Death In June

Death In June 1981-2011: the thirtieth anniversary of the storied English band was celebrated with a wide-ranging European tour, including two Italian dates; in particular, the northern Italian date, news of which came a little after the announcement of the Rome show, which had been announced (and feared) as the only one in our country, and indeed the very last chance ever for anyone wanting to see DiJ live. Douglas P., now well on in years and after countless albums, successes, controversies and performances, has indeed decided to put an end, at least, to the live side of his creation.

This brought relief to those who hadn't planned on travelling, and turmoil for the fans who had already jumped on tickets for the Rome date, but in the end the day arrived.

Retorbido is a remote little town (?) on the outskirts of Voghera, a good 90 kilometres from the nearest reachable city, Milan, and the Carlito's Way is a pleasant pub that also hosts concerts. The designated area is a bit small to hold the crowd (tickets were capped at 400 from the moment of the announcement) and the stage is certainly not built for a big event (another 10 centimetres of height would definitely have helped the sightlines), but the acoustics are genuinely good.

Tight scheduling was inevitable given the nature of the venue: the triple bill of Vurgart, Fire+Ice and DiJ kicked off right around dinnertime, a perfectly normal hour by European standards but decidedly awkward for anyone who works and lives in a big city, all of which were quite far away (some people had travelled from Emilia, and even from Switzerland); this is my preamble to explain why I arrived once Fire+Ice had already started, and so my judgment doesn't cover the performance in toto.

Led by Ian Read, a longtime collaborator of Pearce's back in the late '80s, prominent head of an English esoteric "sect" of modern/syncretic conception - Illuminates of Thanateros, curious readers can look it up on Wikipedia - and a part-time folksinger, the British singer-songwriter never reached great heights of fame, but he certainly built up a decent following of admirers. Minimal but deeply sensitive, Ian Read's folk on record is coloured by small contributions of flute, violin and the like, while live he was accompanied by little more than scattered percussion and an acoustic guitar.

In this case Read's booming voice failed to blend the ingredients together well, and the result was rather flat, certainly well below the potential the project has always had.

Doug's formula isn't all that different, and on stage he and John Murphy appear in the usual camouflage and mask (Murphy being one of the most ubiquitous percussionists of the grey/brown area, from SPK to his own Knifeladder), though he opts for white rather than brown camo.

The first three tracks, including the live debut of "Till All Living Flesh Is Burn", were performed as voice-and-heavy-percussion-only versions, with just bells, small tubular chimes and a backing track of extra sampled film voices adding an additional touch.

The atmosphere is fairly experimental, but this will be the only moment in which backing tracks are used (who knows why not more, really); without an actual band behind him (a real weakness, in my opinion, for DiJ) the set is entirely acoustic (as has indeed been the case for years now), and the choice is for acoustic arrangements quite different from the studio originals, to the disappointment of some and the delight of others. P.'s advantage over others is being able to handle guitar and voice together, lending a synchrony and energy that's otherwise missing from so many neofolk acts live; moreover, almost every song is played sped-up, giving a rhythm very different from neofolk's usual sensual, melancholic touch.

In the end you find yourself at a rock concert more than a folk one, and instead of the cursed chansonnier we get a cheerful P., in excellent form (which apparently wasn't the case in Rome, by all accounts, making that show not only shorter but also less interesting and not free of technical issues). A performance that renders his great classics (more or less all present: "She Said Destroy", "To Drown A Rose", "Runes And Men" - with the lyrics slightly changed, so instead of "Drinking German wine" he sings "Italian" - "Luther's Army", "Giddy Giddy Carousel", "Rose Cloud Of Holocaust", "Symbols Of Sun", "Little Black Angel", as well as "Before Christ And Murder Love", "Kameradenschaft", "Death Of West", alongside the more recent "Peaceful Snow", from the latest album, and "All Pigs Must Die") in energetic reinterpretations, made more engaging than the original intimate versions could ever be when played amid a packed, noisy crowd, thanks to Murphy's driving rhythm across drums, percussion and gong.

Even though these are very stripped-down acoustic versions - and, I repeat, I think this is the point most criticised by detractors - the engagement is total, and moreover the good sound quality contributes a great deal in cases like this, between volume and acoustics, shifting the mood away from the solemn, tragic tone many associate with DiJ's martial imagery towards one that's ironic, energetic and even sentimental, a side that generally goes unnoticed.

The evening closes with "C'est Un Rève", a triumph of percussion and heated jubilation, and there's no shortage of original touches, with the line "Ou est Klaus Barbie? Ou est Gheddafì? Dans le coeur noir! liberté c'est un rève…", updating the Western hypocrisy of those who coexist with negative figures, and underlining how such figures are actually always among us, and indeed how there's always the chance that each of us might be hiding one too (so not just a political meaning but a personal one as well, as is often the case with DiJ's lyrics).

The small crowd gathered seemed genuinely thrilled with the show, though there was no shortage of people with a different opinion, some even sharply opposed; for instance, the speeding-up of the songs was also read by some as "let's hurry up so we can go home soon", but on the other hand it made it possible to fit in a huge number of songs across nearly two hours of music and two thoroughly heated encores.

Given all the controversy that has surrounded Pearce especially in recent years, I'd say the large number of satisfied fans matters far more, because it shows that the artist's abilities haven't actually faded the way people claim.

For anyone interested, here's the tour's official blog, with details of every date:

http://dij30.blogspot.com/

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