Article by Marzia Picciano | Photo by Rossella Mele
It's almost Christmas, it's that time of year that, to paraphrase what was said in Mean Girls, we feel entitled to put on everything shiny we (or at least, I) have. Which isn't necessarily covering yourself in sequins, as much as it reflects one of mine desired main. But it's understanding how to feel shine. And above all for whom.
THE Desirethe Montreal group formed at the level core from the producer e maitre on stage, already a member of Chromatics and Glass Candy, Johnny JewelAnd Megan Louiseseraphic voice and presence on stage, represent in every way the mood of the undergrowth of my inner self in this period, what then remains latent for the rest of the year. I'm honest: now I just need to hear a synthesizer vibrate to activate one spleen narcotized and a little sick. I would like to shine but I can't, I would like to desire but I can't.
Good reason to go toArci Bellezza this December of continuous fog and pre-Christmas gloom on December 12th, for the Milan stop of the tour to promote the new album, Games People Play opened by the (in my vision) club version of Myss Keta, ORIONwhich warms up the anticipation like few others with dance vibes combined with visuals (made by her) that would rival those of Peggy Gou. Or as she calls herself on IG: cybernetic spacedisco noir music. I agree.
I enter the large room of the Bellezza and everything is already very hot. For a moment I think I've missed something but no, it's just that the swirl of disco-feeling made of eco-leather jackets, bodysuits, gloves, heels and studs has been activated that will liven up the whole evening. The perfect conduit of a mixture of desperation and pre-Christmas exhaustion. I couldn't wait to dive in.
Returning to Desire: to date, with their totally disco eighties and electronics have made three records, a lot of hits, signed an iconic piece to play every night I go home driving with the traffic lights flashing. Yes, I'm talking about Driveand of Ryan Gosling at the height of his splendor (while I would say that I have neither too much splendor at the moment nor particularly intriguing stories to merit a judo session in the elevator).
They always remained in one niche apart, doing the things they liked to do, finding the space that – I think – made them feel more at home. Allowing a very magnetic Megan Louise to appear on stage in a red patent raincoat (Annalisa where are you) as it begins Darkside over bodices at the physical limit of containment which mix in a half composition Kraftwerkhalf theatrical, complete with objects such as skulls, telephones, roses which all become concrete fetishes of their songs.
What is certain is that on the Bellezza stage on Thursday evening an imaginary disco was created which has more the appearance of a bewitching dystopia than a total dancefloor (although pieces like Drama Queen don't let me sit still without imagining Jane Fonda bending over in lurex). The Games People Play Tour which makes it a hat-trick in Italy (first Milan, then Bologna and then Rome) is a concentration of wannabe hits ranging from pure dreamy to unreal notes (for example …Saturday in the encore with stills from Twin Peaks), to the disco dance pop of Don't Callal future nostalgia of the cover of the New Order Of Bizarre Love Trianglefrom which the duo we can say ripped out the creative rib, put it in a hamburger and served it in a roller bar.
Because i Desire they don't just want to make you dance. They want to make you sway happily in your discomfort and find the beauty, that nuance of beauty, that is inside. It's called desire. Moreover, the etymology of the word is known, obvious: il de privative marries the sidus, sideris, the star, therefore desire is an absence, a distance from the stars. And we don't need too many years of mainstream culture, even what we learn at school is enough to know that the stars are man's hope, guide, means of knowledge to “what is outside”. They are necessary and their absence is disabling. They care, to paraphrase i Desireunder their spell, these involuntary lovers.
For Desire, the distance from the stars is a very fast carousel that turns on itself and gives no possibility of stopping except for a brief awareness. More or less the one that attacks you on New Year's Eve. Then it is easy to understand them when in brigde of their famous song, practically shouted by the entire room, they ask us if we know the distinction between desire and obsession, and, without going into further trouble with the etymology of the word, we manage to guess it but let's say: “I don't know”. Desire can be obsessive, and as far as I know, we no longer know how to desire without it becoming, indeed, an obsession. There are no calm half measures for Desire, but then again, do they really exist? Are they written in the meditation and yoga books that we buy, on which we rely, so that we no longer have to think of depending on our pulse? But if in the end we are animals, Vampirecan we really ignore them? Why not dive in and for a moment, taste the beauty of floating in it? (and they ask us: dor do you think this feeling will last forever? Like, forever ever?).
Go to a concert of Desire it means letting go, letting go. Don't think. There's nothing to be done: they do everything, Megan takes the stage. In the end you can even go home with a red rose. The Desires are generous, they have plenty to share. And for once we can abandon the search for quality, for the golden mean, for adequate thinking, for appearing something, for having to pretend something else. I took hold of my desire for those who left or we put away and threw myself into it. In the end, it's not so bad when you let go. God, I hope so.
Click here to see photos of DESIRE in concert in Milan or browse the gallery below
DESIRE – The lineup of the Milan concert
Darkside
Black Latex
Don't Call
Liquid Dreams
Mirror Mirror
Silver Machine
Vampire
If I Can't Hold You
Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover)
Hard Times
Human Nature
Under Your Spell
Encore:
Saturday
Sad Ibiza Song (Wolfram Eckert cover)
Drama Queen
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
