Guitar soloing behind the head, microphone stand on fire. Måneskin sold out the O2 arena

In one episode of the series The Simpsons with Homer will get to a rock’n’roll camp where he will experience what it’s like to be a real rock star. During a guitar lesson, instructor Brian Setzer tells him: “We’re going to start with the very basics – playing a burning instrument with your teeth.” If it wasn’t an exaggeration, but a real typically exalted stage gesture, surely Måneskin would have incorporated it into their show.

The band members ran around the modestly equipped stage at the O2 Arena this Sunday, but spent almost half of their time at the security barriers or right in the audience. Singer Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis and guitarist Thomas Raggi made frequent trips between him. The lineup was completed by drummer Ethan Torchio.

There was guitar soloing behind the head, ecstatic writhing on the floor, a burning microphone stand during the song Gasoline. The musicians also used a separate stage located at the end of the standing area, where the guitarist and singer performed slow compositions Twenty years a If Not For You. At other times, the bass player and the guitarist were playing, supporting each other’s backs.

Måneskin are no strangers to grand gestures. They started as a high school group in Rome, who regularly accompanied the bustle of the streets with their music, including the famous Via del Corso in the historic center of the city. As they gradually played, their ambitions grew until in 2017 they signed up for the Italian version of the X Factor talent competition, in which they eventually came second. At that time, they released their first self-titled single Chosen, followed a year later by the debut record Il ballo della vita. With it, they began their journey to fame, at least at home for the time being, where the album dominated the charts.

Their global fame was then contributed to when Måneskin entered the traditional song competition in San Remo. Italian representatives for the televised Eurovision are selected here, the festival even served as its prototype. The group won both events in 2021 with a song Shut up and good. Unsurprisingly, its charm lies in the chorus, in which David’s veiled vocals stand out and where the overpressure built up by a fast Italian verse finally explodes.

For some performers, winning Eurovision is the pinnacle of their career, in the case of Måneskin it was more of a stepping stone to world popularity – Zitti e buoni penetrated the charts all over the world, including the British and American ones, and currently has over 390 million plays on Spotify alone.

The composition was also played at the Sunday concert in Prague, right from the beginning of the evening, perhaps to get the audience fired up. Judging by the reactions, it wasn’t even needed. When the lights went out in the arena, the first notes of the composition were heard Don’t Wanna Sleep and the deep red curtain fell, where until that moment the large silhouette of the band had flashed frantically. Even those seated were immediately on their feet, and the sold-out hall was filled with enthusiastic whistling and shouting, which Zitti e buoni only intensified.

The concert was accompanied by several such eruptions of fan enthusiasm. In addition to those that heralded the beginnings of Måneskin’s most popular songs – including cover versions Beggin’ from the 1960s, which received the biggest response on the Tiktok platform -, the audience roared when singer Damiano David exposed his body. In the first half of the set, he took off his blouse, while dancing and throwing counter-melts towards the end of the evening, his long skirt with a slit revealed his underwear.

On this year’s album Rush, Måneskin tries to work precisely with the capture of sex appeal and a kind of healthy horniness. It doesn’t always work without sounding too slimy or childish. Finally, even during the concert, bassist Victoria Di Angelo, although she identifies as queer, simulated sexual movements while sitting on top of guitarist Raggi as he played one of the solos lying down. Of course, it’s not outrageous at all, rather it fits into a kind of general anachronism of Måneskin.

Their audience, as confirmed by Sunday’s concert, consists mainly of teenagers and young adults, i.e. the generation we can talk about from time to time finish reading, that he has less sex than people of working age today. All the sexual energy contained in the compositions and the presentation of Måneskin seems to represent an exaggeration, an imitation, a simulation, a trial of something that everyone is talking about, it is omnipresent and at the same time still taboo.

For some in the audience, Måneskin’s performances can replace what is more difficult for them to achieve in real life – whether due to the pandemic years, intensive online communication, or problematic, always available pornography in terms of demands on body proportions and endurance.

The composition I Wanna Be Your Slave, as played by Måneskin this Sunday in Prague. Photo: Vojtěch Mervart / Rock for People | Video: Anushkacz1

In the middle of the evening, a bra came flying onto the stage. This somewhat old-fashioned display of fan enthusiasm is a good illustration of how Måneskin fit into the landscape of contemporary pop music.

They reached the peak of world interest at a time when, thanks to streaming platforms and global availability, the Korean genre of k-pop or Latin American reggaeton is more visible. Today, the universal language of hits does not have to be only English. However, Måneskin also represents a kind of anomaly, as it does not belong to any of these boxes. They play quite anachronistic rock with a touch of his 70s glam period.

The contagious enthusiasm that radiates from them gives the feeling that we can, at least seemingly, experience the peaks of rock music, which at the same time are irrevocably imprisoned in the past.

The Prague concert only confirmed it. When during the song Kool Kids sounding even before the encores, pre-selected female fans and fans from the front rows rush onto the stage, as happens throughout the tour, the musicians dance and fool around with them. It’s a cute moment, but as soon as the last notes have finished, Måneskin runs to hide behind the scenes, not even saying hello to this “backstage” – the proximity of the performers to the audience does not last long.

Before encores – after a slow, gradual one The Loneliest the band repeats the song redundantly I Wanna Be Your Slave – guitarist Thomas Ruggi will be the first to return. He records simple strumming into a looper, a device that allows you to capture individual melodies and then layer them on top of each other. Finally, a frantic, but at the same time lengthy guitar solo starts.

That moment can be attributed to the whole band. Måneskin are similarly connected to rock history. Although their own contribution has a shattering sound, it is fun and able to arouse enthusiasm, but at the same time, unlike its glam rock predecessors, it does not start a musical revolution. Even if we repeat all the grand gestures of the rock repertoire.