Article by Alessandro Canalicchio
Monday 18 May 2026, general strike day. The USB stops trains, buses, half of Italy and the rain takes its toll: Milan is a grey, hostile quagmire. Yet out of the Fabrique in via Fantoli, under the water, there is a queue of kids who have no intention of giving up. There is no doubt about it: the merch of 18K it's everywhere and super recognisable, everyone has that black shirt with the artist's name stretched out. Someone raises their iPhone for a quick chest opening of Clash Royale and the crowd goes crazy as if it were an encore. 18K himself, hours earlier, published a story: “I know that today there are train strikes and other shit, so many people are working miracles to come, thank you, you won't regret it.” They didn't regret it.
The date is special: it is the zero of Summer Tour 2026produced by I live concerts. The Fabrique has been sold out for weeks, over three thousand people. The tour accompanies the wait for Ithe new album out on May 29th for EMI Records Italy/Universal Musica more electronic and introspective project than Anti Anti and to his Doom Edition.
Once inside, my gaze goes straight to the LED wall behind the stage, where a huge chain rotates with the writing 18Kand in front, in capital letters, I. And you realize that the 18K audience is “very high”, in the literal sense: being in the back means not seeing anything.
Opening act
At 8.30pm the theme song starts Winx and goes on stage Pittafresh from New Scene on Netflix and of Levitating High with Mace And Pope V. “Do you know Mace? And Pope V? Bad news: neither of them came because I'm not important enough!” and launches himself into the piece.
The audience compensates by singing every word. The moshpit lights up and here the problem of the evening emerges: in the front rows you are crowded, people fall like a domino effect and the air becomes heavy for many. Gradually some move to the sides of the club: the Fabrique tonight it's barely holding up. Then it arrives SlaughterhouseGiacomo Bosi, born in Bologna in 2001, who dedicates a moment to Jordan Jeffrey Babyfound lifeless in Pavia prison in March 2024 at the age of 26. The silence is short but heavy. Anyone who listens to 18K knows Pitta, knows Macello, in fact everyone sings, even if we are still in the opening act.
The floor shakes
Finally he arrives. 18K part with Uppdownn and the Fabrique explodes. Filippo Casadio, born in '97, da Brisighellathree thousand souls in the province of Ravenna: one who in Tuina Center he raps about the cod he desalined in the fish shop and says that when he sees a waiter or a worker he doesn't want them to think that he doesn't know what they're feeling. That humility is not a rhetorical device, it is the thread that holds his entire story together. It must be said: the entire live performance travels on a sub-voice basis, and this is noticeable. The audience still covers everything by singing, but a stage of this size deserves a few more risks.
Fucking Knife with White face raise the temperature, I don't feel anything sends the audience into ecstasy. Then 18K announces the new album and sings I'll try to cure myselfone of the many unreleased films spoiled this evening. Blue Punisher arrives without Silent Bobwho is ill, and the piece hits the same: “There wasn't something that represented how I felt, so I created it” it's a bar that three thousand sing at the top of their lungs, which indicates how close the audience is to him, made up of super fans.
A lot of guests
With K. West And Really Macello returns, and at the end of I'm not you (with Macello and Pitta) the three embrace on stage. The back of the club has filled up: there is an absurd coming and going of people who from the front rows migrate to the back to breathe, then come forward for the next piece. The spoiler of I saw Christthe intro of the new album, anticipates the arrival of Kid Yugi: Mogio And No Kizzy they unleash such a delirium that the hot air from the audience fogs up my glasses. With i BNKR44 he arrives Distantand 18K asks everyone to raise their flashes: the Fabrique lights up with three thousand lights while Heart closes the block.
Then the LED wall lights up with a countdown that stops at eighteen seconds. Pause, darkness, and restart with +Strong together with Latrellefollowed by Throw, Throw repeated three times in a row because one wasn't enough. Spoilers by 50/50 with Vegas Jones present, then Scar For Everything I Hate, EMMA For KKK. 18K spent the entire live asking to open the circle, open the river, make space, like a chaos master of ceremonies who wants everyone to participate.
Vendetta, Michiganand then it's over. You leave the Fabrique drenched in sweat, with your ears ringing. A boy from Brisighella who desalinates cod has just filled the Fabrique on a day of general strike, and the album will be released in ten days. The train to go home maybe isn't there. But for many it was worth it.
18K – the setlist of the Milan concert
Intro
Uppdownn
I Asked Heaven for Help
Tuina Center
Speed!
Scapigliato (feat. Visino Bianco)
Fucked Knife (feat. Visino Bianco, UNK)
I don't feel anything
I'll try to cure myself
Blue Punisher (feat. Silent Bob)
Personal vent
K West (feat. Macello)
Really (feat. Macello)
Non Sono Te (feat. Macello, Pitta)
I saw Christ
Piece of Earth
Mogio (feat. Kid Yugi)
No Kizzy (feat. Kid Yugi)
Little Chills
Snake
We Were Servants (feat. Rayan & Intifaya)
Namek (feat. Rayan & Intifaya)
Frosted Silver
Far Away (feat. BNKR44)
Heart
+Forte (feat. Latrelle)
Buttare, Buttare (feat. Latrelle) – repeated 3 times
50/50 (feat. Vegas Jones)
Anti Anti
Everything I Hate (feat. Scar)
Tantrums
KKK (feat. EMMA)
Vendetta
Michigan
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
