Blackbird Days 2025, Covo Club, Bologna

To be the so -called “Merla” days there were at least ten degrees in Bologna (usual chopped humidity aside), but the new year needed a shock to messed up in the direction of the next live. In this perspective, the Blackbird Days, the two days have been placed made in Covo Club, now in its third edition, which every year proposes to heat the engines with more or less known proposals.
The first evening of the Mini-Festival is inaugurated by the short and powerful splashes halfway exactly between Metal and Hardcore of the Rough Touch, Ferrarese Quartet with two EPs, the demo “Rough Touch '19” (2019) and “Sanctify Darkness” (2023), whose lineup for the occasion includes two covers, the deadly guitar-riff A loss of “Judgement Day” of the integrity, among the greatest influences found in the group's songs, and a trace of the Manowar, very well interpreted. Credible and never forced, the group moves safely on stage and the sung in Growl of frontman There is no shortage; to certify the title of Highlight Of the performance are the changes in the sudden pace of the explosive “Place in this World”.

The turn of the Lighinf arrives. and the scenario changes totally, with a sheet of Gallagherian memory containing the word “rock 'n' roll” peeking on stage and some Brit Outfit nineties in tow. There performance It focuses on the debut album “All Conditions Gear” (which by color of the cover and title can remotely recall “Different Gear, Still Speeding” of the Beady Eye), released on the same day, which mixes rapid HC Derive and some flashes between New Wave and Post-Punk. The hardcore-punk quota is certainly to stand out, however, the band members sometimes appear slightly misaltered, with the risk of dominating each other; Net of this, the guitars of the cutting edge “Souls On Ice” and the catchy “Frozen Feelings” are confirmed by focal points of the show as on a disc.
Unique guest of the entire edition to come from the United Kingdom, the SAPBOX Scottish play the role of headliner first tranche of groups, connected by Fil Rouge Hardcore atmospheres declined in different ways. Thanks to the EP only “Hawd That” (2024) and a handful of individuals, the quartet has gradually increased its fame in the last year and a half, focusing everything on the surrender of the live size.

The reboot “Mad Jungle Beat” dictates the rhythms of the energy performance in crescendo, passing through the very rapid incursions of “Stuff Upper Lip” and the behtings, the explosions and the drumming Out of control of “Private Public Transport”. The singer Tom Rowan turns to the public in the course of work on several occasions a little in Spanish and a little in Italian, obtaining an increasing involvement from the audience; The Bassline Incalzati of “meter made” and “yer da”, and the latter follows the highly appreciated and shorter “fascist bob”, which is located in the trend of Amyl and the Sniffers and members, replicated on the occasion of theencorewith conclusion of the main set on the small Poghi of “Prince Andy”.
Nothing too revolutionary at the level of soundof course, but some live pieces manage to effectively move the situation, with the frontman Also at the forefront, which between interventions and ballets between the soft and febrile, proves to be a discreet mattator able to animate crazy eager to make a lot of a little of Baccano.

The common thread on which the second day of the Festival travels is instead in the name of sounds darkwith a focus on Dream-pop and Shoegaze influences. The first name to which the task of breaking the ice is that of the yellow house, a basic duo in Venice who amalgama atmospheres Darkwave to a songwriter matrix. To hear a valid trace like “ADILà”, and to let himself be captured among the turns of the dark seduction of “poison”, underlined even more by the bewitching figure of the singer Giuditta Fabiani (also known with the moniker Of Giudimorale, his solo project), it is impossible not to mention the “Siberia” diaphragm among the most immediate references, the Serfs of “Half Eten by Dogs” and Molchat Doma.
The unpublished closing have perhaps a slightly weaker text than the first songs in the lineup, however the duo is still at the beginning and the good potentials are not lacking.

It is the turn of the Mondaze, Quartetto Faentino Heavy-Gaze On the track since 2016, currently on the crest of the wave thanks to “Linger” (2024), followed by the valid “Late Bloom” debut (2021). Undeniably very prepared from a technical point of view, they pay the burning of finding themselves not wrapped but suffocated by a plumbea and flat cloud of noise that totally covers the rumor (already not very audible on disk) of the frontman Matteo Vandelli. It would not be an immense problem, when it comes to Shoegaze, just think of My Bloody Valentine, post-rock and aesthetic drifts related to them, but the variations on the topic count, and in this case many do not stand out. The emphasis is placed on sophomore With “Lines of You”, which acts as a forerunner, and the summit given by the harmonies of “Dusty Eyes”. Towards the conclusion of the performance, the pen of this article looks around and sees some facials a little suffering, marked by the passage of the imposing sounds of sound.

We come to the last guests of the event, or the highly anticipated Glazyhaze, ready to follow the excellent “Just Fade Away” (2023) with “Sonic”, arriving at the end of March. Their aptitude has been confirmed since the decidedly international beginnings; In fact, it is no coincidence that the group has been included in numerous lists and playlists by various shoegaze, post-punk and related heads and that is being built in small steps a solid base with numerous dates abroad. Our immediately show off a triptych of effect, entering a tense leg with the fast and dreamy notes of the highlight “A glimpse of light”, and then gradually slowed down with the melodies of “Saltless” and the echoes of the dark pseudoBallad “Censor me”.
We continue with a hat -trick of novelties included in “Sonic”, that is, the rapid puffed battery of “What a feeling”, the pop choirs of “Nirvana”, performed two voices by Irene Moretuzzo and by bassist Vsevolod Prokhorov and the explosions of the intense and brilliant “Forgive Me”. A further summit is touched with the slow ballad “Ecstasy of the Week” and the grand finale offered by the vibrants riff guitar of “The Other Side”. A balanced performance and without the slightest smudging, to say the least perfect to conclude the winter festival offered by the house in grace.