“A great sadness.” This is how Ligabue commented on the debacle of Hellwatt/Pulse of Gaia, the festival at the RCF Arena which was cancelled. It's a place he knows very well, given that among the most convinced promoters of the birth of the open air arena in Reggio Emilia is Claudio Maioli, who until just over two years ago was Ligabue's manager. Not only that: the RCF Arena is in some way the continuation and expansion of Campovolo.
«That project is Maioli's dream and effort, and everything was at stake there. To give Reggio a legacy, an arena that could potentially be the place of music for the interior of Northern Italy, he fought for seven years. I'm rooting for him, you know how much we love each other. I always wanted to stay out of it because I believed that my name combined with this thing wasn't good, but also to avoid having any worries or extra thoughts. But like every citizen of Reggio I'm there saying: how the fuck is this possible? A lot of people ask me that too as if I would know. I don't know how it's possible, but I'm moved by enormous sadness.”
Ligabue said this at the press conference that preceded his concert at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, the celebration for the thirtieth anniversary of Some nights which will take place on 17 June at the Allianz Stadium in Turin and on 20 June at San Siro, in Milan. He is accompanied by the band formed by Fede Poggipollini (guitar), Max Cottafavi (guitar), Mel Previte and Niccolò Bossini (guitar), Luciano Luisi (keyboards), Davide Pezzin (bass), Lenny Ligabue (drums).
When asked to comment on the words said by Francesco De Gregori on the political proclamations made by the artists, Ligabue said that «an important premise must be made: Francesco is the heritage of the music and culture of this country. And I believe he is one of the most free-thinking of all singer-songwriters. He never shows up where anyone thinks they will find him and that's a feature I really like. Having said that, it is clear that he spoke for himself and I don't share that thought too much. There is one thing that perhaps I think he wanted to demonstrate with a bit of annoyance and that is: it's not that we are forced. Too many times it is said that music must. No, the music can. One decides whether he wants to do it or not. This is a thought that must be granted to everyone.”
“I have always tried to do it through songs,” he added regarding political commitment. «I've been doing almost every concert for 27 years My name is never again and at almost every concert I am reminded that there is not only a massacre in Gaza, there is also one in Ukraine, there is also one in Sudan, there are 56 others going on around the world. But it was like that at the time too, My name is never again it had inside the map of all the ongoing wars and not just those in the former Yugoslavia. The best way we have, also because we control our words better, is to do it by thinking about it carefully, when we feel the urgency to say something.” As, he adds, in the case of the unreleased song Nobody belongs to anyone which is in the concert lineup: «The thought that one in three women in this country has suffered or is suffering physical or sexual violence is an intolerable thought, but everyday news makes it become something that is slipping away a little. I wanted to try to convey a feeling of empathy by saying that no one actually belongs to anyone.”
On a hypothetical new album he said that «I have tons of songs. It's the least of the problems to have songs, then publish them from there because as you know the world has changed… Sooner or later something will come out” starting, it seems to understand, precisely from Nobody belongs to anyone. “There is some material that is there, a good part of which has been created.” On a new participation in Sanremo as a guest: «It's difficult to make music there because there's too much tension, it always seems like a question of life or death. If I were to decide to do it, first of all I would have to be invited and then understand if the conditions are there. At this moment I would say no, but I don't know for sure. Never say never.” On a hypothetical fourth film: «I don't need it, I'm not a director by trade. If I come up with a story that I feel I can tell… but it's not something that can be planned.”
From September Ligabue will return to the stage to close the celebrations of Some nights with concerts in the arenas, preceded by the zero date in Jesolo on 12 September and the performance at the Verona Arena on 22 September. There will be 15 concerts in 15 cities, the last one on October 24th in the Unipol Dome that he inaugurated in May. There will be no additional dates. For 2027 there may be projects not yet announced for abroad. “We'll do things.”
