Unaltrofestival

Unaltrofestival is the indie and rock date at the Circolo Magnolia, on the Idroscalo in Milan. Comcerto puts it on. It started in 2013. On 2 July 2019 it was in its seventh edition. Lino Brunetti signed it on 8 July in Buscadero. Luca Franceschini signed it on 5 July in Loudd. The same evening Tinariwen were at the Triennale and Kiss were at the San Siro racetrack, and the Magnolia did not fill. Brunetti counted a few hundred. Jade Bird cancelled for her health. The handover between two stages stayed, but, with so few people, they used the small one in the garden and the one inside the room, next to the bathrooms. It was over thirty degrees. Franceschini says everything slipped by half an hour and that, even so, they brought the headliner forward by half an hour, so the openers had less time. The indoor stage was an oven and the outdoor one, low, was hard to see.

Eugenia Post Meridiem opened, a quartet: Eugenia on voice and guitar, Matteo on bass, Giovanni on guitar and keyboards, and another Matteo on drums. The debut record, taped in Berlin, was not out yet. They had a deal with Factory Flaws. Franceschini had already seen them at Mi Ami. The three boys came out in silver wigs. Melodies, indie rock and a folk air, with no title fixed in the two pieces. Next, Videoclub, from France: Adèle Castillon on voice and keyboards, Matthieu Reynaud on keyboards and guitar. Franceschini gives them seventeen. Brunetti saw them shy, as if at a first concert. Someone in the crowd sang their tunes. Synth pop in French. In the slot they had left they put in two covers: What Are You So Afraid Of, by XXXTentacion, and Shadow, by Chromatics.

Julia Jacklin and her band were another matter. The recent record was Crushing. She opened with two ballads in a row, Body and Turn Me Down. The exception from the first record was Leadlight. You Were Right carried an indie-rock cut. Head Alone and Good Guy leaned toward country. Franceschini adds Pool Party among the surges. The band gave a floor to the stories. Compared with a few years earlier, Brunetti found her looser. The crowd, in a full sauna, showed her affection, and she was moved to play before Anna Calvi. She said that five years back she had bought a Telecaster because of her. At the close, according to Franceschini, she thanked them and said that back then all she wanted was to be like Calvi.

Anna Calvi closed. A little over an hour, and Brunetti leaves it intense. The tunes from Hunter, the recent record, ask for that tone. With her were Mally Harpaz, who plays several things, and Alex Thomas, drums and electronics. She came out in a red light that stayed, with shades, the whole set. The start was from that record: the title track, Hunter, then Indies Or Paradise and the pulsing As A Man. With Wish she made the material plain. It is a dark blues, almost in the manner of the Doors. Live it at least doubles the studio length and goes past ten minutes. Franceschini leaves it at almost ten, with noise inserts. The figures are not averaged: one says past ten, the other almost ten. Screams, whispers, guitar solos and noise bursts. Brunetti holds her as a guitarist well above the average. Franceschini says she uses the Telecaster more as a weapon than as an instrument, and that the band's synth bass pushes without a stop. She herself admits a concert like this cannot last long.

The first jump into the past was No More Words, sensual, and right after it Swimming Pool, romantic, with a melody that shines. Later, from the debut record: Rider To The Sea, Suzanne & I, I'll Be Your Man and Desire, which stays magnetic. One Breath did not sound. Brunetti leaves it as wholly passed over. The close was gothic rock, between Nick Cave and PJ Harvey. First Don't Beat The Girl Out Of My Boy, rough. Then a livid cover of Ghost Rider, by Suicide. Franceschini leaves it as the peak: the air of Alan Vega, superb guitar, drums and keyboard in a closed pattern. Calvi nearly in a trance, and at the end a burst of chords. With the stage still in the feedback, she showed the guitar and took her leave. There was no encore. Brunetti says it was not needed: the path was already closed.