We found ourselves at OAKA for Måneskin as part of Ejekt, and we’re sharing our impressions of the idol Damiano David.
The Måneskin are living the dream of every band that played music during school breaks, rehearsing under posters of Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and David Bowie. They play their music in arenas, and people go wild! The band of four friends, who started busking in the streets of Rome, passed through X Factor, and won Eurovision in 2021, has progressed light-years ahead of “Zitti E Buoni.”
They want to become the global saviors of rock ‘n’ roll. They want to “reheat” old rock and serve it fresh to the eager ears of Gen Z. Every step of the Måneskin’s journey has a common denominator.
They want to play their music live in front of as many people as possible. They have always believed that a great live show can make anything possible.
At Ejekt, in front of the Greek audience, they received adoration in a mix of pop-rock-punk and Italian glam with half-naked Damiano David causing swoons.
Damiano tossed his jeans, and the crowd worshiped Måneskin
Palaye Royale
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
As we learned from our enthusiastic “neighbors,” Bonnie Nettles and the German-Irish-Canadian performer Alice Merton kept the audience entertained at the start of the concert afternoon. There was great excitement for Palaye Royale, the three wild brothers who grew up on Rolling Stones, The Who, and Led Zeppelin, thanks to their mother, who was a rock photographer in the ’80s.
Palaye Royale
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
The singer Remington Leith tossed his “Blondie” shirt and remained half-naked, covered in tattoos, reminiscent from afar of a… angrier Damiano.
The audience largely consisted of teens and twenty-somethings, more women than men, while we expected to see more outfits reflecting Måneskin’s stylistic dedication to glam rock.
Palaye Royale
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
The moment for Måneskin arrived with the guitar of Thomas Raggi and drums of Ethan Torchio making a triumphant start playing the intro to “Don’t Wanna Sleep,” from the album Rush! on which the entire night was based.
Victoria De Angelis, like another ‘Xena the Warrior Princess,’ rhythmically stomped her glam rock boot on stage to launch the one and only Damiano David, who emerged from the shadows like the rock Messiah. Sporting a denim jacket, baggy wide pants, and a Freddie Mercury-like mustache, Damiano quickly transitioned to remain… half-naked.
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
The crowd screamed as one body-one soul, holding their phones high for “Gossip” and the Eurovision anthem, “Zitti e Buoni” which we heard early on with Damiano’s characteristic Italian rasp tearing through the microphones. To be fair, few European bands after ABBA have hoarded the success of Eurovision to carve out international careers.
Possibly the most tiresome job at the live performance was Thomas’s guitar, which found itself often center stage soloing while playing behind his head, lying down or even absent from the lights. For Victoria, who is a supermodel with a devilish smile, we sometimes wondered if she was actually playing bass or just moving her fingers skillfully on the strings for effect.
Victoria De Angelis
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
No one around seemed to not know ALL the lyrics to Honey (are u coming?) and Supermodel, with two little girls “fainting” next to us for Damiano, who starts sweating “dangerously.” At Beggin’, there was the expected frenzy with the 25-year-old singer teasing the microphone suggestively, like an old-school rock star begging us. Many kids in the audience were doing headbanging, perhaps for … the first time!
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The “Own My Mind” came to remind us of what Damiano had said about the album Rush! – that in his “culture,” we – the audience – are his king and queen and he worships at our altar. Also, “rock never dies” and everything we hear from the album is inspired by Radiohead. 7 out of 10 around us probably don’t know Radiohead, but the “I wanna be your slave” is much better known than even Angelina Jolie and her daughter Shiloh (whom the camera had caught singing it at a concert of the band, good times).
Damiano David
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
Delirium in the phrase “I wanna be your slave” and perfect synchronization in “redemption”, makes Damiano smile slyly at the audience’s response.
After Thomas’s endless solo and the “Mammamia” we finally heard something in… Italian. The delirium of “Il nome del padre” from the album “Teatro d’ira: Vol. I,” did not daunt Damiano’s fans who sang all the “Spirito Santo” and blessings, breathlessly.
