Afterhours

16 April 2005, Rome, Testaccio, Villaggio Globale, the Afterhours present their new album, “Ballate per piccole iene”, released just the day before. I'd already listened to it in full three or four times, and it was revealing itself as a dark, brooding project, one that pushes to extremes the malaise already present in the previous “Quello che non c'è”, while at the same time being visceral, true, sincere, electrically intense, at times even violent. An album that won me over instantly, and that has remained my favorite among Italian productions of that period. That concert made me so loyal that it pushed me to go see them again (through the band's various reincarnations and line-up reshuffles) practically every time they came through Rome, and I have to admit there have been quite a few over these twenty years, which have flown by as fast as lightning.

That 2005 concert will stay etched in my memory for a very particular energy, perhaps never replicated again afterwards. Agnelli at that moment was a sort of demigod of the national alternative circuit, and under the tent of the former Mattatoio the line-up on stage was reinforced by the presence of an additional guitar, Greg Dulli, who actively took part in the recording and production of the album. Twenty years later, Manuel Agnelli has decided to disband the most recent line-up of Afterhours, the one that recorded “Folfiri o Folfox”, and return to the stage to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of “Ballate per piccole iene” with the musicians who conceived it alongside him and with whom he toured for many months, a period that cemented the Milanese band's place in history for good.

Just another operation designed to feed the lucrative nostalgia market? The choice to perform the album in its entirety, something they rarely did even back then, is undoubtedly aimed at mobilizing fans from that era, even though the two Rome dates hosted at the Cavea of the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome bring together three generations of listeners. But there's something more here, it's not just nostalgia, no, because the band comes across as remarkably vital, energetic, even youthful - just look at Dario Ciffo in action: for him time really does seem to have stood still, today Manuel's ideal right-hand man, between violin, guitars, keyboards and backing vocals, a musician who would have deserved far greater visibility over the course of his career (as, for example, his successor Rodrigo D’Erasmo did, helped by Agnelli's media boom, who has often kept him close as a kind of right-hand man).

Andrea Viti on bass and Giorgio Prette on drums also play their part superbly, aided by the presence of multi-instrumentalist Giacomo Rossetti. The 2005 concerts captured something that was happening right at that moment, a band recounting the present using the same language as its audience, to tell the same emotional states as its audience, drawing stylistically on international examples but finally having the courage to play rock music while singing in Italian (as Marlene Kuntz and many others did in those years, paving the way for a new kind of awareness). Back then they were the present moment, today that's no longer the case: Afterhours haven't released a new album in nine years, they no longer represent an avant-garde or who knows what exciting new contamination, but they're here to celebrate an album that meant a great deal to them and to their fans.

So yes, partly a nostalgia operation, with plenty of memories flashing before the eyes of those present, but once “Ballate per piccole iene” had been performed in full, preserving the order of the original tracklist, and once the Maestro Fabrizio De André had been honored through a heartfelt version of “La canzone di Marinella”, Afterhours, to use Manuel's colorful expression, start “kicking ass”, stringing together a run of evergreens that very few in Italy could get away with: “Strategie”-“Germi”-“Lasciami leccare l’adrenalina”-“Dea”-“Le verità che ricordavo”-“Male di miele”.

That's enough to leave you stunned, an almost unexpected firepower, catapulting us straight back into the Nineties, face to face with classics through which Afterhours wrote important pages in the history of Italian independent music. Pages to be proud of.

But it certainly doesn't end there: just enough time to enjoy the masterpiece “Quello che non c'è”, everyone on their feet, the band leaves the stage for a few minutes, then comes back for two more encores, with five further super-classics, among which “Padania” is the only concession to the post-“Ballate” period, a song Manuel must really care about, even if tonight it feels a touch out of context.

The band seems fresh, you can clearly sense their desire to play together again, and perhaps in some of the protagonists there's also a wish to prove that, all things considered, they deserved to still be here after all these years. The crowd shows contagious enthusiasm, wanting to dance, sing, shout, the Cavea is packed beyond belief for two nights running, proof of just how much Afterhours have been missed in these years, proof of just how much the Italian indie scene has lacked such a unifying band, one to identify with again. Perhaps even the five musicians on stage are left amazed by the extraordinary response from fans, even if experienced enough to be aware of their own importance, consolidated over time.

The evening closes on the notes of “Voglio una pelle splendida”, with the five of them leaving the stage one by one at the end, just as they often used to do back then. Manuel is the first to take his leave, then all the others, until only Giorgio Prette is left to land the final drum rolls. As if to certify the rebirth of a partnership, of a deep friendship.

Opening each date of this celebratory tour every night are two emerging bands, selected by Manuel himself as part of “Carne fresca”, a showcase organized in Milan at the venue Germi. On Saturday 5 July, the spotlight is on Dlemma, a mostly female quartet from Rome, active since 2023 and influenced by alt-rock and grunge, who are about to release their debut album and also stand out for a successful cover of “Piece Of My Heart” by Janis Joplin, and Kahlumet, a Milanese singer-songwriter skilled at sketching out electro-acoustic scenarios with a strong melancholic streak.

On Sunday 6 July the spotlight turns to Fitza, a singer-songwriter following in the footsteps of Carmen Consoli and Cristina Donà, but also influenced by the alt-rock of Verdena, and Dirty Noise, a quartet from the new Milanese alternative scene with a sound ranging across new wave, rock, pop and post-punk. Manuel Agnelli, after Tora!Tora!, “Il paese è reale” and his television stint as a judge on X-Factor, thus continues to play the role of “talent scout” and “patron” of the Italian alternative scene, trying to guarantee visibility for the most talented and promising young acts. Some of them, we're sure, will one day find themselves thanking Afterhours, and that magical summer evening during which they had the chance to open one of their concerts. Those are nights that aren't easily forgotten…

Photo credit: Tommaso Notarangelo

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