Club Dogo at San Siro: a live to reach a status

After ten historic sold out Milan Forums, many have asked themselves: Does it really make sense for Dogo to announce a live show at San Siro and schedule it a few months later? The answer, on paper, was no. But what if the live staged at the Scala del Calcio was interpreted as a sort of achievement of one statusif one were to read it with the lens of “seize the moment”, given that the Dogo have never attracted these numbers in their career, arriving on the wave of their comeback after ten years of silence, then the perception could change. The San Siro dei Dogo, full of people but not sold outwith ample availability for the third ring, ultimately it is the celebration of a career that started in the underground and reached popular consecrationalso thanks to the explosion of rap in recent years, a genre of which the trio is a pioneer in Italy, as well as a backbone and rightly perceived as “legendary”.

A gym on steroids

Gué, Jake and Don Joe, despite having said that they wouldn’t have done interviews through a post on the release of the album “Club Dogo”, a concept reiterated in a corrosive way by Jake at the first Forum in Milan, in the end they had to go round the radio stations to try to fill a San Siro that presents itself as a date at the Forum but bigger, with steroids. Lots of songs, rapped in a technical way, very rich lineup, high involvement, various guestsa Marracash in monster version on four tracks, but at the show level, compared to what we have already seen in the arenas, there is nothing truly surprising. And the sound isn’t even very clean at first. At this point more and more dates at San Siro they are announced or made to reach, precisely, a status, and this practice has distant roots. After an intro video, the three enter with a basketball jersey welcomed by a roar: Gué with Wallace’s jersey, Jake with Rodman’s, Don Joe with Irving’s. The scenography is quite basic, composed of some cars on the stage, the reproduction of the Milan subway and some neighborhood shops that come to life with extras. Confirmed, by the tour in the arenas, also the dance troupe to transmit energy to the songs through the choreography.

Mario Giordano, Briatore and Bob Marley

In some moments of the concert, the most intense ones, there is no shortage of classic flare-ups. There are three giant LED walls: two on the sides dedicated to live shows and the public, the central one offers visuals and some gems. Among these there are some that are funny and at the same time surreal: before “Vida loca”, a symbolic piece of Dogo’s career, a clip appears of the journalist Mario Giordano who, overwhelmed by boos, tells the story of rap in Italy. And there is also time, at another juncture, for a video greeting from Flavio Briatore who introduces, obviously, “Briatori”. A significant video is the one dedicated to the Bob Marley concert at San Siro in 1980: it is the opening of an entire part of the setlist dedicated to the songs most linked to the offbeat rhythms written by Dogo, lovers of reggae and dancehall. Among these there is obviously “PES”, sung like a giant stadium choirand the new “King of the jungle”, embellished by the presence of Alborosia.

A fourth Dogo: Marracash

The audience, heterogeneous in terms of age, as already happened in Sfera Ebbasta’s San Siro, is a spectacle: he sings word after word and demonstrates how rap has entered the existence of entire generations. A mention goes to the lineup, wide, between past and present, varied and with some interesting ideas such as involving guests in a different way: “Everything I have” is not sung with Chile, as originally, but with Coez. On “Lisa” it comes as a surprise Lazzawho first plays the piano and then joins in the chorus. Once upon a time these more pop songs were opposed by the hardliners, now that rap has entered the mainstream they are sung at the top of one’s lungs. One of the highlights of the live coincides with the entrance of Marracash who becomes the fourth Dogo for four pieceswith a final “Puro Bogotà” that sends fans into a frenzy. In general all the guests, especially those linked to the Dogo Gang, are welcomed with warmth and really enrich the songs, they didn’t appear.

Stadiums demand higher standards

The San Siro dei Dogo is an event within an event that marks the highest moment, in terms of the public, of their career. “A dream achieved”, as they explained from the stage. A well-deserved celebration. But if there are no criticisms to be made at the performance level, their live show is truly a “rap school”, in terms of show-scenography-creative and narrative inventions, being right under the magical spotlights of San Siro for a single date, it was legitimate and necessary to expect moreStadiums require high standards in every aspect, which cannot be met with just a few good hostings. Salmo and Sfera Ebbastato mention other protagonists of the rap world who have crossed the doors of San Siro, for example, they held the entertainment bar higher. Ultimately, having attended both the live concert in the arenas and this mega-date, we lean, in terms of preference, towards the first round. More compact, more direct, more spontaneous, more sonically enjoyable and suited to their songsless designed to achieve a “status” at all costs, more “for the people”as the Dogo themselves love to repeat, and less for records.

Ladder:
Once upon a time in Italy
Boom bap mafia
Randez ou with delirium
DOG
Throw everything away
The head is spinning
Only once

Video Mario Giordano
Local life
Chronicles of resistance
The ghost room
Hardboiled
Rap soprano
Snakes

You are not like us
Who cares
For people
Italy 90
Always around with Emi Lo Uncle, Vincenzo Da Via Anfossi
Milly with Sphere Ebbasta
It still burns with J-Ax
My world my rules

Bob Marley Videos
King of the jungle with Alborosia
Killer notes
PES with Julian Palm
Everything I have with Coez
Lisa with Lazza
I will return as a king

Video Briatore
Briatori with Marracash
Hello right with Marracash
Born for this with Marrakesh
Pure Bogota with Marracash, Vincenzo Da Via Anfossi
I break everything
Fragile with Arisa
Alone in Milan with Elodie
At the last breath