Article by Philip Grasselli | Photo by Claudia Mazza
2024 is coming to an end and it is a special year for Gianna Nannini: a great seventieth anniversary accompanied by the release of his new album, “You are in my soul”last March 22nd, and the European tour which started with date zero in Jesolo on November 22nd and which finds its “home” right atUnipol Forum Of Assago.
A special waiting atmosphere
Bring Genoa, Romolo, Famagusta and so on up to the Forum: everything starts a bit from skimming naturally on the subway towards Assago, with groups of adults, who certainly also experienced the beginnings of his career, from “California” or “Puzzle”passing through “X forza ex amore” And “Spite”and they begin to sing some songs that recall fresh memories of their youth.
Arriving at the Unipol Forum, the first impact was the numbered audience, a choice that didn't drive me crazy from the point of view of a thirty-two year old – also considering the lively music of the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, although understandable: unfortunately we have to do deal with the reality of things, age is what it is!
The stage is simple, a single level where everyone is on the same level, from the drums to the choirs: lots of democracy. Behind the LED wall that hosts the visuals and numerous chains hang from the ceiling. In short, a classic rock star set, without too much opulence.
The first part on tiptoe
A blow in the middle of the chest
A tightening rope
A voice from the silence
A hand that takes me
Return to the seven heavens to steal wonders
Drink clear spring water
Breathe again
Gianna Nannini – Eighth Life (1995)
Five minutes pass from 9pm and a recorded video is projected on the LED wall with Gianna Nannini reciting some verses of “Eighth life”seventh track of “Spite”: a strong text, which starts from all the evil present in society (still current…) and veers, nevertheless, towards a great desire for revenge and rebirth.
At the end of the screening the whole band comes on board, with world-class musicians, such as Simon Phillips on the battery, Milton McDonald And Davide Tagliapietra to the guitars, Francis Hylton on the bass, Christian Riganò to keyboards and Isabella Casucci And Sofia Gaudenzio to the choirs.
The first song is necessarily dedicated to his new release, entitled “1983”: it is the year of the first European tour, which consecrates her in the Italian, but also and above all German, rock scene, following the album “Latin lover”; in fact, the next song is “Primadonna”the first track of this 1982 album.
The audience struggled a bit to get into the mood, unfortunately, especially I noticed the rather still audience, despite the fans in the very first row standing, with placards, indomitable in jumping from the beginning to the end of the live show. The first glimmers of movement start with another piece from 1993, at the time featuring the Jovanotti, “Radio din” and, above all, “Perfume”. Even from a sound point of view there is a bit of vocal fatigue, especially in the difficult high notes which, in her fifty-year career, Gianna has often given us in more than twenty albums.
The second part: the ice finally melts
The first real watershed compared to the previous section is the cover of “Me and Bobby McGee” Of Janis Joplinwhich starts a cappella and ends all together, with the charisma of the Sienese singer-songwriter that invades all sectors: the audience finally breaks the hesitation by clapping their hands on two and four, some standing, some sitting, some with the flash turned on the phones. The climax builds, from “I want you” of the latest album to the various jumps like crickets between the various records of the past.
This love is a gas chamber
It's a burning building in the city
This love is a thin blade
It's a slow motion scene
Gianna Nannini – Fotoromanza (1984)
With “Photoromance” the Forum becomes bedlam, the refrain becomes the chorus of the ultras, a generational anthem, a great moment of nostalgia and hugs. A scenario that, not having lived through those years, struck me deeply: the intergenerational unity, between fans even in their eighties and the kids hanging out in the stands.
The next two pieces “I” And “You are in the soul”great successes of the first decade of the 2000s, finally evoke memories in my head too, the latest Festivalbar, the videos on MTV and the heavy rotation on Italian radio: a demonstration of how capable Gianna Nannini has always been, from the beginning of her career, at leave an imprint for each decade, appealing to very diverse fans. The common denominator is having anticipated hot and controversial topics today even more than forty years ago, as in the legendary “America” and the famous album “California” with the torch of New York's Statue of Liberty replaced by a vibrator.
But how much imagination does it take to feel like two
When everyone has always been in their solitude
Gianna Nannini – America (1979)
Magical nights…
The encore could only be a true anthem, “An Italian Summer (Magical Nights)”sung with Edoardo Bennato on the occasion of the 1990 World Cup in Italy and then brought to light during the 2021 European Championships, where we emerged victorious against England. It's just a shame that a good portion of the public left early, convinced that the combo “Wonderful creature”, “Beautiful and impossible” And “America” it was the pinnacle…
Click here to see the photos of Gianna Nannini at the Unipol Forum in Assago (MI) (or scroll through the gallery below).
GIANNA NANNINI – The lineup of the concert at the Unipol Forum in Assago (MI)
1983
Primadonna
Silence
Barbed wire
Radio loud
Scandal
Europe boy
Slow away
Phenomenal
Perfume
An inhuman day
I love you so much
The difference
Me and Bobby McGee
I want you
The males
Photoromance
I
You are in the soul
Wonderful creature
Hey blonde
Beautiful and impossible
Latin Lover
America
Encore
An Italian summer (Magic nights)
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
