Conflict / Methedrine / Call The Cops / Without Whistle / Malamadre live in Ferrara – December 2nd, 2017

Ferrara is becoming a regular destination for us from Radio Punk. It’s such a pleasure to go to concerts there and support Monta and all the people who still believe, that this time I left in a hurry after work, at 9 p.m., and arrived at about 11.30 p.m.
The concert had on stage Malamadre, which unfortunately I completely missed and I hope to see in the future, Without Whistle, Call The Cops, Methedrine and Conflict. The venue was Circolo Arci Bolognesi, centrally located, and it was not new to us since we were there two years ago to see GBH. The beauty of the place is the fact that it is a former Church, now deconsecrated, something that will surely please the most belligerent towards the Catholic religion punks (us included).

As I said, when we arrived Malamadre had already performed, while we had the time to hear two songs by Without Whistle and one by Good Riddance, enough to understand that the melodic hardcore band from Venice is really good and is definitely to be known better. Among other things a little curiosity, one of the guitarists is the mythical Dema from Talco.

Change-over and Call The Cops started, a street punk band with strong crust/hardcore influences. They perform in a lot of concerts and are very friendly. One of their peculiarities is the fact that voice and guitar swap places at almost each song and the result is a succession of different screams that I personally find original. Something else I really like is Marconcio explaining the political meaning of some lyrics, such as in “Fuck Your Sexuality”, where he attacks this sexist society and says that everybody is free to express their own sexuality as they like, as long as there’s respect. Even musically it is a group not to miss! Believe me, there is so much charisma in those songs!

Next were Methedrine, a group with Lucio from Upset Noise, Dario and Roberto from Daltonic Out Cry/Ant Abusers, Bone from A New Scar/Eu’s Arse/Upset Noise and Mark from Tytus/Eu’s Arse/Upset Noise. People who know what they’re doing.
Also seen the previous night, this time with a better sound I can assure you that they’re really good. Absolutely. A powerful mix of thrash metal, old school hardcore and d-beat, played with rage but also great technique together with the experience of the 5, who feel fine on stage. Amazing!

After some chat and beers, there were Conflict, a historic English anarcho-punk band, a seminal band in its field.
They played tirelessly the whole set and the kids enjoyed the moshpit. The band was fit and performed well on stage and it is worth mentioning again that despite their age and the length of their performance they never dropped the level. “The Ungovernable Force” had everybody singing and moving.
Conflict also gave us an encore, including “Carlo Giuliani”, dedicated to his memory.

The evening ended shortly after and there is virtually nothing else to add.
I make two final points before closing:
1. I very much hope that in Ferrara they will continue to organize great punk concerts.
2. About those two half fights, I’m just saying that if you’ve got issues, you can always talk to a friend, you don’t need to fight amongst ourselves while you are “altered”. The enemies are quite different.

Over and out, I thank Monta (a saint!), the bands, everyone I met, and send greetings to my friend Massa, thank you for the time spent together the next day!

Reviewed by T.S.
Translated by E.C.

Some pictures from the gig: