Article by Adriana Panico | Picture of Rossella Mele
An uphill Monday like many others, moreover in this May-November which alternates cold, rain and sun as if the only thing left in between is not a season but rather us – half disconcerted, dismayed and trapped in wardrobes and moods never too defined. I find myself at the gates ofAlcatraz in Milan for the live performance of Kula Shaker, one of the most popular bands of the post-British pop music scene who came to present in Europe and Italy with a stop in Milan and Rome, Natural Magick, album number seven of a kaleidoscopic career. Even intermittent if we want, made up of separations, reunions, silences, successes and records.
The tickets ran out a while ago and looking at the faces of the people around me, I realize that they have ended up in the hands of a world: tonight the club in via Valtellina seems like a planetary cross-section with representatives of many nationalities flocking here to witness what it will prove to be the first rock meditation session for all of us. We are old enough, I don't know if all of us are adults, to be able to afford it.
Maybe it's because almost 30 years have passed since the band's debut and in 1996, when “K”, the first album of the lineup made up of Crispian Mills (frontman), Alonza Bevan (bass), Paul Winter-Hart (drums) and Jay Darlington (keyboard), many of those who are here tonight were already there. My life at the time was a singular American experience with an English plot made up of Oasis, Blur and indeed, Kula Shaker. Britpop, Britrock, Brit-whatever was the omnipresent hallmark of every experience. Their life, however, was collecting two records: the best-selling debut album in the first week and the first single in Sanskrit to reach the British top 10. Results probably given by an experimental style that combines the rock of the Kinks and Yearbirds, psychedelic sounds of the 70s, the Britpop of the Beatles with an excessive attraction for India and its spirituality which is very evident in the lyrics.
That mysticism with an oriental flavor guides the group is also evident from this evening's stage setup, left in its essentiality. The only distinguishing notes: a rainbow-colored band rolled around the frontman's microphone stand and an intoxicating smell of incense.
Without too many frills i Kula Shaker they leap onto stage and begin the performance with Gaslighting, the first piece of the new album, all grit and rock 'n roll. Way of soaring guitars up to Natural Magick when the style becomes more funk and the public begins to indulge more and more in liberating movements. In fact, the long white hair of the man next to me will never stop moving the air. Indian Rock Player it has an almost rockabilly sound and is certainly the first hint of what would make Kula the perfect soundtrack to a random Tarantino film. Start all over it is the first ballad that strategically allows the audience to gather their strength before returning to set the stage and guitars on fire with Infinite Sun. An energetic sun of red light accompanies I'm still Herea song of existence that in the fight against bad weather and adversity accompanies us to the same reflective restitution: being here, still being here.
With a small ukulele in his arms instead of the guitar, Crispian, with that chic and rock air and that nasal tone that constantly changes timbre, sings another piece from the new album, Bringing it Back Homewhich sounds a bit like country rock to the ear but it is with the preceding mantras Happy Birthday that music becomes the ideal manifesto of the Kula Shakers devoted to the search for planetary brotherhood. In the name of this vocation they play and sing in a scratchy way Idontwannapaymytaxes the total refusal to pay taxes if these serve to fuel armed conflicts and cause deaths.
A f*ck war angry repeated as a mantra in chorus with the audience closes this stance in notes and leaves room for Tattva, the single of delivery and consecration to hits from all over the world conquered by a choir learned in Sanskrit and by the eclectic catchy rhythm punctuated by vaults of organ and guitar. Here the band gives back to the public a vital and energetic spirit who are all busy dancing until they lose themselves in the ecstasy of Govindathe heart of the encore of this powerful concert, played on a multidimensional level and imbued with symbolism that makes Kula Shaker a glorious, hedonistic and spiritual band, capable of an intriguing spell, psychedelic and vital at the same time.
We return home by all possible means of transport, judging by the origins of the public. It is difficult, certainly more difficult, to return to some place that does not contemplate all this enchantment.
Click here to see photos of Kula Shaker in concert in Milan or browse the gallery below
KULA SHAKER – The lineup of the concert in MILAN
Gaslighting
Hey Dude
Waves
Natural Magick
Indian Record Player
Start All Over
Infinite Sun
I'm Still Here
Grateful When You're Dead / Jerry Was There
Bringing It Back Home
Shower Your Love
Happy Birthday
Idon'twannapaymytaxes
F-Bombs
303
Tattva
Hush
Encore
Great Hosannah
Govinda
Groove Is in the Heart
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM