alternative Archives - Set Your Own Scene

In my last post, I talked about the crisis that many venues across the world are currently facing as a result of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

Italy was the first European country to be stricken by the virus and a strictly-enforced lockdown was introduced on 9^th March that lasted for over three months (a government form was required to leave home and even outdoor exercise was banned at one stage). Either side of this and the current restrictions we find ourselves experiencing, I have been extremely lucky to still see my fair share of live music in Italia.

Gigs have been a very different proposition since the pandemic but hats off to the many venues, promoters and artists who have been trying their best to creatively stage fresh and interesting shows, in far from ideal circumstances.

Below is a rundown of some of the weird and wonderful gigs I’ve experienced over this past year, plus links to how you can find out more about the artists and venues in question.

Edda – Officina Degli Esordi, Bari – 18^th January

My first gig after moving to Bari. Formerly the frontman of Milan’s Ritmo Tribale, Edda is the reformed bad boy of Italian post-punk. Having overcome a serious drug addiction, Edda now makes emotive electro-tinged power pop, typified by ‘E Se’ and ‘Signora’. From what I could gather in-between songs, he likes to tell a good story too.

Listen to: Edda – ‘E Se’

Dardust – TPO, Bologna – 22^nd February

Let’s start with the positives. TPO is a fantastic venue in the North West of Bologna – a converted industrial building that’s now a cracking multi-purpose arts space. Props to the venue for having reusable beer cups too. Now imagine an Italian Calvin Harris with a pencil moustache and you’re halfway there with our friend Dardust. An Italian producer from the Marche region, he’s clearly a talented chap and the crowd lapped up his live show. However, at one stage he had a visual of marching demonic-looking bagpipers on the big screen behind him for an entire song. Genuinely terrifying.

Find out more: TPO (Teatro Polivalente Occupato), Bologna

Listen to: Dardust – ‘The Wolf’

Sunday night jazz jam – Binario69, Bologna – 23^rd February

Bologna was one of the favourite cities I visited in 2020. I planned to stay for four days and ended up spending seven. I loved its mixture of history, left-wing politics and vibrant student counterculture. Binario69 is technically a members-only club for those in the know (I had to sign up and pay a small €10 joining fee – you receive a membership card in return). Tucked away on a small street behind Bologna Centrale station, it’s a laid-back space where patrons sipped cocktails, played board games and listened to Sunday night afro-jazz performed by local musicians. Prior to the Covid lockdown, Binario69 hosted live music most nights of the week and is now running a crowdfunding campaign in order to stay open.

Find out more: Binario69 crowdfunding campaign

Francesco Manfredi Quintet – Palazzo Pesce, Mola di Bari – 20^th June

The first gig post-lockdown #1 and held in the sumptuous former family home Palazzo Pesce in Mola di Bari. After the stringent safety measures upon entry, the concert took place in the sunken garden outside the house with clarinettist Francesco Manfredi and his group paying homage to the songbook of New Orleans’ Sidney Bechet or to quote Manfredi; “the first clarinet player of hot jazz.” The concert I attended was timed perfectly to coincide with the sunset that evening too. Blissful.

Listen to: Francesco Manfredi and friends – ‘Si tu vois ma mère’

Elena Matteuci – Diocesan Auditorium Vallisa, Bari – 8^th July

Classical piano virtuoso Elena Matteuci and young violinist Sebastian Zegame paid homage to ‘La Tarantella’, an ancient form of Italian folk music that originated from the Taranto region of Puglia. The bite of the local Tarantula spider was said to make its victims hysterical – a condition known as Tarantism. It was thought that the victims’ only hope was to be revived through the power of music and dance – hence the creation of La Tarantella. There was also a fitting tribute to Ennio Morricone who passed away two days before the concert and an interpretation of ‘Cinema Paradiso’ as the encore.

Listen to: Elena Matteuci – ‘Scherzo n.2 op. 14, Clara Wieck-Schumann’

Strebla – Extreme Music Academy, Bari – 18^th July

Bari’s Extreme Music Academy didn’t have the easiest of starts to life as a new live music venue, opening its doors halfway through the relentlessly tough year which is 2020. The venue is on the outskirts of the city on the edge of an industrial area by day and red light district by night. Don’t let its location fool you though as this new venue is a gem – especially if you are partial to metal and punk. It boasts a large 200-odd capacity live room with a decent soundsystem, an outside courtyard where people hang out between bands and a bar with cocktails named after various metal and rock icons. “Uno Lemmy e uno Soulfly, per favore”. I went to the opening night and Bari’s Strebla were the highlight – unusual post-punk / math-rock with staccato time signatures.

Listen to: Strebla’s Instagram page

Find out more: Extreme Music Academy’s mission statement

Ellen Allien – Sound Department, Taranto – 8^th August

Taranto was another city that I unexpectedly took a liking to during the summer – two days soon became one week. I was surprised to see that Berlin techno legend Ellen Allien was DJing at the Sound Department venue on the Saturday night of my stay. Sound Department is located out of town near to the naval docks and is built predominantly from old shipping containers. At 4am in the morning and without warning, the security staff suddenly winched the metal sides of the venue up towards the sky and then removed the roof to convert the club into an open-air arena as the sun came up. A very cool concept.

Listen to: Ellen Allien – ‘True Romantics’

Ellen Allien, Sound Department, Taranto (camera phones were taped over by security but I snuck this one photo whilst I was waiting for my cab home).

Game of Sax – Parco Archeologico di Taranto – 10^th August

La Notte di San Lorenzo is a night in August that’s famous in Italy supposedly as a chance to see shooting stars clearly in the night sky. Taranto’s Parco Archeologico, a modest green space, famous for its ancient Greek remains hosted a midnight concert from local musicians Game of Sax to celebrate the occasion. The locals loved their rendition of Domenico Modugno’s classic ‘Nel Biu Dipinto Di Blu’ and sang along to every word. About as different to watching Ellen Allien two nights before as it gets.

Find out more: Parco Archeologico Delle Mura Greche

The Comet Is Coming – Locus Festival, Locorotondo – 14^th August

Locus Festival is arguably Puglia’s most established major music festival. Since its inception in 2005 it has welcomed a wealth of musical greats including the late Gil Scott-Heron, Lauryn Hill, David Byrne and Sly & Robbie. The 2020 event should have been headlined by Little Simz, Paul Weller and The Pixies but Covid unfortunately put paid to that. However, a smaller, ‘limited edition’ version of the festival was still held in the grounds of Masseria Ferragnano, a fortified farmhouse on the edge of Locorotondo. Social distancing, temperature checks and directional queueing systems were in operation in full force but it actually worked quite well and still felt like a ‘proper’ festival. The only difference being that the audience had to remain seated on plastic chairs for the duration of the performance.

I’ve seen The Comet is Coming and the various other projects of their bandleader Shabaka Hutchings a number of times in the UK so had an idea of what to expect. The boys even learned some rudimentary Italian for the occasion though!

Listen to: The Comet Is Coming – ‘Summon The Fire’

Find out more: Locus Festival 2021 (excitingly, Devendra Banhart is the first name confirmed for 2021’s festival)

The Comet is Coming, Locus Festival, Locorotondo.

Domenico Tagliente – Chiesa di San Domenico, Mola di Bari – 20^th August

One of the more unusual live performances I have experienced, Domenico Tagliente took over the huge organ at the Chiesa di San Domenico in Mola di Bari and re-interpreted Giorgio Moroder’s score of Fritz Lang’s ground-breaking 1927 silent film ‘Metropolis’ whilst the movie was projected onto a big screen inside the church. Eerily atmospheric.

Find out more: Domenico Tagliente’s Instagram page

Domenico Tagliente interpreting Giorgio Moroder’s score of Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’.

Fake Jam – SMIAF Extreme Sports Festival, San Marino – 4^th September

I only stopped off in San Marino City for one night as I drove back to Bari from the UK (a stunningly beautiful place but if truth be told, a tourist haven) but I lucked out with the fact that Fake Jam were headlining the outdoor music stage of the SMIAF Extreme Sports Festival that very night. Hailing from Bologna, they brought a lot of support with them and specialised in a brand of Parliament and Earth, Wind & Fire-inspired jazz funk. Excellent and unexpected.

