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Rating: Wednesday evening, a Banale emptier than ever: we are only 100 food lovers, for the concert that falls within the itinerant acoustic music festival "Acusticamente," which has already hosted Benvegnù in the past.
The support group (F.S.C.) is nothing special: conventional pop rock, very similar to Verdena under valium and in an acoustic version.
It's after that the good part arrives: Paolo Benvegnù, mind and half soul of Scisma, a lamented rock group initially produced by (guess who?) Manuel Agnelli (big surprise) who came to prominence way back in 1997 with Rosemary Plexiglas, delights us with the preview of some unreleased tracks that will be part of his solo work, which should see the light in February 2004.
Supported by four talented musicians, the frontman offers us a unique show: no rock star poses (it would be really unusual for him), intimate music and lyrics worthy of his well-deserved fame.
Listening to the first track, you immediately realize that it was indeed Paolo who was the soul of Scisma: the substance of the compositions recalls that of the disbanded group's songs. There's the same lyricism, the texts have the same poeticism, the same irony, the same sad resignation to live in an empty and meaningless world: the only thing that makes sense is love. Sometimes Benvegnù conveys this to us, other times he finds the courage to tear the veil and admit that even love is a vain projection of the human soul, which always needs to find (or find itself) justifications to move forward: these are the saddest pieces, in which there is no despair but only resignation, which already paves the way for the search for comfort in a new illusion...
Interspersed with occasional comic sketches that "are a bit of a mess" (by Benvegnù's own admission), the performance exceeds expectations. The crew of Paolo's airplane takes us up, beyond the clouds, to admire the surreal spectacle of the sun shining on the wool-like blanket. Suddenly the captain signals that we are losing altitude: not without irony: too many new tracks. How to remedy this? With a wonderful acoustic version of "Rosemary Plexiglas," even more intense because Sara Mazo's vocal counterpoint is missing: Paolo goes off-key at the beginning, probably due to emotion... "Domandomi, plasmandomi, io sopravviverò:" chills and goosebumps.
Having regained altitude, it's time to continue with the unreleased tracks: it's time for the single "Suggestionabili," a tight piece with a cynical and resigned text, with the painful awareness of our "eternal fragility" that sneaks into the piece. Also memorable is "È solo un sogno," almost a Lennon song for its great sweetness and arrangement structure. Also noteworthy is the performance of "Troppo poco intelligente," from the Scisma period, a semi-demential text with a breath-taking insistent drum.
In short, it's clear, Benvegnù in an acoustic key presented an emotionally very engaging show, despite his attempt at understatement (stories of airplanes, Martians, Venusians, false names of the band's members, humor of various kinds...).
The tracks from his upcoming work are qualitatively in tune with his previous production, although differing from it with sporadic bursts of cynical detachment and disillusionment, which were previously lacking but do not overpower our artist's lightness and extreme poeticism.
The schism marked him, but he emerged from it in the best possible way: not at all emptied and with much still to say.
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