0
0
Live Review: Damiano David at Forum Melbourne
24 October 2025
—
The venue hums with anticipation as the lights dim and the band kicks into the opening chords of ‘Born With A Broken Heart’. It’s a fitting entrance for Damiano David to step into the spotlight in a dapper fuchsia suit, ready to take us on a compelling journey through his solo-world full of tender vulnerability, theatrical bravado, and a thread of pop-rock to keep the crowd enthralled.
He follows with ‘The First Time,’ which is intimate, yet loaded with his signature rock-tinged sass. The third song from his recently released deluxe edition of his album ‘FUNNY Little FEARS (DREAMS)’ is ‘Mysterious Girl,’ which is a cheeky curveball with reggae-inspired bounce giving David room to own the stage, swaying, grinning and interacting. Another new track ‘Cinnamon’ is a funky track full of swagger and a moment for the guitar solo to shine.
“I always like doing a bunch of covers during live shows because I love other artists and it’s a cool way to pay homage to them,” he says before launching into a Kings Of Leon cover with ‘Sex On Fire’ loaded with high energy. The crowd roars as David and his band transform it into a dark-glam anthem, proving his rock credentials are alive and kicking. Moments later, a cover of ‘Nothing Breaks Like A Heart’ (originally by Miley Cyrus / Mark Ronson) is unleashed with a bold version to make it his own, delivering a raw vocal turn that has the audience singing along.
As the show progresses, he begins to strip off layers of his clothing to reveal his shirtless torso covered in tattoos. David’s vocals are in fine form – powerful when needed and delicate when the song required. He moves confidently across the stage, at times theatrical, at other times quietly present next to a single mic. David shows emotional depth in his performance through his personal story telling through self-exploration, heartbreak, healing, glamour and grit. For anyone who only knows him from his work with Måneskin, this was a fresh and assured step forward. He still has that frontman charisma, but tonight he also reveals the person behind it.
“When I was creating this show, I wanted to create three different moments that can represent three different times in my life. The first part of the show represents the last 10 years of my life – everything was so fast paced, everything was so rushed, and I had some of the greatest experiences life could give me,” he recounts.
“I toured all around the world I did everything with my best friends, and it was a fucking amazing honestly but then one day something inside of me broke and I wasn’t really enjoying it anymore. I didn’t enjoy always being far away from home and I wasn’t really inspired. So, I took some time (almost a year), and I wrote a lot of songs, and this record taught me that the reason I was sad was because I was basically living someone else’s life. Everything was perfect but it was not my idea of perfection,” he reveals. He continues to share his song ‘Perfect Life’ that he wrote about being stuck in someone else’s dream and the idea of running away from it.
The show continues to build momentum with ‘Tangerine’ and ‘Zombie Lady’ which follows with tasteful diversions into theatrical territory as David transforms into his playful alter ego for several moments. The final stretch hits with ‘Tango,’ ‘Angel,’ and ‘Over’.’ As the first pulsing beats kick in, David stands centre-stage, spotlight on him alone for several beats, before the band slams back in.
“I’m not good at opening up and making new friends so I was very scared that it was going to be very lonely during this solo album process and instead I found beautiful people that I wrote the record with and they’re friends to me so it’s a big win. He continues to be vulnerable and share a song called ‘Mars’ that he admits he wouldn’t have been able to write two years ago – it’s an open letter that talks about incredible love that he hopes everyone can experience at least once in their lives.
After the band leaves, the applause continues to beg David to return. The encore begins with a reprise of ‘The First Time’ before the grand finale which is a medley of ‘Naked’ and ‘Solitude.’ The two songs merge into one cathartic moment to close.
“It’s not only the song that closes the show but closes the whole project. I wanted it to be that way because it’s a song that has a very important reminder so that every time, I play it I remind myself that I have to fucking do this,” he says. He leaves us with a final revelation about the song that says something very special about what he learned by doing this album, “You don’t know who you are until you don’t know who you are.”
Words by Michael Prebeg
Photos by Amanda Lee Starkey
