Article by Adriana Panico (Naples) | Photo by Claudia Mazza (Milan)
He arrives with the shy and fresh air of a boy who has just started to try his hand at bars in front of a gathered audience, all beer and disorder, who immediately becomes a club or small festival in Madrid. He is MECNA and the place is there House of Music in one Naples without traffic and without particular urban frenzy. It is the second stage of THERAPY TOUR 2026 which goes from Senigallia to London passing through a few clubs in Italy. About twenty minutes after the scheduled start of the show, the stage lights up under two super mega perpendicular screens which project immersive scenography throughout the show with psychedelic visuals, pop images and video fragments of life and faces, sporadically interrupted by some catchy phrase left to stand out against a black background.
Corrado Grilli, aka Mecna, mostly lets Napoli sing from the first song. It starts by drawing from DISCORD, HARMONY AND OTHER STATES OF MINDthe latest album released a few months ago with EMI Records Italy/Universal Music Italia. With a little autotune and the soft atmosphere of What I don't havehalfway between a ballad and a rap piece, inaugurates this time together which continues for about two hours. The setlist mixes new and old, retracing the ten albums of his career. Ten, exactly. Because Corrado, apparently a young novice, as mentioned at the beginning, is not a beginner. On the contrary. In addition to being known for his unmistakable style, he is also a long-standing art director as well as a point of reference for some artists such as Marracash, Fabri Fibra, Luché for the graphics of their record covers.
The audience, well balanced by gender, rather uniform by generation (Z), loves him and through a direct and constant dialogue with the artist somehow manages to stay on stage and rap with him. There is a continuous dialogue made of energy and participation. It seems like a therapy session on the big issues of everyday life in a small way, except that this is a collective session and no one makes any sign of wanting to abandon the dance floor-sized bed. The rap of Mecna it is a love game in all its forms and in fact in these autobiographical lyrics we talk about love, friendship, relationships with parents, uncertainties, common and transversal to everyone. Perhaps this is why the public never stops accompanying him with their body and voice. If they are few due to the laws of large numbers so dear to modern presumed or real sold outs, these fans are “few but good”, or rather very good.
In reality he stands alone on stage, with his stature (in every sense, given his height) and his sophisticated and experimental wingspan on rhymes that embrace his very personal way of making music. No guests. It is accompanied from time to time by a synth to give that electronic touch that is enough to project us into an underground club in Berlin, as in Only about youand on a couple of occasions by Pierfrancesco Pasini on the piano (it's actually with him on Passion that a technical problem occurs that makes the speakers and ears bleed so much that the show has to be interrupted).
Napoli sings his emotions with him even after the technical break which cools the atmosphere a bit before warming up again with Pizza Delivery, La Giostra and the famous cover by Raf Anni 80, The Most Beautifulwhich sets the mood on all-encompassing sides. His electronic beat characterizes a unique and eclectic style that blends rap, hip hop, indie and pop creating soft and collected atmospheres, embellished with a writing full of emotions that returns engaging and refined productions. We dance a lot with Weak Point (feat with Guè), I Looked at Another, You And Methe songs where he experiments most with dance and electronics, always in rhyme.
We don't talk so much about tangible things (many people already do) but about intangible aspects that have to do with the weight of the soul more than with the sound of cash. Mecna is one of those who wonders whether adolescence can last up to 40 years (due to age proximity), who deals with peers who have had few marriages, few children, many questions, some paranoia and many more perplexities. What do you care about me, Another Universe, All or Nothing (with Mara Sattei), are songs that make you sway but also reflect on those themes of a generation that always seems afraid of growing up. A generation skeletons and fears in the walk-in closets, sushi and tabs on cans to play withAlphabet, very delicate in its being rap and indie at the same time, which here punctuates its questions out loud and in chorus. A generation that prepares for the worst in the only way possible: Dream Big.
After the last thrust into the past with 31/08, 31/09 and 🙁 we move towards the exit between the nostalgic and the suspended like the time spent in the company of the rapper who came from Puglia to give rhythm, notes and rhymes to small fears, to big dreams.
Click here to see photos of MECNA in concert in Milan or browse the gallery below
MECNA – The lineup of the NAPLES concert
What I don't have
How much do you care
Alphabet
Weak Point
I looked at another
Only about you
Would you do with me
You and I
I don't feel like it / With you
All or Nothing
Out of town
Another universe
These crazy days
So strong
The same song
Therapy
B/W
Passion
Pizza delivered to your home
The carousel
The most beautiful
31/07
Without parachute
Infinite
A thousand voices
Neverland
They all kiss
Crazy about you
A drink or two
If love ends
Dream big
Portraits
31/08
31/09
🙁
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
