We started our trip in the morning, some of us still a little drunk and under the influence of the gig in Zagreb that was last night. The destination was Reggio Emilia. A small town in the northen central Italy, near Modena. The Opcio guys were in town with 3 more good italian Oi! bands ENCB, FFD and Trade Unions and we decided to pay them a visit.
The trip didn't last long. For about 6 hours of driving and we were there with no big complications of finding the town and the place. As we arrived there at about half past 6, there were some locals fixig the "squat" for the gig. After the beer and food shopping, there was something very different than the usual gigs. The Italians were so friendly that they immediately came to us and started conversations, so we felt a very positive atmosphere talking with them about their and our scene and chating about all kind of stuff that would come to our minds. Usually i would not talk about this, but waiting for the gig we could not notice the female part of the subculture that were a real pleasure for the eyes. Too bad we don't have skingirls that much in Croatia, but slowly we are growing also.
We got some zine, with a interview of Stage Bottles and Undertones, but unfortunetly it is in Italian. When we entered the yard of the "squat" we looked at some distribution. It was full of great records of EP's, LP's and shirts, but we didn't had much money to spent on it. Even found some of our eastern friends records (Red Union and the Bayonets). Eventually a friend got me an EP vinyl of Brixton Cats Opcio k-95 split as i was broke. After a lot of beers, we saw the Opcio singer Carlos and decided to push our luck. He was very friendly so we spent the rest of our evening drinking with him even though he didnn't drink (sxe). He is a history professor and wrote some books about the football supporters and ultras so we talked also a lot about football besides the Spanish bands and politics. While FFD was playing (don't like the band to much so didn't see the point in watching them), we talked to the guys uf they would come to Croatia. I think that we made a pretty good impression on them especially on the drummer and singer, so we could try to do what seemed impossible. Bringin' them to our country.
Some of us entered when Ennecibbi started to play. When i saw the inside of the club, the first thing I noticed was the stage. It was fairly big, and i didn't liked it because of the poor connection of the bands and the crowd. It have an opinion that a better atmosphere would be on a smaller stage, but ok, to much hardcore inflence these days. Ennecibbi played real good. It was a shame that there were few people in front, nothing like the Turin gig, but still they made a good show. ENCB are doing few more gigs and taking a bigger "break", as their bass player is going to jail, beacuse of a violent fight with the fascists.
The third band were Trade Unions, an Livorno red oi! band. They made a new album but it still isn't available on the net.But still i recognised the old songs and they were good on the stage. One thing i noticed, maybe it's a "crisis identity" deformation, but Italian oi music, especially the aggressive ones, are slighty taking some elements of hardcore. Because of the singer, he was jumping all the time. I also noticed this from the ENCB singer. Maybe it's some sort of saturation and trying to take some new elements to make the music more inovative or a fusion taking some elements, or my lousy judgement.
When Opcio came to the stage the eruption started. But again not a lot of people at the front, at least we could enjoy the band more from a close perspective. They started with the new album Reneix, playing at first mostly new songs, and then went on Terra Cremada. I prefer Mai Morirem but i won't bother because of the bands playlist. At the near end i went outside to take more beers and never returned as i have a blank gap in my memory. But my guys told me that i missed out the flare and the fire extinguisher that ended the concert. Besides their songs they played a few covers (don't know why, because they have enough of their own great songs to play) Banned from the pubs, White Riot...
After sleeping a few ours in the car, we closed a great evening in Reggio Emilia and went back home.
A really good show this was, not only because of the bands and music but because of the whole trip and conversations with the Italians and Opcio. Reggio Emilia and Opcio, thumbs up and see you soon.
(PS: i know that my english is lousy, almost lousy as the construction of these sentences i wrote day after the gig, but i have no intention of rewriting!)
