A Glimpse Of Music

The good old days

I hate sundays. I really do.

Because they got me stuck in laziness, melancholy and overthinking.

Thinking about what I have to do in my stressful week. Thinking about what I’d love to have to do during my week, instead. Thinking about the past.

Especially when the past returns. It doesn’t have to be something big, moving or extraordinary: it can just be a matter of breaths, lights, sounds and…

Because they got me stuck in laziness, melancholy and overthinking.

Thinking about what I have to do in my stressful week. Thinking about what I’d love to have to do during my week, instead. Thinking about the past.

Especially when the past returns. It doesn’t have to be something big, moving or extraordinary: it can just be a matter of breaths, lights, sounds and smiles.

So, you find yourself in a room, looking at a river you’ve already seen a couple of years before. Same building, same spot, same view. Yet, so different are the feelings.

While I was looking at that dark river, I’ve found myself smiling. I was surrounded by music, songs, laughters, chats. And I’m not talking about the ones that still were echoing in that exact moment. No. I’m referring to all the magic I’ve been lucky enough to live in the past five years, thanks to the very same people, songs and laughters.

So this blog post comes after years of silence not to tell about a new concert or a new record, but just to honour all the beauty I’ve been living thanks to my favourite band: the Libertines, and all of their intensely various world.

I didn’t say “favourite” randomly. I love different bands, seen loads of concert, got emotional or loose for so many different musicians, even lately.

But there is no band in the world that made me live what I’ve lived with the Libs.

All of that travelling, discovering, meeting, singing, chatting, drinking and loving.

Yeah, I said love, meaning its purest type. That kind of loving that just make you feel alive, happy, being part of something. That’s what I’ve felt every single time I’ve been “around” the Libertines. The adrenaline rush at their gigs, the warm tears, the heart-breaking-and-filling bromance, the songs sung over and over during the coldest nights, the crazy laughters with new and old friends, the words, the hugs.

If I go swimming in the sea of memories, I go beyond the Libs themselves, and bump into all the people living in their world, in their side or solo projects, in their way of being. I then see myself meeting one of the most important people of my life for so many years; visiting cities I’d never imagined to; travelling alone in the world; screaming; feeling my heart exploding in Treviso, when finally meeting Peter, the one I owe all of this in the first place; getting to know so many lovely chaps; crying and hugging my best friend outside a weird concert venue in East London, for the mere fact of being together; meeting a lovely one and spending nice moments together in a hot Italian summer night; opening a blog; writing a lot; dreaming even more, and often living what I dreamt.

And I remember and treasure every single moment I got to live with Carl: ’cause I’ve never met someone kinder, smarter and funnier. He’s always shown himself for what he is: an incredibly talented and sweet soul. He’s always been so nice and good to me, and this is something that really melts my heart, because I’m not used to. I’m now so used to people feeling free to treat me with disrespect, that it still amazes me how kind he’s always been to me, making me feel nice, loved, perceived.

And that’s why I’ve found myself smiling at that window. Because I’ve felt all of this at once: I’ve retraced it all, I’ve felt it all, I’ve loved it all. Once again, after all these years. And I think it will never stop, ’cause I am always gonna love the Libertines. As a band, of course, but as my kind of people, more.

I don’t know what the future will hold for me, and I don’t even want to. Many things are changing, many people are growing and moving on. I’m not, and this scares me to death. I’ve already lived the pain of brotherly friendships going up and down, life turning into the next chapter without you asking for that, people around you looking for something else, shared dreams now becoming only yours. 

But I know what life’s given me so far: which is pain and delusion – as I’m so clearly feeling right now – but which is this incredible beauty, too. Despite it all, this love hasn’t changed, it still stands where it’s always been: in my heart, that, yes, for all the battering it’s taken, I’m surprised that it is still tickin’. And The Libertines will always make it bounce.

Always and foreva.

I’ll end it with some words of mine, which I texted to Vally some years ago. We said that we’d tell them to Peter and Carl, someday. We never did, we never will. So, here it is:

“Peter made us meet. Carl made us become sisters”

It doesn’t matter to me what the future might bring; I’m only grateful that I got to live all of this. I’m so grateful I’ve randomly listened to “Delivery” that winter morning, because none of this would happen otherwise. I’m so grateful I lived that kind of friendship. And I’m so grateful I met a golden person like Carl.

Up the Libertines.

