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Rating: Today, July 13th, which also happens to be my birthday, I went with a group of friends to the splendid Villa Campolieto in Ercolano to attend another quite special evening... It was once again a concert for the festival "Cantautori in villa" comprising two sets: in the first set, Pacifico performed, while in the second, a singer-songwriter, in my opinion somewhat underrated, named Mimmo Locasciulli took the stage.
I eagerly awaited Locasciulli's concert because, to be honest, I wasn't very fond of Pacifico. I say "wasn't" because I didn't expect to witness such an intriguing set from him today, which definitely changed my opinion. Let's start with the fact that we're talking about easy-listening, so the music is catchy, well-played, melodic, where the only flaw, at least from my point of view, is Pacifico's voice, which is thin, fragile, and lacks power, but perhaps for this very reason, it serves as his weapon. As suggested by his name, Pacifico delivers calm, relaxed concerts that soothe and cradle you. As a lyricist, he knows his craft; the songs reach far, they're not foolish and, above all, they are not as lightweight as a first, somewhat superficial, listen might lead one to believe.
The lyrics are well-crafted, detailed, studied, and notably showcase Gino De Crescenzo's (Pacifico's real name) ability to churn out intimate and collected little poems.
Moreover, the show is truly well-executed, it's gentle, engaging but most importantly, amusing. This is important... I didn't expect a Pacifico concert to make me laugh so much. In fact, he was clever in creating a character by taking inspiration from one of his "flaws", that is, his timidity. And he plays on it, like a professional comedian, he makes fun of himself, and above all, he jests with almost disarming irony. Between songs, for example, he grabs a ping pong paddle and throws balls towards the audience to "test" if they're still awake. What can I say? Brilliant! This excellent performance concluded with a wonderful interpretation of a song he lent to Samuele Bersani, "Le mie parole".
After about ten minutes, Mimmo Locasciulli took the stage with his band. He started alone on the piano, expressing his, in my opinion, rightful views on today's music market, the commercialization of music, and the presence of too many songwriters in the market who are so named simply for having written a song...
Then he kicked off with a couple of songs solo on the piano before continuing with his musicians. Classics like "Sognadoro" were excluded from the concert to give space to the new songs from his latest album "Sglobal", which boasts notable presences like Marc Ribot and, slightly less significant but equally good, like Frankie Hi-Nrg Mc. From the latest work, songs like "Correre, Baby" were sampled, which unfortunately suffers from the absence of a genius like Marc Ribot on guitar, "Sglobal", performed very well, showcasing an evergreen Locasciulli dabbling in rap which, on the album, is the domain of Frankie Hi-Nrg Mc, and the beautiful and moving "Anna Di Francia", one of the evening's best pieces, played with piano and cello.
In short, Mimmo Locasciulli offered a dignified, honest, restrained show but certainly not an excellent one. Unfortunately, within the Italian scene, he has been overshadowed, partly by his own choice, partly due to market reasons, by other great songwriters like Guccini, De Gregori (his great friend), Fossati, but nevertheless, he maintains his form and still manages to produce works like "Sglobal" that are valid and vigorous. Live, he wasn't always able to hold the stage, and the setlist, as previously mentioned, sacrificed many nice things from his repertoire. But, ultimately, I spent a lovely evening, with good music well played, not too pretentious but also not too lightweight (thankfully).
With the hope that this beautiful "Cantautori in villa" festival curated by De Angelis can be renewed each year, presenting a varied and prestigious program.
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