Thousands of fans lined the blocks surrounding Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom on the evening of Friday December 2nd. Italian punk rock quartet Måneskin was bringing their soul out Loud Kids Tour to the Big Apple for two back to back sold out performances. The line wrapped down 34th street, up 9th Avenue and down 35th Street, ending in an almost full square around the venue. Truth be told, I had never seen so many fans in line for a concert, all decked out in head to toe lace, leather and black eyeliner with platform boots that could stomp on you.
When I got into the venue, fans were all over the place, pouring into every door possible and fighting to get the best spot. I quickly learned that fans had already been waiting for an hour for the band to come on but absolutely nobody was growing weary. Signs reading “Italians Make Me Horny” and “Måneskin’s Biggest Fan” were held up throughout the crowd and chants for the band began to erupt throughout the venue.
Finally, shortly after 9pm and an hour and a half after their scheduled start time, Måneskin took to the stage. I could barely hear myself think, let alone hear lead vocalist Damiano David on the microphone, over the loud screams of fans along the barricade. The band graced the stage at 1000% and the energy never faltered throughout the night. Måneskin opened their set with “Kool Kids”, before ripping into their Italian Eurovision winning hit song “Zitti E Buoni”.
A diverse range of fans from all over the world (though the majority were American or Italian) sang along to the words as the punk rockers commanded the stage. Running back and forth every single member of the band was giving it their all. Girls along the barricade just about collapsed when basis Victoria De Angelis fell to her knees at center stage to rip into a bass riff for the ages. And throughout all of this, guitarist Thomas Raggi was slashing guitar solo after guitar solo on top of the amps at stages left and right.
Halfway through the performance, Damiano David ripped off his shirt which exposed his bare chest, covered in tattoos causing an eruption of screams, hoots and hollers from the fans throughout the crowd. For their nearly two hour long performance, the energy that Måneskin gave their fans truly never withered. Their 18 song setlist included tons of fan favorites including “I Wanna Be Your Slave”, “Supermodel”, “Coraline”, and their hit cover of Four Seasons’ “Beggin’”.
For this being one of their early major performances in New York City of their career, Måneskin has proven with flying colors that they are a band to watch out for. They have dominated the Italian music scene, winning Eurovision and showing all of Europe just how strong they are. Now they turn to American soil to show us American fans the immense talent that they exude. I cannot wait to see where Måneskin’s career goes from here.