“If you’ve lost your faith in love of music the end won’t be long, because if it’s gone for you then I too may lose it, and that would be wrong”

Post Animal: a music trip

I’m not gonna deny it: once again, another form of art brought me to a band. And I’m not trying to hide it, because I’m so glad that a tv series I’ve been loving so much – Stranger Things – gifted me with a new band to follow and being into.

So, thanks to Joe Keery’s acting career, last summer I bumped into Post Animal‘s music. The effect of this discovering was the non-stop playing of their…

We’ll meet again, some sunny day

  (photo credits: @__Albion on Twitter)

  Today I just celebrate my favourite band. The Libertines.

After the other night’s guerrilla show at The Boogaloo, all I can think about is that I bloody love these guys: in this kind of situations they manage to be themselves, the fucking Libertines, the band singing to and with their people, the band who does not give a damn about keeping the distance…

“Without music life would be a mistake”

I’ve tried to understand why music is so important to me so, so many times. And I’ve never figured it out. I’ve never been able to really identify the specific reason behind the incredible impact music has on my life.

Today, after a bunch of very confusing, sad and stressful weeks, I got it.

I’ve always seen music as something fulfilling my life: something that comes to enrich it, something that…

That’s why, after an astonishing weekend in Brussels to see two shows from their European tour, I’m not gonna write a review of these two – amazing – concerts. All I can say is that a right mix of old and news songs made the crowd go crazy, with a rush of collective energy and emotion. The venue the gigs took place, the very lovely Ancienne Belgique, is the perfect kind of place for this band to play: not too big, so stylish and with an excellent acoustics. Useless to say, I had two great nights attending the shows: I sang, jumped, screamed, danced and filled my heart.

And that’s the real point. This band just fills my heart like nothing else. My heart, oh, it really has gone through some hard times lately, thanks to real and strong emotions aimed to the wrong person. In the last months, my heart has been shaked with illusion and then hit with delusion, tested with changes in my personal life, and pressed with some sad worries. There was nothing in the world I needed more than some pleasant days off with my friends, in a city I love and that I link beautiful memories to, far from anything with the only task to drink great beers and find a good place in the venue to see my favourite band. And it worked, Brussels worked, again. Above all, The Libertines worked.

I’ve realized, once more, the main reason why I love this band in such a deep and emotional way is love. This band allows me to feel and live love: I see and think of love in their lyrics, I feel love in the goosebumps I get while listening to their music, I scream love while dancing or jumping on their guitar riffs, I perceive love when I look at them and the way they look at each other on stage, I see love in the madness of the crowd getting crazy in front of them, I see love in Peter shaking his head, I see love in Carl jumping and moving his legs, I see love in John’s calm in the middle of a storm, and I smile at love in Gary’s craziness. But there’s more. Not only I see and feel love: this band allows me to communicate it, too. There are other few bands I deeply like or maybe adore, but there is no other band in the world I can send my love to, in such a direct way. The Libertines put no filter or barrier between them and their “fans”: as Damon Albarn would say, it’s a unique and collective musical ritual everyone gets immersed into. The show is theirs, the show is ours. If they can, the guys are ready to chat, smile, hug people, in a beautiful exchange of feelings, energy… love. I love this band because it allows me to share love: my love for them doesn’t stop in a phone screen or in a record, my love for them explodes under their stage, travels with me around Europe, follows me in my everyday life and makes me stronger while facing everyday troubles. Last but not least, my love for them lives, day after day, in the relationship with my incredible best friend, who I met thanks to them: despite a series of hardships and misfortunes, Vally and me faced it all and believed in friendship, as a first thing. And now we are two people so deeply and radically connected that I’m not scared of saying she is my soulmate. She gives me strength and hope, she makes everything easier when things get harder, and she makes everything even more unforgettable when we often live something beautiful together. She’s always there for me. I know I can always turn to her and get a smile back, even when far away. And this all goes to The Libertines, who made us meet and who then tied us together in a relationship I could never live without. I really hope one day I’ll be able to tell them how much they have been influencing my life so far, and how I hope they’ll keep on doing it. For now, I just hope they can get all this incredible amount of love back, to live sorrounded by it forever. Because they deserve it, because they’re the most honest, energic, rocking band in the world. And loving them makes me feel more alive. Loving them does not feel like a one-way road, loving them is a whole living experience, in which I dream and live, beside them. To me, The Libertines are the purest transmission of love I know.

