Mudhoney

It's quite striking to find them so energetic and full of vitality on the Roman stage of Circolo degli Artisti, for one of two Italian dates (the other at the Rainbow in Milan) on the world tour aimed at stirring up old feelings that never really faded, as well as promoting the excellent new "Under A Billion Suns".

After the disintegration or outright collapse of all the key players who animated the grunge scene at the turn between the twilight of the '80s and the dawn of the '90s, Mudhoney remain the last standard-bearers keeping alive the flag of an uncompromising generational rage, expressed through blazing riffs and untamed energy.

They were the ones who, in 1988, broke through with a stunning debut and became Mudhoney before Soundgarden became Soundgarden and before Nirvana became Nirvana, allowing the fledgling Sub Pop to gather the first modest returns needed for the crucial investments that followed.

Born out of the breakup of the teenage Green River (the other offshoot, formed by Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, would go on to become Mother Love Bone and shortly after Pearl Jam), they keep all the drive, energy and vitality of their early days fully intact.

Those were the days when Seattle was about to become the epicenter of the alt-rock world, the city that probably sold more electric guitars and spawned more bands than anywhere else. And Mudhoney remain devoted and grateful to their own beginnings, since the strongest adrenaline rushes of the show come when they play tracks from "Superfuzz Bigmuff" (a must) and "Mudhoney", the records destined to remain their trademark thanks to their explosive blend of garage rock and hardcore.

A good hour and a half of pure passion, in the most genuine punk-rock spirit, with the whole crowd swept up in an endless pit – a crowd made up not only of longtime fans, but above all of twenty-somethings who still recognize themselves in the sounds, lyrics and energy of a band that truly blazed a trail.

And on stage they're clearly having fun: Dan Peters' drumming is relentless, Guy Maddison's bass (the only non-original member) is spot-on, even though the Circolo is notorious for not doing full justice to the acoustics; Steve Turner turns up sporting a thick beard that hides an eternally boyish face, and unleashes a guitar style that has grown more refined over the years while losing none of the urgency, effectiveness and simplicity of the old riffs.

Mark Arm, on vocals and guitar, is as skinny as ever, almost a latter-day Iggy Pop, whom he strikingly evokes both in some of his moves and in his hairstyle.

The smirk that occasionally crosses his face reveals his full awareness and pride at having written at least two songs that will forever be carved in stone as some of the best punk tracks written ten years after punk: "Touck Me I'm Sick" and "Here Comes Sickness".

These two remain the most devastating moments of their live act; by comparison, "God Save The Queen" sounds like a summery ditty for schoolgirls.

If we add to this the incredible performance of "If I Think" (with its unmissable stop and go breaks) and "In 'n' Out Of Grace" (with the central drum solo and the guitars charging back in amid sonic delirium), the show already justifies the price of admission on its own.

And if we then add the closing "Hate The Police", with Arm putting down his guitar for the first time, grabbing the microphone and looking ready to hurl himself into the crowd in a final frenzy, we realize we're witnessing something truly memorable.

And the surrounding material is nothing to scoff at either: songs that all verge on excellence, mixing dusted-off gems from the past, including the recent past (worth mentioning at least "Where The Flavor Is" from "Since We've Become Translucent"), with the inevitable airing of the thoroughly respectable new material drawn from "Under A Billion Suns" (standouts include "Where Is The Future?" and "It Is Us").

The only flaw lies in the middle section, which drags on a touch too long and lets the nervous tension slacken (and maybe that's not such a bad thing...), but it seems necessary to prove that Mudhoney today are not just a three-chord-and-out band, but protagonists of an evolution that has led them to explore the world of psychedelia as well.

In any modern encyclopedia of rock, Mudhoney simply have to be given special treatment. It's a genuine injustice that they were the first Seattle band to concretely blaze the trail, and at the same time the ones who reaped the smallest financial rewards. They will never be able to fill an arena like Pearl Jam, nor even a big indoor venue the way Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Screaming Trees once did. But, to paraphrase a famous line by Brian Eno, after a show like this, all you can want to do is start a band. Dazzling and essential.

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