Dream Syndicate

OndaRock attended the Bologna and Rome dates of the 2026 Dream Syndicate tour, a tribute to their brilliant sophomore album “Medicine Show”, performed in full night after night for the first time live, more than forty years after its release.

by Martina Vetrugno 

Paisley Underground, or how guitar-driven rock between the Sixties and Seventies, folk memories and pop airs let themselves be courted by punk and rediscovered and absorbed the power of psychedelia. This movement was centered on California in the Eighties and played a crucial role in the weaning of alternative music (even if at times it appeared, at least on the surface, overshadowed by other scenes), establishing Dream Syndicate as its undisputed standard-bearers. Their strength, and trademark? Sticking to their core premise, that of continuing to make music that feels timeless without ever repeating themselves, now with a different lineup from their beginnings, with two original members remaining. 

Awaited by a large crowd of die-hard fans, already gathered outside the venue well before doors opened, the Locomotiv Club show in Bologna is the second of four hugely attended Italian dates, scheduled by the now well-established lineup led by Steve Wynn, joined by longtime drummer Dennis Duck, bassist Mark Walton, guitarist Jason Victor and Chris Cacavas on keyboards.

There is no support act doing the honors; instead, the wise choice is made to split the show into two parts, the first dedicated to the post-reunion releases, with a strong focus on “How Did I Find Myself Here?” (now nearing its tenth anniversary), and the second, as announced, devoted to the landmark “Medicine Show”, played from the first note to the last.

Most eyes light up from the very first shimmering guitars of the placid “Where I’ll Stand”, the opener of their latest work “Ultraviolet Battle Hymns And True Confessions” (2022) and a gradual lead-in to the effective sing-along of “Filter Me Through You”. Things truly take off with the lashing riffs of the whirling “Out Of My Head”, veering into Spiritualized territory, while the hypnotic “Black Light”, the sole track pulled from “These Times” (2019), lowers the noisy quotient and lets Wynn duet with Victor's guitar over brooding textures, woven with keyboards and drum rhythm, before hinting at Rem-style folk-rock with “Like Mary”. 

One of the highlights opens with the fierce bassline unleashed by Walton on “80 West”, accompanied by Victor's electric virtuosity, which also stars in the following “How Did I Find Myself Here”, during which time stretches and contracts like elastic, alternating breathless sprints with absorbed, lysergic passages built on convulsive guitar phrasing and distortion, before settling back down when the floor passes to Wynn. The first (shrewd) closer is marked by the U2-esque mood of the luminous “Glide”.

If one absolutely wanted to find a flaw (a purely subjective one), the presence of a short jam from the excellent “The Universe Inside” (2020) could have added an extra pinch of spice to the psych-rock quota and to the sense of temporal elasticity mentioned earlier, but Wynn and co.'s decision here is clearly to place the emphasis on the winning charms offered by psychedelic pop and alternative rock.

After a break of about fifteen minutes, it's time for the long-awaited slot reserved for “Medicine Show”, which the crowd immediately proves to know word for word and guitar riff by guitar riff. Kicking things off are the country roots of the choral “Still Holding On To You” and the dark “Bullet With My Name On It”, with the keyboard growing more prominent song after song from the driving rock'n'roll of “Daddy's Girl”. In “Burn” the influence of Neil Young blazes strongly, with a return to blues in the following “The Medicine Show”, continuing with a punkier take on it in “Armed With An Empty Gun”, before giving way to the semi-ballad “Merrittville” and, dulcis in fundo, closing the set with the acid-rock of the acclaimed “John Coltrane Stereo Blues”. And to satisfy absolutely everyone, there's room for an encore section, complete with a cover of “Let It Rain” by Eric Clapton.

Rome, 23/01/2026

by Mauro Vecchio

A sleepy Friday evening, as Rome braces itself for a storm and the big home match against Milan. The rain-soaked streets are unusually empty, but Largo Venue on Via Prenestina is buzzing with feverish energy for yet another sold-out show. The temperature inside is tropical: you need to strip off a few layers and queue up for a beer while waiting for a piece of music history, Dream Syndicate from Los Angeles, California.

When he takes the stage just before 9:30pm, sixty-five-year-old Steve Wynn looks in great physical shape, with his unruly hair and a dazzling red jacket that gleams from the two screens set up on either side of the stage. Wynn swears it's the same jacket he wore on the “Medicine Show” tour back in the mid-'80s, just to give the many spectators who've flocked to this corner of East Rome an extra thrill.

The first part of the set, titled “21st Century”, opens with the melancholy psychedelic flavor of “Where I’ll Stand”, from the American band's latest album, released three years ago. The sound is immediately as gleaming as a perfectly polished jewel, with “Filter Me Through You” driven by guitars as radiant and explosive as the rawest Neil Young. From the martial, Velvet-esque rhythm of “Out Of My Head” to the fluid hypnosis of “Black Light”, the concert's opening hits hard, proving the sonic evolution that has kept the band going even into, well, the 21st century.

It's an intriguing strategic choice to open the set with the band's most recent material, even within a show that fans have been feverishly anticipating for the full live rendition of the masterpiece “Medicine Show”. In the second decade of the 2000s, nearly thirty years after splitting up, Dream Syndicate returned to recording, always striking a perfect balance between the obvious revival of the Paisley Underground sound and a necessary adaptation to modern times. This carries through from the melancholy folk-rock of “Like Mary” to the unsettling wall of sound on “80 West”, driven by Mark Walton's pulsing bass.

On a truly exceptional evening, the California band announces an exclusive live performance of the entire “Medicine Show” album, for the second part of a set that promises fireworks. Among the heavyweights of the artistic movement that fueled American resistance to Reagan-era politics, Dream Syndicate's 1984 masterpiece is played with extreme fidelity to the original sound, as if to carry the older members of the audience back in time. “The bad thing is that when you leave here, you'll go back to being forty years older again,” Wynn jokes with the adoring crowd.

It kicks off, of course, with the magnificent Lou Reed-style riff of “Still Holding On To You”, chiseled with extreme skill by a Jason Victor in dazzling form. The crowd dances to the wild rock'n'roll of “Daddy’s Girl”, while the fervent ballad “Burn” sends the usual smartphones up into the air.

The set catches fire on the crooked, deviant blues of “Armed With An Empty Gun”, which cranks up the intensity with distorted guitars and a rhythm section running at full throttle. There's an ovation for the opening of the dark new wave groove of “Bullet With My Name On It”, quickly followed by Wynn's great vocal performance on the title track, which reflects all his theatricality, somewhere between Canned Heat-style blues and post-punk rhythms.

The peak of the concert can only be the marathon-length “John Coltrane Stereo Blues”, a tribute to the most acid-soaked '60s, unfolding as a fantastic, schizoid jam halfway between the sonic atrocities of Velvet Underground and Dylan-esque poetics.

By now the crowd is in raptures, though some seem to be running out of steam after two hours of the show. And the good news – or bad news, for their backs – is that Dream Syndicate aren't done yet: there's still a three-song encore to come, closing with a cover of Eric Clapton's “Let It Rain”. Trifles, compared to hearing that album played live after more than forty years – a slightly belated Christmas present for the Capital.

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