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  Ho già detto quanto ami i Libertines, e quanto il seguire questa band mi abbia regalato emozioni, sensazioni, una conoscenza musicale più ampia, bellissime città da vedere e persone fantastiche da conoscere. Ho anche già detto quanto ami il loro ultimo album. Ho già detto quanto sia riconoscente a Peter da un posto di vista musicale e quanto sia grata per essere stata così fortunata da aver conosciuto Carl.

Per questo, dopo uno stupendo weekend a Brussels per vedere due show del loro tour europeo, non farò nessuna review di questi due – fantastici – concerti. Tutto quello che posso dire è che un giusto mix di canzoni vecchie e nuove ha fatto impazzire il pubblico, in una scarica di energia ed emozione collettiva. La venue dei due live, il bellissimo Ancienne Belgique, è il tipo di location perfetta per questa band: non troppo grande, così elegante e con un’acustica eccellente. Inutile dire, quindi, che ho vissuto due notti fantastiche: ho cantato, saltato, urlato, ballato e ho riempito il mio cuore.

E questo è il punto. Questa band riempie il mio cuore come niente altro. Il mio cuore ha passato dei momenti veramente difficili recentemente, grazie a emozioni vere e forti, dirette alla persona sbagliata. Negli ultimi mesi, il mio cuore è stato scosso dal brivido dell’illusione e poi colpito dalla delusione, messo a dura prova da cambiamenti nella vita personale e stretto da alcune tristi preoccupazioni. Non c’era nulla di cui avessi più bisogno che di qualche giorno di riposo con i miei amici, in una città che amo e a cui lego ricordi bellissimi, lontano da tutto e tutti, con il solo pensiero di dover bere ottima birra e trovare un bel posto nella venue per vedere la mia band preferita. E ha funzionato, Brussels ha funzionato, ancora. Soprattutto, i Libertines hanno funzionato.

Ho realizzato, una volta di più, che la ragione principale per cui amo questa band in una maniera tanto profonda ed emozionale è l’amore. Questa band mi permette di sentire e vivere amore: vedo e penso all’amore nei loro testi, sento amore nella pelle d’oca che mi viene ascoltando le loro canzoni, urlo amore quando ballo e salto sui loro riff di chitarra, sento l’amore quando li guardo e osservo come si guardano tra di loro sul palco, vedo l’amore nella follia del pubblico sotto il loro palco, vedo amore in Peter che scuote la testa, vedo amore in Carl che salta e agita le gambe, vedo amore nella calma di John pure in mezzo ad un uragano, e sorrido all’amore nella pazzia contagiosa di Gary. Ma c’è di più. Non solo sento e provo amore: questa band mi dà anche la possibilità di comunicarlo. Ci sono altre poche band che mi piacciono e forse adoro davvero, ma non esiste altra band al mondo a cui possa mandare il mio amore, in una maniera così diretta. I Libertines non mettono filtri o barriere tra loro e i loro “fans”: per dirla alla Damon Albarn, è un unico rituale musicale collettivo, in cui ognuno si trova immerso. Lo show è il loro, lo show è il nostro. Se possono, i ragazzi sono sempre pronti a chiacchierare, sorridere, abbracciare la gente, in un bellissimo scambio di energia, sensazioni… amore. Amo questa band perché mi permette di condividere amore: il mio amore per loro non si ferma nello schermo di un telefono o in un disco, il mio amore per loro esplode sotto al loro palco, viaggia con me in tutta Europa, mi segue nella vita quotidiana e mi rende più forte nei problemi di tutti i giorni. Da ultimo, ma non certo per importanza, il mio amore per loro vive, giorno dopo giorno, nel rapporto con la mia incredibile migliore amica, che ho conosciuto proprio grazie a loro: nonostante una serie di difficoltà e di sfortune, io e Vally abbiamo affrontato tutto e abbiamo creduto nell’amicizia, innanzitutto. E ora siamo due persone connesse e legate ad un livello tanto profondo, che non ho paura di dire che lei sia la mia “anima gemella”. E’ lei che mi dà forza e speranza, è lei che rende più facili le cose anche quando diventano veramente difficili, è lei che rende ancora più indimenticabili i momenti bellissimi che spesso viviamo insieme. Lei c’è sempre per me. So che posso sempre girarmi verso di lei e ricevere un sorriso, anche quando siamo lontane. E tutto questo va ai Libertines, che prima ci hanno fatto conoscere e poi ci hanno legato in un rapporto di cui non potrei mai fare a meno. Spero davvero che un giorno avrò la possibilità di raccontare ai Libertines quando abbiano influenzato la mia vita, fino ad ora, e quanto spero che continuino a farlo. Per ora, spero soltanto che possano ricevere indietro tutto questa incredibile quantità di amore, e che ne vivano circondati per sempre. Perché se lo meritano, perché sono la band più onesta, energica e rock del mondo. E amarli mi fa sentire più viva. Amarli non è una sensazione monodirezionale, amarli è un’intera esperienza di vita,  in cui io sogno e vivo, di fianco a loro. Per me, i Libertines sono la più pura trasmissione d’amore che conosca.

