A walloping set from impish Italian rockers Måneskin at London’s O2 Arena — review

Genre-hopping foursome Måneskin are more easily defined in terms of what they are not. They’re not just Eurovision winners, not just the newly anointed “saviours of rock and roll”; not, even after an infamous green room moment caught on camera, fiends for the naughty salt.

Between such claims and the manic pace of their career — from Italian X Factor to Saturday Night Live and opening for The Rolling Stones, all in less than five years — it’s hard to identify what they actually are, beneath the TikTok-friendly hooks, leather chaps and hard-drilled musical talent. One clue emerged about halfway through their sold-out show at London’s O2 Arena. “Any Italians here?” asked frontman Damiano David to ear-splitting shrieks of assent. “This was a trick question. If you don’t sing, you’re the worst piece-of-shit Italians I’ve ever seen in my life. OK, now we can start.”

Dripping with concupiscent camp, the baby-faced Roman superstars chivvied the crowd through a walloping set that touched the highs and lows of arena rock. In moments when the barrage of snappy riffs started to recall a protracted Subaru ad, the band’s trademark blend of impish bombast and winsome sincerity kept the show on the road. But as David took a pause from prowling the stage like a tatted-up house cat, reappearing in the pit for a husky acoustic version of “Vent’anni”, it was clear that Måneskin thrive when they embrace their Italian roots.

The band churned out around 50 rough cuts for their new album, Rush!, with the help of Scandi pop mogul Max Martin (producer of hits including “Baby One More Time” and “Shake It Off”). The result is a mostly English-language grab-bag of styles and influences, in the “new wine, old bottles” spirit of their viral hit “Beggin’”, a cover of a 1967 song by The Four Seasons.

Opening number “Don’t Wanna Sleep” set the tone, a sullen earworm that recalled a rowdy, hungover Billie Eilish, with Aerosmith-adjacent lyrics and stuttering, sexed-up declamation reminiscent of Fergie’s “Fergalicious”. Even this more generic material was invigorated by Måneskin’s multipronged jolt of personality, from bassist Victoria De Angelis swaying across the stage like a druidical rocking-stone, to guitarist Thomas Raggi unleashing howling solos with stony-faced aplomb. Ahead of next weekend’s Eurovision, their 2021-winning youth protest anthem “Zitti e buoni” had the audience in transports of ecstasy, with a group of tweens throwing up a friendship-braceleted sign of the horns as drummer Ethan Torchio thrashed away under the strobes. “Bla Bla Bla” was bla by name and bla by nature but the band reached saturnalian heights with “I Wanna Be Your Slave”, a position clearly shared by the smitten masses finishing every line.

Despite the zeal of the crowd, and the band’s ebullience, the jumbled nature of the songs bled into David’s onstage patter: cries of “Drop your beautiful ass, London” or the tried-and-tested “Let’s go” were delivered with only vague enthusiasm. With some time to focus their blazing talents and energy on a more coherent message — as glimpsed in lovelorn ballads “Timezone” and “The Loneliest” — these puckish prodigies will likely add more depth to their thrills and spills.

★★★☆☆

merch.maneskin.com