Yuppie Flu

The lengthy tour promoting the excellent "Days Before The Day" continues, an album that has brought Yuppie Flu considerable success on the alternative music circuit (and beyond).

Opening their show was The Cosmetics, a band that unfortunately offers almost nothing of interest: their melodic noise-rock owes practically everything to Verdena (and, to be clear, that's not a point in their favor), replicated in pedestrian fashion both in the vocal lines and in the instrumental choices.

Now to the Yuppie Flu live set: it opens with "Ambassador", reprised from "At the Zoo", and right away our ears sound the alarm; the Velvet's acoustics are truly scandalous. I'd heard plenty of accounts about it, and I'm sorry to confirm it's on the level of sonic terrorism.

The mishap, however, didn't tarnish the performance of the Marche-based Yuppie Flu, whose live show is by now well-honed and perfected down to the last detail: the songs from "Days Before the Day" flow by a joy to hear, and "Food for the Ants", "Silverdeer" and "Female Scientists" are little indie-pop gems, in which the band's many influences converge, creating a rather varied blend of sounds.

There's no shortage, in fact, of moments where distortion takes center stage, such as the aforementioned "Food for the Ants", "Eyes of Dazzling Bright" (quite close to the Notwist of "Neon Golden"), "Order the Player Off the Field" (from "The Boat EP") and the closing "Sport Yer Feelings", performed in a decidedly more energetic version than the one that ended up on "At the Zoo".

The high point came with "Drained by Diamonds", a truly remarkable song, likewise beefed up compared to the studio version thanks to a drawn-out, thunderous ending.

The impression, though, is that the five of them seemed a bit worn out: I've had the pleasure of seeing them live several times, and tonight they struck me as slightly subdued; maybe the setting, too a venue that wasn't exactly packed played its part, who knows.

That said, there's nothing left to do but acknowledge this band's (undeniable) qualities, both in composition and performance, and wait for good news on the recording front.

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