AMYJO & THE SPANGLES: IT'S COOL TO BE HAPPY

Last week I was in Brussels, a city that always gives me good vibes and positive feelings. This time even more than ever. Being there to see two Libertines shows, I’ve had the pleasure to bump into AmyJo Doh & The Spangles, listen to their music live for the first time and chat with them after their opening act for the Libs. The main thing I was impressed by was the absolute joy of their music:…

WHY THE LIBERTINES’ “ANTHEMS FOR DOOMED YOUTH”IS “MY” ALBUM

credits: Roger Sargent

When writing about The Libertines I’ve always referred to their gigs, ’cause their live performances are what made my last year: from Hyde Park on, I’ve just been walking a beautiful path of wicked concerts and moments in the name of Albion. In the background, for this whole year, something… it being a hope, a look to the future, a glimpse to a new beginning… their new…

Writing about The Libertines is always so hard to me, it’s always been, even after the amazing concerts in London and Berlin, it still is. Before even start talking about the surreal gig in Milan, I must say that in these past months this band has achieved an even larger space in my life, more real, more concrete. Throughout these last years, this passion – it being born with a retroactive view…

London is always a great injection of fun, good vibes and interesting people to bump in. That’s kind of what happened last weekend, when I went to The Black Heart in Camden, spending a nice night out with friends and seeing The Carnations playing live. The London based band are Marc Donovan, Patrick Balfe, Jack Sully and Charlie Rowe. I’d already listened to some of their songs, but seeing them…

credits: John Millington

I’ve bumped into No One Sun rather randomly, just listening to music of bands on Twitter (a thing I love to do occasionally, and that I definitely need to do much more often). It was a grey Saturday morning and yet I was immediately taken far away from my home.

It was enough to hear the relaxing melody of “Lyra” (which features an amazing video, with lovely and tripping…

Last weekend I was in Brussels: art, vintage markets, beer and… a gig of Carl Barât & The Jackals‘ European tour.

The venue was Botanique, a much renowned one in Brussels, even if quite narrow: a little club, with about 250 people capacity, who welcomed a cold and not that prepared crowd.

Carl and The Jackals got on stage just 10 minutes after scheduled time: their show lasted one hour but…

Can you feel it coming?

Stealing a famous Kasabian chorus to let you know something is moving in the world of… Blur!

  After the teasing box in The Sun earlier this morning, Damon&friends are about to announce a new album… within 20 minutes (as you can see here).

Could you believe it? I didn’t, ’till one hour ago.

So, just a few minutes and the world will be ready to welcome back one of the greatest bands of the last…

(photo by Justine Trickett)

Carl Barat & The Jackals are something I really care about: it’s the typical feeling that pervades you when you live something from the beginning and you feel proud as this something grows and gets richer day after day. To be honest, last year when I heard about Carl Barat’s new band selected through online auditions, I was a little bit sceptical: I wondered how Carl’s…

This year was made of music to me, even more than the previous ones. In 2014 music has been a real companion, a friend, a crucial part of my life: it filled the holes created by some personal issues and smoothed all the stress and frustration I’ve so intensely lived this years because of my job.

So, in the day everyone is making an analysis of their year, here’s my musical one. I retraced all…

source: noisey.vice.com

Noel Gallagher’s recent coming back is gifting us with lots of stuff, more or less amusing: if the two singles for the upcoming “Chasing Yesterday” album may have disappointed a lot of aficionados (including me), Noel’s interviews are always full of clever quotes that are always worth listening to. Among the several interviews Noel released in the last few weeks, two really…