UPON REQUEST: BANSHEES IN MILANO 1991 (BANSHEEIANA - 4)

 

UPON REQUEST: BANSHEES IN MILANO 1991

(BANSHEEIANA - 4)

 

Questo non è un post, è parte del lavoro fatto per una mia biografia – in lingua inglese – dedicata a Siouxsie and the Banshees (noterete che anche le grafie nel tempo cambiano) che non ho poi “definito” (le pagine sono molte).

Mi viene “richiesto” e come tale lo pubblico, senza pretese letterarie.

 

 

October 10: Milano, City Square (originally scheduled on the 9th at Rolling Stone).

After having opened their European tour in Yugoslavia (Ljubljana), Siouxsie And The Banshees hit Italy.

 

They had no chance to enjoy a rather good (weatherwise) day in Milano, as the venue was reached only hours before the show, this becoming a no-soundcheck-albeit-it-was-necessary gig. Why? Because the concert hall is rather long, with a not very high ceiling and lacks in width: you don't have to be a sound engineer to know that the Banshees music will turn out to be quite booming without a perfect, time consuming, sound adjustment.

 

The support slot is filled by Blue Aeroplanes, not exactly my kind of desert island music, therefore I chat in the foyer with Captain Scarlet and Tony, who is in charge of the merchandising, before reaching my position at the very end of the right balcony aisle, just a few yards from the stage.

 

The show opens with Dazzle and with the most swirling Severin I've ever seen, his tailed purplish suit reminding some of the best Batman villains. Tonight the stage is shared almost equally among him, the Mad Hatter Jon Klein and Siouxsie (clad in a leotard consisting of deep burgundy tights and a black veiled top), as they move from one side to the other, almost restlessly.

The set consisted mainly of Superstition numbers: the audience showed some lack of enthusiasm about Drifter and Softly, while Kiss Them For Me was probably the most cheered new number. The band also plundered Peepshow, most notably the perennial crowd mover Peek-A-Boo and Ornaments Of Gold.

With the big clock in the background (not part of the tour scenography, but a permanent feature of City Square!) inexorably marking the passing of time, the Banshees had little time for those singles which Italians seems to prefer.

Well, I certainly did not mourn because of no Dear Prudence, as we got Obsession (those of you who attended the Dreamhouse tour nine years ago will understand me: this is an almost "lost" classic played live, as far as I know, only once or twice that year), Painted Bird (thanks again Siouxsie), and the concert closed with Monitor.

Even the encores fell victim of the sound curfew: instead of the scheduled ones, El Dia De Los Muertos, Sue's favourite b-side as she confessed to the audience, ended this seventy-five minutes gig in my hometown.

 

Notwithstanding some technical problems, S&TB managed to offer us a very good concert, the band being in a great mood and Talvin Singh being an important addition now that the Banshees are revamping some less known tracks from their always increasing repertoire. I remember some rumours about a new live album earlier this year, well I think that now is the time for it.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                      Steg

 

 

 

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