On the night of September 27, the stage of the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto was covered with a red velvet curtain. As soon as the lights dimmed down and the grasp of an electric guitar resounded across the Arena, gigantic human shadows appeared on the curtain and set – off the screams of all the people from different ages and backgrounds who gathered to witness the Italian rock band Måneskin on their 2023 RUSH! Tour.
Vocalist Damiano David, bass player Victoria De Angelis, guitar player Thomas Raggi and drummer Ethan Torchio came together in their teenage years to form the band Måneskin and sing covers on the streets of Rome, Italy. In 2017, the band participated in Factor X Italy, winning second place and massive popularity in their home country, leading them to sign a contract with Sony Italy. Little did they know that years later, they would win the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam with their song Zitti E Buoni, expanding their popularity across the European continent and, later on, worldwide with hits like I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE.
Måneskin popularity grew on such a big scale that it brought them for the first time in Toronto in November 2022 to perform in a successful show at History. Almost a year later, they returned to perform in a bigger venue in front of a bigger audience at the Scotiabank Arena.
The band opened their setlist with DON’T WANNA SLEEP from the album RUSH! They began singing while the red velvet curtain still showed their defined shadows; they got to the chorus, and then the curtain was lifted, revealing the quartered matching bold blue and white rodeo outfits, Vocalist Damiano singing with a vintage microphone hanging from the ceiling, while bass player Victoria and guitar player Thomas unfolded an electrifying energy across the stage. Next came the song GOSSIP, also from the album RUSH!, which features a guitar solo by Tom Morello, but in his absence, Thomas Raggi stole the stage, performing a breathtaking guitar solo on his own. Leading into the next song, Zitti E Buoni a song that despite being sung entirely in Italian did not stop the audience from singing along.
After the first three songs, Damiano finally took a moment to welcome their fans and continued with Måneskin’s most recent single, HONEY (ARE U COMING?), followed by the song SUPERMODEL. After the spirited rock segment, it was time for a short break, which gave way to a slower tune like Coraline with Italian lyrics from the band’s second studio album, Teatro d’ira – Vol. I.
Måneskin’s first studio album was Chosen, featuring their first single under the same name and a combination of original songs and covers, including their cover of Beggin’ by The Four Seasons, which the band performed on September 27. But before he started to sing, the vocalist introduced the song and thanked it since it is part of the band’s worldwide popularity after the cover went viral on social media. David invited the crowd to sing along, and a vast “Beggin’ ” roared around the arena. Afterward, Måneskin gave their fans a taste of their upcoming song, THE DRIVER, followed by For Your Love and GASOLINE.
Now, it was time for the acoustic moment of the night. The stage went completely dark and empty for a few seconds. Then, at the back of the arena, a small stage lit with Damiano and Thomas holding an acoustic guitar. The moment the fans on the floor saw them, they ran to get closer. They started the segment with the tune TIMEZONE, and all across the Arena, phones lit up and moved softly with the song’s beat. Afterward, Damiano David recalled back to 2016 when the four musicians used to perform covers on the streets of Rome, like Back to Black by Amy Winehouse, and continued to sing the Jazz classic next to Thomas on the guitar.
After the acoustic segment, the main stage lit up again with a voltaic ramp of lightning, with Victoria De Angelis and Nathan Torchio performing a bass and drums solo to welcome back Daminao and Thomas. They then performed their most famous song I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE, which was probably one of the highlights of the night since the band members weren’t shy when it came to interacting with their fans. During the performance of the song, De Angelis decided to come downstage, jump among the audience and crowd surfed. After the bass player returned to the stage, Damiano joined the audience on the floor. He invited all present to go down and jump with him at the count of three to shake the Scotiabank Arena’s floor.
At that point of the night, it was time to hear the presence of the Italian-born and descendants among the crowd; Måneskin called out for them and invited them to sing along to the song MAMAMIA. All the Italian flags among the fans could be seen high in the air. Then came a cover of the song Humble by Kendrick Lamar, IN NOME THE DEL PADRE from the album Teatro d’ira: Vol. I and BLA BLA BLA came next.
It was time for the second highlight of the night with the song KOOL KIDS, where the Italian band invited fans from the floor to join them on stage to dance, jump, and sing; the song ended with Thomas’s thrilling solo playing with the guitar and the pedalboard, and several of the fans on stage knelt to praise the talented guitarist. The solo ending led to a solitary guitar part where Thomas stood in the middle of the stage under a spotlight.
The night could not end without one of Måneskin’s saddest but most beautiful songs, THE LONELIEST, and to close the night, the band performed I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE once again and repeated the same dynamic of inviting the public to go down to the floor and jump to rock the Scotiabank Arena.
Nonetheless, it can not be left behind Victoria De Angelis’ and Thomas Raggi’s chemistry on the stage. The duo united several times on stage to blow up the audience with their bold performances, jumping or lying on the stage’s floor while playing their instruments. And multiple times during the show, De Angelis and Raggi came downstage to join the fans on the floor and do crowd-surfing and stealing the show. Vocalist Daminao also shined with his unique, hoarse voice several times, talking and cheering the audience.
It was indeed a show to be remembered; Måneskin played for two and a half hours with their traditional rock sound and rousing performance in front of an audience that walked out from the Scotiabank Arena astonished and more than satisfied.