Damiano David
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
As is well known, due to YouTube and social media, what happens on the tours of major bands is not exactly a global secret. So, we were expecting chaos in Kool Kids where Damiano usually brings fans on stage for a… punk school party without limits. The tradition was upheld here too, with a group of girls taking the stage, embracing the sweaty Damiano – possibly taking a DNA sample to not lose the gene – and covering him with a Greek flag.
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
The choice of the song is not accidental. In the punk “Kool Kids,” we hear a different kind of Måneskin, subtly mimicking the British accent and clarifying “we are not punk, we are not pop, we are freaks.” Triumphant, communal, and chaotic, the song was written right after their Eurovision victory and, as they say, it was the moment they felt omnipotent. This omnipotence is reproduced every time they play Kool Kids (which is also self-referential), although now Eurovision feels like a distant memory for the Italians who have tamed the top festivals worldwide. In the end, the girls literally worshipped Damiano at the altar of Måneskin.
Damiano lost in the embrace of the crowd at Kool Kids
Mariza Kapsambeli
Thomas – tireless in his parallel universe – returns with another solo that reminded us of old classic rock songs, giving Damiano a chance to hydrate and throw in some more f@cking-f@cking for the sake of our first meeting.
There is only one ballad by Måneskin that has achieved enormous success, and they saved it to let a tear roll at the end. The “The Loneliest” born out of the loneliness and abandonment of a… rocker is Damiano David’s personal piece about the difficulty of separation. It fit perfectly into the finale, as it perhaps completes the puzzle of Damiano’s stage persona.
Mariza Kapsambeli
Damiano David losing himself in the embrace of the world
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
A rock “prince,” lost untouched in the sunset singing about loss. And if the appearance of Måneskin had ended here, we would have gotten the message, but Damiano is not one to easily step down from the stage. So as a… reminder, he gifted us another “I wanna be your slave” and bid farewell to the f@ckin amazing Greek audience.
Thoughts instead of a conclusion
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
The flashy rock of Gen Z – a bit retro and a bit pop – evokes something familiar from the “glorious” past of major bands. But it’s something else! The energy is there, the grit in the voice is there, the appearance is glam rock, the tattoos plenty and the guitars “hard,” but something is lurking that desperately seeks to find its identity.
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
Damiano David is the formidable force of Måneskin, who gets whatever he asks from his audience, as long as he sings the first word of ‘Beggin‘ or ‘Gossip‘ or ‘Honey (Are You Coming). Former rock clichés are elegantly reproduced resulting in a party of effortless joy that can only be described as rock (of course, what can the Korn fans who played on Tuesday at Ejekt say about rock, as we heard they were amazing – with Giger’s incredible mic in the spotlight).
To conclude, perhaps the slogan from a girl’s sign, which her hands were caught holding in front of Damiano throughout the concert: “You keep me alive since 2018.” Fans give energy to bands, and if we judge by the audience we saw at Ejekt, Måneskin has hit the road to log many miles.
Victoria De Angelis with Thomas Raggi
Mariza Kapsambeli/EJEKT
****Apropos, during the concert, Måneskin were honored by Panik Records for their multi-platinum and gold sales in Greece. The platinum award was presented by the CEO of Panik Records, Giorgos Arsenakos, in the presence of the company team, just before the Italian superstars took to the stage at OAKA and energized the crowd at Ejekt Festival. They were honored for the gold album “Rush! (Are U Coming?)”, for the gold album “Teatro d’ira – Vol.I”, for multi-platinum singles “Beggin’” (3P), “Zitti E Buoni” (2P), “I Wanna Be Your Slave” (2P) and “Supermodel” (P), as well as one for the gold singles “Coraline”, “The Loneliest”, “Torna A Casa”, “Gossip” and “Morirò Da Re”.