Lankum

A concert at the end of the world, where the Arco del Meloncello becomes a gateway overlooking the underworld, and against a backdrop battered by relentless rain looms the Teatro Celebrazioni on Via Saragozza in Bologna. Following the cancellation of the 2023 Italian dates due to personal issues affecting one of the band members, there was great anticipation for the only Italian date by Lankum, the Dublin-based avant-folk outfit on a constant rise, held as part of the Barezzi Way. Blending drone experimentation, the folk-punk typical of The Pogues and traditional Irish music, the band has landed in the spotlight above all thanks to their latest, acclaimed release "False Lankum" (2023), as well as their intense live performances at festivals like Primavera Sound.

The band's forty-five-minute delay doesn't bode well, and the unease grows even more knowing that the city is slipping underwater starting from Via Saffi (an area not too far from the venue), as has already happened repeatedly due to bad weather, from the May 2023 flood up to today.

The curtain finally rises on the crescendo woven from viola, acoustic guitar, bagpipes and bajan, with powerful flashes of light gradually overtaking Radie Peat's voice in the towering rendition of the traditional "The Wild Rover", followed by a brief first word of thanks from founding multi-instrumentalist Ian Lynch. He then launches into the dark dances of "The New York Trader", with Cormac Mac Diarmada's combative fiddle taking centre stage, backed by the audience's clapping.

Things move on to the direct lyrics of the new and intense "The Rocks Of Palestine", a reworking of the folk song "The Rocks of Bawn", through which the band renews its frontline support for the Palestinian people, symbolically underlined by a keffiyeh resting on Ian's gear (and another on the merch stand at the entrance), continuing with the harmonic choruses of "The Young People", included on the prestigious "The Livelong Day". A surprise comes when Peat speaks in perfect Italian, revealing that she once actually lived in the Bolognese city herself.

The solemn voices emerging from the mists of "The Rocky Road To Dublin" latch onto the flashes and swirls of the atmospheric, evocative "The Pride Of Petravore", the standout moment of the Dubliners' show, just before the fatal but foreseeable cold shower. The band has only ten more minutes available before being forced to shut things down: there's a risk of serious damage to the electrical system due to the ongoing flood, and of course among the worst-hit areas is none other than Costa-Saragozza. The musicians themselves are the first to be dismayed and disappointed by the situation, forced to cut a third of the setlist. Mother Nature, however, cannot deprive the audience of the one-two punch of "Go Dig My Grave", with its long, sinister and deeply evocative coda, and "Bear Creek", a final cathartic dance.

All that's left is to trudge wearily back home, bundled up, pensive and with a bitter taste in the mouth, slaloming (in some cases in pitch darkness, a factor that together with rain and wind creates the perfect combination for brooding further on a new everyday reality with only one name: climate crisis) through what have become actual little rivers in place of streets.

(Photo by Andrea Amadasi)

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