Måneskin at the Masonic in San Francisco
On November 3rd and 4th Italian glam rock band Maneskin performed sold out shows at the Masonic in San Francisco. Maneskin has rose to fame over the last year in Europe and now America. They won the Sanremo Music Festival in 2021 and later won the Eurovision Song Contest in the same year. The band has taken the internet and music industry by storm with their songs, “I Wanna Be Your Slave,” “Zitti E Buoni,” and their cover of The Four Seasons song “Beggin’.”
The Masonic in San Francisco was packed both nights and the fans were waiting in excitement all day to see Maneskin for the first time. Some fans had waited outside all day just so they could be front row when the show started around 8:30pm. Although the band didn’t go on until around 9:15pm, the fans were patiently waiting for a high energy and exciting night. They finally came on stage and the crowd went crazy, they were screaming and singing along to every word. Maneskin performed a few new songs that haven’t been released yet like “Kool Kids,” and “Gasoline.” They also performed their hit song “I Wanna Be Your Slave” twice. Once in the middle of the set and again as an encore.
The bands set included 16 songs some of which included, “Zitti E Buoni,” “Supermodel,” “Mammamia,” and “The Loneliest.” Overall the show was a little lackluster in performance, I think there was more of an expectation of high energy and crazy behavior like fans see in the bands videos and other performances. At one point their singer Damiano did mention that they’d need energy from the crowd because “two nights in a row is tiring.” Which I do think was felt from the viewers perspective. Although night two may not have been as energetic, the crowd did provide a lot of energy to give back to the band. Throughout the entire set the fans were screaming along and jumping around to every song. There was never a slow point throughout the show and although the band seemed a little tired from a show the night before and exploring San Francisco earlier that day, they did perform incredibly well. At one point during the show the bands bass player, Victoria did go into the crowd and performed while crowdsurfing. Damiano did go into the crowd at one point as well and both times the crowd went absolutely crazy to be so close to the band.
The show ended with two encore songs, “The Loneliest” and the second performance of “I Wanna Be Your Slave.” Although unusual to perform the same song twice, the fans seemed to love it and because it seemed to be the song that launched their careers in the US, the fans seemed into hearing it twice and maybe that’ll be a thing that they continue to do for future tours. Overall it was an energetic show with a great mix of song that everyone knows and loves and new unreleased songs that everyone was excited to hear for the first time. Next time Maneskin tours within the United States I’m sure they will be playing much larger venues and hopefully they have enough rest in between shows to really showcase their fun and energetic spirits while performing.
Jaime Schultz
Jaime is a photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a BFA in Photography from The School of Visual Arts in New York City. For over ten years Jaime has been dedicated to photographing musicians on stage and in their environment. She also loves photographing fashion stories and weddings. When she’s not taking photos, she spends her time volunteering at her local SPCA, cooking, and hanging out with her two cats, Cleo and Spike.