Pennywise, Sick Of It All, A Wilhelm Scream, Iron Reagan, Methedrine live in Bellaria Igea Marina – July 3rd, 2018

A full car from by Cesena, we leave for Beky Bay. The concert starts very early (7.15 p.m.!) so we try to push the timeline not to miss any band. As we all know, in concerts of this kind you can not really go cheap in terms of food and drink, so as experience taught me I get a good crescione to enjoy during the trip and a nice supply of beer to share in the car. We arrive at the place very early, and it takes us two seconds to find a parking place. The location is just what you can expect for a hardcore punk concert of this kind on the Riviera Romagnola, a stage on the beach and people in bathing suit playing beach volleyball. On the contrary, however, the place is a bit unpleasant in some respects. Once you enter, you can’t leave until the end of the concert. The bands’ merchandise was out of the venue (what’s the point if they don’t let you out anymore?!). And as expected, inside everything is very expensive (3€ for a small bottle of water!), and they also open each bag as if it were the border of Mexico. We enter and Methedrine are already playing, a band with members from Upset Noise, Daltonic Out Cry, Ant Abusers, Eu’s Arse and A New Scar. Their sound is a Hc with some thrash metal influence. Towards the end of the show they also play a couple of Upset noise covers, “Hardcore”, and another I don’t remember the title of, unfortunately.
Stage change and it is the turn of Iron Reagan. Alas, there aren’t many people yet due to the early time, but with their furious thrash and powerviolence, including 5 songs in 3 minutes and Cannibal Corpse’s “A skull of maggots”, they can transmit the right energy to trigger several circle pits (inevitable in their live shows). This is the third time I have seen them and they are always a certainty.
Black clouds threaten something bad and people start to worry. Now it’s A Wilhelm Scream’s turn, they play old songs from “Career Suicide” and “Ruiner”, the 2 best albums in my opinion. During the live show I find myself talking with Tony Foresta (Iron Reagan singer) who offers me a beer and a whiskey. He also complains about the choices and management of the place, especially on the matter of merchandise outside, rightly, and totally meaningless. Returning to the concert, we are in front of A Wilhelm Scream, one of the technically most intense groups in the field of melodic punk rock / hardcore: great scenic presence and the guitarists and bass player move like crazy, great, nothing to say. The end with “The king is dead”, a blast.
Now Sick Of It All with the original line-up, they play many old songs too. Right in the middle of the live performance the rain breaks the audience a bit. The more daring remain in the pit under the rain, but other people run to seek shelter. I stay there as long as I can, then it starts to rain seriously, so I find a shelter under the canopy of the bar. SOIA, you like them or not, never make a mistake on stage.
And now the much acclaimed Pennywise, who let us wait a while but then immediately start with “Fight till you die” and the delirium starts. They also go a lot with the classics, many of which I could have done without, such as “Stand by me”, rather, I would have liked to hear more songs from the latest album, “Never gonna die”, incidentally not bad, but from the latter they only play the hit “Live while you can”. The rain stops and starts again but the audience is not intimidated. At a certain point they play a series of covers: one by Bad Religion (I don’t remember the title), “Wild in the streets” by Circle Jerks, and when they announced it I hoped it was a joke but they really played it, “Tnt” by AC/DC. Musically perfect, nothing to say, a powerful and impressive sound. Byron behind the drums is always a machine and Fletcher has an amazing guitar. The concert ends with “Bro hymn” in a tupa tupa version, and then the Punk Rock DJ set. Time to say goodbye and we go back to Cesena. In conclusion a great concert, all the bands gave the best, great sounds for all the bands, shame for the damn rain, and for the management of the location.

Live report by Matteo Giunchi