Report on Stephen Protti
Photo on Simona Luchini
No introduction is needed for Mr. Corey Taylor, and the crowd that, despite the weekday, lined up in a long line to surround and then lay siege to Alcatraz, is there to testify to how the artist’s greatness can always overcome the weaknesses and excesses of man.
Today, however, we are not here so much to praise the glory of alternative metal, but to enjoy a frontman driven by an infinite musical curiosity, never afraid to explore new paths, however controversial they may seem to purists.
The venue’s managers deserve credit for having significantly improved the ticket control process, so the wait in line on a warming evening after two days of rain is just a pleasant prelude to what awaits us beyond those doors.
The task of warming up the atmosphere while waiting for the main act is entrusted to the SIAMESE and the Danish band, fresh from participating in Copenhell 2024, certainly isn’t intimidated, thanks to the flexible voice of Mirza Radonjica, who relies on autotune and vocal filters less frequently than one would expect live, and a substantial repertoire, with five albums already released, a sixth announced by numerous singles ready to attempt to climb to the top of the charts.
The territory in which the band moves is a metalcore breeding ground where rousing pop anthems like “Numb”, “Can’t Force The Love” and the new “Vertigo” (probably the key to a definitive commercial affirmation) proliferate, but, more than a main path that travels parallel to that of Atreyu, the deviations are intriguing, the folk hints (“Ocean Bed”, in which Christian Hjort Lauritzen’s electric violin takes the space it deserves) or some bizarre and intriguing disco-metal experiments (“On Fire”) that bring them closer to The Rapture.
Simple and effective, the Danes manage to easily involve the audience live, erasing any prejudice (and the writer had quite a few) that might emerge from a superficial listening of their albums.
Annoying customs problems mean that the entry of COREY TAYLOR on stage was postponed by an hour, without this having any impact on the setlist and without preventing (unfortunately) the band from relentlessly playing an innocent “The Killing Moon” by Echo & the Bunnymen during the encore, stripped of its new wave aura and forced to take on the anonymous guise of a cover band piece.
This moment, however, will be the only (and negligible) negative note in ninety minutes of pure entertainment, introduced by the acoustic sketch “The Box” with that “Take a breath, enjoy the show”, which invites you to follow a Pied Piper who no longer has any desire to hide his life and his repertoire (which is very noble, by the way) under a mask.
We start with “Post-Traumatic Blues” (from the second solo album “CMF2”) and an effective contrast between a growling verse and a fast-paced chorus, a piece that could belong to the Stone Sour repertoire, from which (coincidentally) a “Made Of Scars” is performed immediately after, exploding into a grunge-style refrain. With the AOR moment “Black Eyes Blues” (from the debut “CMFT”), the band finally resolves the slight balance flaws and presents itself at the top of its game, which for the quartet that accompanies the good Corey means being able to move along any musical territory, making the audience digest even what doesn’t work perfectly on record, like the Offspring-style punk rock mess of “We’re The Rest” (which was and remains a minor thing compared to the potential of its author, but off stage it’s fun, indeed), enhancing the pop melody of “Beyond” (dedicated to his wife Alice Taylor), and even managing not to make us miss the original “Before I Forget” (Slipknot) too much.
A special mention goes to the drummer, Dustin Robert, who, not having had time to unload his equipment, sits behind the skins lent by Siamese, with the enthusiasm of a band making its debut.
Speaking of Slipknot, on the setlist there is obviously space for “Snuff”, in an acoustic and solo version and with the pathos that suits it (an excellent performance, certainly better than the one available in the rarities collection “CMF2B… or Not to B” recently published).
A life spent in the shadows of drugs and alcohol, in any case, has taught Corey Taylor to never take the audience’s love for granted, and he seems to want to earn it every night, on stage: with the soul blues flavors of “From Can To Can’t” (from the project “Sound City: Real to Reel” with Dave Grohl), with “Home”, a disarming ballad that a young Paul Weller could have easily written, and then with the trio of songs placed in the encore space, the aforementioned “The Killing Moon”, “30/30-150” from the Stone Sour songbook (it’s funny how live the more rhythmic songs almost touch the rockabilly sounds of Volbeat) and the grand finale of “Duality” sung and shouted by the entire audience, while on stage stands a fifty-year-old who is seen nowhere else except with a microphone in his hand.
Quoting Marsellus Wallace, Corey Taylor was one of those who “who when they were young thought their ass would age like wine”. Certainly, his, vinegar has not become so.
SIAMESE
COREY TAYLOR
