MÅNESKIN ON THE SUNSET STRIP

Brothers and sisters, I have news: Rock is back.

On 11/1, the occasion of their first trip to L.A., Arista/Sony Latin’s Italian rock marauders Måneskin simply laid waste to the Roxy.

Charging through a repertoire that includes runaway smash “Beggin’” (still Top 20 on Spotify’s global chart and now crushing at radio), singles “MAMMAMIA” and the pulsing “I Wanna Be Your Slave,” Eurovision winner “Zitti e Buoni” and canny covers like the Iggy/Stooges classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and The Killers' "Somebody Told Me," the band blazed with conviction and joy.

Collectively, singer Damiano, guitarist Thomas, bassist Vic and drummer Ethan are a confident machine—tighter than a gnat’s ass, as the old producers used to say—and their shameless, playfully decadent showmanship enthralled the capacity crowd, which had merged into a single shrieking beast. They sang in English and Italian (if they'd done the whole set in Mandarin, the audience still would've exploded). Damiano, in a sort of bondage harness/lederhosen getup, crowd-surfed and sang from the middle of the room. Eventually, he invited a few dozen fans to fill the stage.

Looking on like proud parents were, among others, Arista’s David Massey and Nick Petropoulos, Sony Italy's Stefano Karakotch and the global management team's Fabrizio Ferraguzzo, Ron Laffitte, Marica Casalinuovo and Larry Tull. An array of radio and DSP heavyweights and assorted celebrities took in the spectacle at what felt, for the first time in a long time, like a genuine industry event.

And the ghosts of the 30,000 rock bands who once trod the boards of the Roxy—and who have long despaired that rock itself had gone the way of all flesh—threw goat and huffed rails in Valhalla.