay Messiahpreceded by a moving PosesThey greet an ecstatic audience...
