Damiano David is undeniably a rockstar. It’s been one week since the former Maneskin frontman took the stage at the Brooklyn Paramount for two incredible performances that told the story of his life in three musically and thematically distinct parts, and we’re still thinking about it.
David performs with an unbothered elegance that can only come with incredible confidence and comfort onstage, developed over years of experience and his more recent discovery of his true musical aspirations. He’s cool, calm, collected, and exudes a suave European sex appeal that the New York City audience was starved for.
Watching David perform live, it’s easy to understand why. His talent and confidence radiate throughout his performance; the Funny Little Fears shows are divided into three musically and thematically distinct parts that show off his range as a songwriter and as a musician, and his talent and confidence radiate throughout his performance.
He holds a sassy banter with the audience as he moves through the setlist, introducing Cinnamon by cheekily saying “this next song is a little…spicy” and following up Over (and specifically, it’s iconic whistle effects) by reminding the audience “by the way it’s not a track I do it myself… thank you, that is the reaction I expect every. Single. Fucking. Time.” Both asides are met to raucous cheers.
David sings about love in the same way the poets wrote about it. He acknowledges this too, introducing his song Mars as a track that “talks about love in the most honest and noble way that I know”. In this song and others, (including a fantastic cover of Kings of Leon’s Sex On Fire). Hi’s Italian accent coats his lyrics like velvet, lending a uniqueness to his voice that is especially apparent live.
The structure of the show also contributes to its unique appeal. The thematic division of the show takes the audience on a journey through the emotional range of Damiano David’s music, and his ability to communicate the distinction of each part – both visually and by speaking to the audience – means that the themes of the show he spent years developing are lost on no one.
“What we saw so far represented the last ten years of my life, where as you know I am the lead singer of… a quite popular band called Maneksin, and we basically woke up one day and were famous all over the world. So we started touring, and traveling, and we played with all of our idols, we played in the best venues we could possibly dream of, and for a while this was – this was a dream, it was the best experience that life could ever give me. But then one day something inside of me broke and I really started feeling like all of that was too much for me. And I stopped enjoying everything about this job; I stopped enjoying travelling, I stopped enjoying even playing live. So I had to take some time. And during this time I wrote this record, and I learned the reason of my sadness, and the reason of my sadness was that I was actually living a dream, but it was not mine. It was not my dream.”
With the Funny Little Fears shows, Damiano David is living and performing a dream that is entirely, authentically his own. That authenticity shows up every second that he’s onstage, and it’s resulted in a series of performances that are cool, confident, and fitting of the genre-defying rockstar David was always meant to be.
The Funny Little Fears tour concludes tonight at The Fillmore Silver Spring in Silver Spring, MD. Find tickets here.