Listen to: Fake Jam’s YouTube channel

B. Fleischmann – Teatro Kismet, Bari – 17^th October

B. Fleischmann is originally from Vienna but him and his band are now based in Berlin. They make marvellously quirky, offbeat pop music with typically Berlin-esque techno inflections. The show was part of the annual Time Zones Festival, a longstanding annual event in Bari and surrounding areas since 1986 that showcases alternative and non-commercial music – the festival’s motto is “on the paths of possible music”. This was my first visit to the impressive and modern Teatro Kismet too but sadly the last show before the strict Covid measures were reintroduced in Puglia and all live music ordered to stop.

Listen to: B. Fleischmann – ‘You’re The Spring’

Find out more: Time Zones Festival

B. Fleischmann and his band. Teatro Kismet, Bari.

As you can see it’s a somewhat eclectic bunch of highlights but I feel fortunate to have seen such a breadth of artists in what has been a very testing year for live music. Another mention also goes to the two squat spaces Casa Occupata Via Garibaldi in Taranto and Ex Caserma Liberata in Bari; I went to a bizarre gig at the former where the performer was playing pots and pans with a drumstick, as well as a synth running through his laptop (it was actually pretty cool). The latter is a cultural hub in Bari and seems to also be home of the city’s small but passionate dub and reggae scene. I went to a dub party here in February and a lot of the faces there also came to the brilliantly-named Bari Hill Carnival soundsystem in September.

It’s very interesting that so much of alternative culture in Southern Italy is associated with the squat scene (“una casa occupata”) – something that is a dying breed in London compared to its 1970s peak and famously its associations with the punk, new romantic and acid house movements. What do Joe Strummer, Bob Geldof, Boy George, the Sex Pistols, Annie Lennox and Depeche Mode all have in common? They all lived in squats early on in their careers.

With promising news about the development of Coronavirus vaccines circulating, hopefully live music will be back in earnest in 2021.

It was the day of my 32^nd birthday and a warm Saturday in June. However, rather than celebrating with friends in a Brixton beer garden, I was in the press room at Wembley Stadium, North London. I had spent the day in my then-role as PR Director, looking after music and entertainment journalists at a huge pop concert hosted by one of the UK’s biggest commercial radio station groups. We were now having to contend with members of a well-known MOR American pop-rock group throwing a tantrum because, a) they had decided they didn’t want to speak to the assembled throng of media who had been waiting patiently for them after all, and b) the elevator that had been called to take them back down to their dressing room on the ground floor wasn’t arriving “fast enough” for their liking. I decided it was time for a change in scenery.

In January, after living and working in London for 11 years, I moved to Bari and began a new life as an English Teacher at the second largest language school in Italy. The school in question has 2,000 students and 50 teachers. To say it’s been a step out of my comfort zone would be an understatement but so far, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have found the work very rewarding.

Prior to applying for the role, my main previous knowledge of Bari was through the legendary 1990s Channel 4 show Gazzetta Football Italia. Also, the fact that the city’s football team was famous for being the first club that English midfielder David Platt signed for during his spell in Italy – indeed the £5.5 million fee S.S.C. Bari paid for him was a British transfer record at the time. Platt would leave Bari one season later to join Juventus and later Sampdoria in Genoa.

Bari has lived up to its reputation as the “Paris of the Mediterranean” though and is a very liveable city and a great place to immerse yourself in Southern Italian culture. Before the COVID-19 lockdown and in the brief return to normality during the summer, I have been able to do a fair amount of exploring. Whilst Bari Vecchia (Bari’s old town) is very quaint and a great place to lose yourself, it is also somewhat now oriented at tourists with its many restaurants, bars and novelty shops. Below are some of my favourite, more off-the-beaten track places in the city. Let’s hope they are all able to resume normal service in the not-too-distant future.

Stadio San Nicola, Strada Torrebella

Situated 5 km from the centre of Bari, Stadio San Nicola is the home of S.S.C. Bari. Built for the 1990 FIFA World Cup and designed by the esteemed architect Renzo Piano, whose other creations include The Centre Pompidou in Paris and London’s The Shard, the stadium is a stunning feat of engineering. Designed to resemble a flower, its 58,270 seats are arranged into 26 concrete ‘petals’ which gives the illusion that the stands are floating. The changing rooms are under the pitch and accessed via a door hidden in the turf and the stadium is known locally as ‘The Spaceship’. It’s quite the sight from the ring road around Bari – particularly in the ‘golden’ hour just before sunset.

