Rock in IdRho Festival Review

Summer has finally begun!

After twenty days of non-stop rain summer has finally bloomed, just on time to start rocking! The Italian Rock Summer season is officially open with the 2011 Rock in IdRho that took place on the 15th of June at the Milan Exhibition Arena.

On stage the line-up was astonishing: it gathered artists starting with Italian emerging bands Outback and Ministri, going to the Irish sound of the frenetic Flogging Molly, the softener Band of Horses, the craziness of The Hives, the old school rock of Social Distortion, the forever young Iggy Pop and closing with the incredible performance of the Foo Fighters.


Those artists accompanied thousands of fans of all ages that came there in order to spend an amazing day listening to really high-level performances.

So, proceeding with order let’s talk about the key factor of this event: Music.

“A song in this heart of mine, puts a smile on my face every time”

Three o’clock in the afternoon: after one hour we all entered the arena, the massive stage that was built there hosted the first performance.

The Outback had the privilege and responsibility to “open the dances”: with a scratching sound this new Italian group was able to catch and grip the audience. Then was the time for the Ministri, an Italian emerging and popular group that in the last couple of years has convinced the audience and has collected a huge amount of fans along Italy with its melodic, angry rock, and committed lyrics. After three albums and hundreds of concert across Italy they seemed to have been approved also in this huge arena.


After the Italians the stage was given over to the never-stopping Flogging Molly: these Irish heat up the already burning crowd (I swear that was the hottest day in the last couple of months!!), starting the first real pogo under the stage.  Band of Horses, a quite new group for the Italian audience, kept people more relaxed and gave time to everyone to take a breath and cool down with their melodic songs such as the closing one, “The funeral”.

Three hours after the first performance seen on stage there was the time for The Hives: their music, enthusiasm, and appeal (the singer seemed to speak fluently the local language, a thing that helped to gain the attention and make people laugh) made people shake, sing, and dance.

Years have passed but they remain the same old rockers: yes, I am talking about the legendary Social Distortion. What can be said about those guys? They were simply great! Old songs mixed with the ones from the new album made their performance really appreciated by everyone; you could simply not go anywhere, you were glued to their rock.

Sixty-four years of which almost fifty of music activity, twenty-two CDs and still rocking like a mad: Iggy Pop is legend. His voice is incredible, young and evergreen. His enthusiasm is contagious and he never stands still but always moving, jumping and inflaming the crowd from the stage, his homeland. He is always at the top of the world!  Younger and emerging bands should take example from his vitality and explosiveness; they should have at least half of his craziness and love for live performances (he is really a stage animal) and would be enough to crash the stage!



Last, but definitely not least, it was the time for the magnificent rock of the Foo Fighters - Dave Grohl is simply The Leader (with the capital letter); he reminded everyone that six years had passed since their last performance in Italy and that that night it would have been amazing: I took his words and I simply loved every second of their show.

They played for two hours in a row without stopping or going out from the stage for any break “ …we don’t act as many rock stars do, they want to listen you calling them back, but at the end we all know that they are coming out again, so why wasting time? We want to sing for you and we are not going anywhere, because we know that you love us and we don’t need to hear “oh please come back”… We are not going to stop!!”: these were Dave’s words, and trust me, I have been to hundreds of concerts and this was the first time I heard saying such a thoughtful thing (actually the second if you count a concert of six years ago in Milan… still Dave’s words). They rocked and never stop, giving an incredible show with some new pieces such as the latest hits “Rope”, “Arlandria”, and “Walk” and the classic old ones “Everlong”, “Monkey wrench”, “My hero”, and many many many more.

After twelve hours under the sun, under the lunar eclipse (!!!), and surrounded by 36,000 people I was more than happy, more than tired, more than satisfied. This experience was great and I hope they are going to repeat it next year.  The only thing that was unfortunately really bad was the organisation and consequently the location of the event: no showers, no grass (it was on cement!!!! can you believe it???), no trees, and no shadows…you simply melt on the ground.

For next year changing of place is a must and I am sure they will. The organisers should take inspiration from other countries’ culture for summer festivals, due to the fact that northern Italy is not really practical for this kind of thing.

Fortunately there is always music that resolves matters: it lets you forget about problems, it puts anger and disappointment in a corner; you can suffer under the boiling weather without complaining, it gathers people from any part of the world.

What else to say? Considering everything I think I will definitely see you all next year!
And now get some sleep and dream of rock and roll!!!!

Review and photos: Caterina Boiardi