The Dream Syndicate open their European tour in Turin, Italy

21st January 2026 h. 10pm

Hiroshima Mon Amour, Turin, Italy Steve Wynn: Lead Vocals, Guitar

Jason Victor: Guitar, Vocals

Mark Walton: Bass, Vocals

Dennis Duck: Drums, Percussion

Chris Cacavas: Keyboards

What a wonderful evening at Hiroshima Mon Amour, an authentic rock venue nestled in the mists of Turin’s suburbs. Warming up the winter, on stage was the masterful, classically refined rock of The Dream Syndicate.

Just how good these musicians are is confirmed from the very first notes, as soon as I step into the large hall packed with passionate and attentive long-time fans. The Los Angeles band deliver a solid and compelling performance.

The Dream Syndicate return to the road with an operation that is immediately clear is not nostalgic: the show is divided into two sets, the first featuring some new songs and the second presenting the album Medicine Show (1984) in its entirety, taking shape on stage as living, pulsating matter.

Having concluded their North American tour in the final months of 2025, the European concerts at the start of 2026 include four dates in Italy, with Turin as the first gig, followed by many European countries (Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Greece, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Norway). And, given the success the band is currently enjoying, further dates may be added in the spring.

The band do not dwell on the past, (apart from a few joking remarks from Steve Wynn): they put it back into play and back on stage. All the musicians, of remarkable talent, are expressive and dynamic. The line-up is solid and extremely close-knit.

In a mélange of psychedelic rock, garage atmospheres, post-punk energy, the narrative tension of dual guitars and a dazzling live chemistry among the musicians, the “boys” turn out one American ballad after another, with echoes of R.E.M., Tom Petty and much more.

The cult status enjoyed by The Dream Syndicate is thoroughly deserved: they are a milestone in rock history. The genre was dubbed “Paisley Underground” in 1982, where paisley refers to what we in Italy call a “cashmere pattern”, a decoration of ancient Persian origin printed on fabric, (a kind of undulating teardrop repeated geometrically) that was hugely fashionable everywhere in the early 1980s, and popularised in the West through the textile mills of Paisley, a town on the western outskirts of Glasgow with a rich textile heritage.

Steve Wynn, at the helm of the band, is smiling and conversational with his audience. He shows that he is not producing a calligraphic imitation of the past and that he intelligently avoids any celebratory patina. The songs are played with the gravity of forty years on the road. Chris Cacavas is well known for having been the keyboardist of Green On Red, a notable Arizona band that influenced the West Coast punk scene of the time.

“Guitars, guitars: no matter what else we say, no matter what I have ever experimented with in my life – and I do like experimenting – I always come back to the guitar,” says Steve Wynn.

The triumph lies in the guitars. The long, hypnotic excursions, the band’s trademark, never lose tension, maintaining a perfect and perfectly ritual balance.

Once again, Hiroshima Mon Amour, the rock venue in Turin, Northern Italy, proves to be a place where music truly matters: carefully crafted sound, an engaged audience, a recognisable identity. Its role as a reference point in the scene emerges from the consistent quality of its programming and from the way it manages to create a dialogue between bands, the city and the audience. Evenings like this explain why, for years now, it has remained a space that continues to make a difference.

the band members today

Steve Wynn, lead vocals and guitar Chris Cacavalas, keyboards