"Pieces of emotion that do not stop"

Much remains in mind after the concert of Francesco De Gregori on Saturday night, preceded by Naples’ favorite Pino Daniele (Piazza Plebiscito rightfully belongs to him) and followed by Ivano Fossati. The prince concludes his Calypsos Tour in Naples with a nighttime concert, just over an hour of great music, in a magical setting: the Neapolitan audience (as already mentioned on another occasion) is sympathetic, in the Greek sense of the word, captivating and in turn captivated, amplifying the emotion of a song better than any other audience.

The prince, discreet as always, enters the stage as if he were just any technician, greets, chooses a guitar, and approaches band leader Guglielminetti to communicate the song chosen as the opener: "La Ballata dell'uomo ragno". You immediately feel the rock, fresh, dry, every note clear, every arrangement masterful, an unforgettable sound. Beautiful is "L'angelo", a hypnotic, repetitive text, but even more beautiful, perhaps the best of the evening, is "Numeri da Scaricare", already a classic, played slower than the record, with the pauses between one verse and another stretching to make room for the electric guitar to perform in a syncopated and sharp riff, "an advancing hell" to the beat of a march. "Sotto le stelle del messico a trapanar" is another crescendo of rhythm and music; the prince becomes increasingly involved, interacting with the audience with gestures and broad smiles, inviting the audience to let go, clap their hands, and move. And then "Vai in Africa, Celestino", which live gains tremendously in terms of expressiveness of the verses, and it's a thrill when, after the musical interlude following the first four verses, De Gregori approaches the microphone, the music volume slightly lowers, the percussion intensifies, and he sings "Pieces of emotion that do not stop Pieces of Music under the bombs...". "Mayday" and then "Rimmel" that draws applause especially from the fans of the first De Gregori, in an arrangement light-years away from that of the homonymous record.

We return to pure rock with "L'agnello di Dio", to then conclude with the classics: "la leva calcistica del '68", "Titanic, "Generale", "Il bandito e il campione", "la donna cannone. It is pointless to spend words, which would sound trivial and useless, suffice it to know that at the initial notes of "la donna cannone", only voice and piano, the entire square stops, contracts, people lean out of their windows in silence, only to burst into the loudest applause when the prince explains that "a paying audience’s applause will underline it." "and from dawn to dusk they are alone in the sun, goodnight, this night is for you..... goodnight, goodnight and don’t stay out too late tonight" and the prince departs.

What else is there to say... Je ne regrette rien it’s not your fault if you’re not Neapolitan (suggests a famous Neapolitan blog that I invite you to visit).

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