Bugo & Tricarico
Live @ Livorno 18.07.2008

THE REVIEW

Bugo and Tricarico, Tricarico and Bugo.
A crazy idea to... compare two of the most original Italian singers of this moment, whom I really hope will last longer than a moment. I've been wanting to "meet" them in a remote dialogue for a long time, from the stage of the Love Festival in Livorno where I saw them. I don’t know if this is an orthodox procedure for Debaser, but I want to try. So, Bugo from Trecate is instinctively likeable, I didn’t know him well, but now I can say that in front of the stage and a little behind, given where I was standing (beside the Psycho Stage where I could take a peek), he has that gaze that completely aims elsewhere! With sunglasses on, he reminds me too much of a Factory character from Andy Warhol. Wayfarer model, angular face, exaggerated thinness, flashy colors, he seems straight out of that world. When he sings, however, he seems like that painting by Liechtenstein. Pop Art in motion. About him, now that I've researched better, I find the titles fascinating, like "Sentimento Westernato", "Golia & Melchiorre", and then suddenly "Sguardo contemporaneo", which sounds so important compared to the others. It's the kind of music that, I have to admit, the Anglo-Saxons have more in their blood, because hip-hop, electronic obsessive rhythms they do as if it were theirs, and I think Bugo himself is a bit inspired by that trend. I bet as a boy he listened to a lot of rap and new wave. But he's different. This year he released "Contatti" where he describes reality in an immediate, even raw way.
Okay, he already did that in "Love boat", but also "C'è Crisi" is very direct and seems to have been produced in a flash.
He often talks about love but never in a predictable way.
I wanted to talk about Bugo because he introduces Tricarico well, or vice versa, who knows. Francesco performed on the Main Stage at Picchi, after him there were the Elii. One of the things that impressed me the most was the light he emitted: hazel face, very tanned, bright blue eyes that hurt the gaze and the burgundy Fred Perry shirt. It's not the first time he wears those, you can see he likes them a lot. Altogether he looked like a ruby. In fact, I think he is truly a precious stone. Perhaps still unrefined. I discovered "The Solitude of Prime Numbers", an amazing book, I think this boy is intrinsically a prime number. Nothing resembles him. "Vita tranquilla" is so suspended and tight from beginning to end that I'm afraid it will break when I listen to it, while "Fili di tutti i colori" is rock, constructed like a nursery rhyme. "Eternità" remains unresolved and enigmatic until the end, but you understand that there will be a turning point. These are my obsessions.
All in all, following a path of additions, subtractions, and multiplications, I feel like saying that Bugo narrates the existence of us all as if he had a camera, using flashes and glimpses of curiosity about the crazy world around us. While Francesco digs into an experience, even his own, he delves into very personal stories, asking questions as if playing the little philosopher, unconsciously, and exposes himself in the lyrics more than if he gave a hundred interviews. The first reminds me of "Ovosodo", the second "Au Revoir Les Enfants" or "Dead Poets Society". One is the A side and the other the B side. But no, they are unique. Delirium, I rave, delirium.
Well, these are my considerations.
Take it for what it is, a divertissement. As those who know would say.