Italy may not have participated in the shameful World Cup in Qatar but they have full potential to be world number one thanks to their main asset. Verrati? No. Mancini? No. Maneskin! The rock band that became famous worldwide thanks to their victory at Eurovision 2021 sold out twice Forest National in Brussels (16k tickets) and confirmed they are on the way to conquer the World!
Two nights in row. Two soldout shows. Both in front of 8000 people for their only 2nd and 3rd headline show in Belgium after their concert at La Madeleine early 2019. It was before their victory at Eurovision. Since then, Maneskin played at Ronquieres Festival and on the Main Stage of Rock Werchter last Summer for a massive rock’n’roll show. Yes, there’s something real about this band. It’s not just a phase. Who remembers Duncan Laurence, winner of the 2019 edition? Or Netta winner in 2018. To ask the question is to answer it. The advance that Maneskin got in the finale on the second artist is the second biggest one his the whole history of this TV Show. One more statistic to add on their CV. Last but not least, they confirmed a stadium tour in Italy for next Summer. So yeah, it’s in their own country but there aren’t so many bands that can play a stadium in their country (except for the USA and UK which are out of the category)!
Lot of statistics is great. Confirm them live is better! Play a great show in the afternoon of a festival with a huge hype is a thing. Play an arena as headliner is something else. But not a problem for Maneskin! They are so confident of their strength that they didn’t bring an opening act to warm-up the audience. Just open the doors art 6:30 and go on stage at 8:00 for 2h of show. Risky? Not when you soldout the venue on you own.
From the seconds their appeared on stage hidden by a huge red curtain until their last goodbye on stage, the venue became their garden. We were not in Brussels anymore. But in Rome! Not until the Coliseum as the audience were not in a moshpit mood but still a very good reaction obviously. A crowd that looks like their new album “Rush!”: really good but with a slight lack of madness. Luckily for us: they didn’t loose their mojo in a couple of months, they just kept it for the live!
Loud as f*ck. Heavy as f*ck. Powerful as f*ck. The list keep going… We are at a fuckin’ rock’n’roll show, no doubt! Like a rockstar or a referee in a boxing ring, the microphone from Damiano David is hung from the ceiling. Right away, the audience is on fire. So are the musicians on stage playing as real professionals which would make us forget how young they still are: all 22 years old except their frontman Damiano who is 24.
We have no time to rest. The band plays one song after another with a crazy energy without any real breaks and count on their young audience to do the same! Zitti E Bueno, Supermodel, Caroline… many songs could be highlights of the evening with a preference for the oldest songs. But obviously, one of the biggest moments is when they started Beggin’, their iconic cover of The Four Seasons, one of the 2 songs that make them famous (the other one being I Wanna Be Your Slave obviously). It’s karaoke time. Another powerful rock’n’roll moment for the band. The whole show deserved a 9/10 but this song deserved a 10/10 on its own!
Any songs would have sounded cheaper after that and it felt on Timezone. For Your Love didn’t increase a lot the ambiance on its music but thanks to David using a large projector to explore the darkened room and by highlighting his fellow guitarist during his solo, it was still a decent moment. Let’s take a moment here to notice the beautiful light and stage production the band brought on this tour: the architecture made up of dozens of spotlights above the stage, moving with each song, was a beautiful sight! What about pyro? We thought we would have a lot but they brought only a couple of ones to be used during only one song: Gasoline. Honestly, just for this, it wasn’t necessary. Put on fire the standing microphone of Damiano and 4 smalls decorations behind the drums didn’t add anything special to the show. Just a small frustration that we could have had more!
Like every big bands, Maneskin played a couple of acoustic songs. But not anywhere: on a B-stage installed at the other end of the floor. We had the acoustic songs during both Bring Me The Horizon and Electric Callboy shows this week, tonight it was Maneskin‘s round. For this lovely moment with smartphone’s lights shining all around, the chose 2 songs: a new one (If Not For You) and a old one (Vent’Anni). A nice moment of cohesion between the band and the fans.
This moment done, we know we were closer to the end than the beginning of the show but we still had plenty of huge songs heard. Like Mammamia in the top 5 songs of this insane show! And, of course, I Wanna Be Your Slave to end this 2h of rock’n’roll. We could mention the many cool moments like the couple of fans brought on stage during Kool Kids, the 2 sit-downs (better than SlipKnot?!), the many crowd invasions from Victoria, the drum solo of Ethan or the funny solo Thomas sitting on the shoulders of a roadie as he walked through the crowd. We got all the clichés of a arena rock show but well executed!
Set-list: Don’t Wanna Sleep, Gossip, Zitti E Bueno, Own My Mind, Supermodel, Caroline, Baby Said, Bla Bla Bla, In Nome Del Padre, Beggin’, Timezone, For Your Love, Gasoline, Vent’Anni, If Not For You, I Wanna Be Your Slave, La Fine, Feel, Mark Chapman, Mammamia, Kool Kids. Encore: The Loneliest, I Wanna Be Your Slave.
Italy may not have participated in the shameful World Cup in Qatar but they have full potential to be world number one thanks to their main asset. Verrati? No. Mancini? No. Maneskin! The rock band that became famous worldwide thanks to their victory at Eurovision 2021 sold out twice Forest National in Brussels (16k tickets) and confirmed they are on the way to conquer the World!