The ultras in *Curva Nord* during S.S.C. Bari vs F.C. Rieti. January 2020.

With S.S.C. Bari now playing in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, Stadio San Nicola is sadly rarely full these days. However, watching a game here is still an experience, particularly in the lively Curva Nord where the club’s passionate ‘ultras’ stand, thump drums and sing throughout the match. Bari’s veteran star striker Mirco Antenucci also spent two years played for Leeds United in the UK, as well as for various Serie A teams. Antonio Conte also cut his management teeth here in 2007-2009. Tickets cost as little as €10 and buses go direct from outside Bari Centrale station.

Ex Caserma Liberata, Via Giulio Petroni, 8

Located in the former Rossani Barracks on Via Giulio Petroni, Ex Caserma Liberata is one of a kind. Home since 2014 to a community of artists, environmentalists and free thinkers, this sprawling space has been lovingly decorated with some fantastic street art and boasts an urban garden, a music and theatre venue and even an indoor skateboard ramp. Check the Facebook page for the latest live events that range from poetry readings, punk festivals and dub and reggae parties.

Officina degli Esordi, Via Francesco Crispi, 5

Part-arts centre, part-café, part-workshop, part-studio, Officina degli Esordi is situated between the Murat and Libertà neighbourhoods and is one of Bari’s creative hubs. An impressive futuristic-looking space with lots of glass, steel and floor-to-ceiling windows, the venue hosts music, theatre, cinema and visual art events, as well as workshops during the day. There’s also a sizeable, green roof terrace and bar. I checked out the Italian musician Edda here in February – formerly the frontman of cult Milan group Ritmo Tribale.

Edda live at Officina Degli Esordi. January 2020.

Prinz Zaum, Via Cardassi, 93

Prinz Zaum is one of my favourite finds in the Madonnella neighbourhood. It is a café, bookstore and performance space – often hosting acoustic musical performance and book readings. They also have a photo wall dedicated to David Bowie (it feels very familiar as Brixton, my home in London is famous for being his birthplace and has a large mural of him on the high street), board games and funnily enough, some English ales, such as the Wytchwood Brewery’s Hobgoblin on draught. A great place to hang out with like-minded souls or to get your head down and do some work during the day.

Prinz Zaum; Madonnella’s bookstore / cafe / bar.

Kursaal Santa Lucia, Largo Adua, 5

“Kursaal” is a word deriving from German meaning “a public building in which entertainment is provided”. Kursaal Santa Lucia was built in Bari in 1925 overlooking Largo Adua and the Adriatic Sea. It served for many decades as a much-loved theatre and cinema before becoming derelict. For a period in the last century, Bari was known as “the city with too many theatres” with Teatro Petruzzelli, Teatro Piccinni, Teatro Margherita and Kursaal Santa Lucia all competing for business.

A fine example of late-Liberty style architecture, the building is currently being faithfully restored with the help of Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI – the Italian equivalent of English Heritage) and both its main theatre and upstairs function room are set to reopen to the public in 2021. It’ll be exciting to see Bari re-gaining a 1,000-capacity arts venue in the new year!

Pizzeria Il Desiderio, Via Dalmazia, 54

My go-to pizzeria in Bari, Il Desiderio is a traditional neighbourhood restaurant on Via Dalmazia in the heart of Madonnella. The menu has over 50 different kinds of pizzas to choose from, all made with fresh ingredients. Many of them will set you back just €4 or €5. The owners are very friendly and bruschetta will often be served ‘on the house’ as a starter. There’s a takeaway option too (doing a roaring trade during the current situation) and many customers choose to enjoy a €1 ice cold Peroni whilst they wait for their pizza to be cooked to order.

Let’s hope that Bari and its independent businesses are able to get back on their feet soon!

Tarantella and Techno; a Year of Live Music in Lockdown Italy

Off-the-beaten track in Bari

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