Article by Stefania Clerici | Photo by Marco Arici
If Max Pezzali were a car it would be the DeLoarean Back to the Future. Don't be offended by his passion for Harley-Davidson, which he rode from Pavia last June 30th, making his way through the streets of Milan from the Autostrada del Sole, passing through Porta Romana, to then reach the Navigli and, travelling along the entire circle of the Bastions, arrive at the fiefdom of Your San Sirofor a 3-day event all about music where he catapulted us into a time travel without equal.
After last year's tour of the arenas and the two days at the Meazza in the summer of '23, this can almost be considered a dress rehearsal for this summer tour in Italian stadiums, Max Pezzali finally lands in his adopted city, following the victorious stages of Trieste, Turin, Bologna and Rome.
For the last evening of the 2nd of July the record has been reached more than 57 thousand visitors which added to the numbers of June 30 and July 1, sees a total of more than 165 thousand participants to the 3 days of live, a success that – wanting to make comparisons – just Vascowithout any new albums under his belt, manages to hold up. Always going for parallels, the common factor of the two Italian artists that I had the fortune and pleasure of experiencing at San Siro in the last few weeks is knowing how talk about cross-cutting themes and evergreens to more generations, breaking down every difference over the years, knowing how to reinvent themselves but listening to their audience, always maintaining themselves faithful to themselvesi. Trivial elements perhaps to list, but difficult to find in the Italian and international music scene, because it is easy to get carried away “by the fashions of the time” to survive fame (and hunger), but the boy in his early twenties who sang With a decade in the province of Pavia in the 90s the same 56 year old man has remained as today, who sings the past of Abandoned nightclubswith nostalgia and awareness and not for trends or catchy and smart sounds.
The common thread of the Max Forever show is told through the visuals which open the various sections of the live through Pezzali's “memory boxes” (which is also our memory), kept in his provincial garage: here at each unboxing (which is not what we are used to seeing today on social media of young influencers doing marketing) other worlds are relived, of the past and of the collective imagination: the first experiences in the disco with The Queen of Celebritythe first cooked with Beautiful indeed, the first (and constant) two of spades with The Friend Rulethe first true and lasting friendships with I will be there and the first disappointments in love with How it should go. We were saying, precisely, universal and timeless themes, accessible to everyone.
The transversality of Pezzali's music is witnessed by the public presents at his concerts: men, women, children, boys, girls, grandfathers, grandmothers. In short, everyone singing in the collective ritual more than 3 decades of songs that have made the history of many eras: we always get lost on the road, with or without a navigator, as in Route to God's house and you find yourself “idiots at doing stupid things”, you often come across a new acquaintance at the Are you putting on airs or are you a loser, you fall asleep badly like de The big nightmareonly to wake up in a reality perhaps worse than the one she had imagined while sleeping.
The real dream Max Pezzali's dream is also ours: to live carefree, both this concert and our life, made of ups and downs, well told in the album North South West East: the string of You are a legend, In the night (beautiful in the remix version) and Weekend makes us sing and reflect at the same time, preparing us for the romantic, tear-jerking (and memory-filled) umboxing with A Love Song, Why, No Regrets, Here You Are, I'm Here Too and The Harsh Law of Goals.
The last of the boxes opened by Max surprisingly contains a spider that catapults us into “The Night of the Wolves in the Bronx” and to the tune of They killed Spider-Man and then the generational anthem of Years, we receive an acoustic gift of a A thousand thankssung less at the top of his lungs but very much with his heart, in duet with his guitarist and producer David Ferrario. While the grand finale, with a Pezzali excited and very present on stage with grit and vocals, sees “keeping time” on the notes of the much-loved North South West East, Keep Time (exactly) and With a decade.
To say that I relived the 90s in one evening would be obvious but that's what happened: however, considering participation, vibes and the collective experience lived, I would say that these years are certainly not over indeed, they are still being experienced, through the memory of artists like Pezzali and generations like us Millennials who never miss the opportunity to tell them to their children and grandchildren who have not experienced them or to relive them with their parents to realize together thatand we are today as much in our past as in our futureor in a cyclical time that always returns and will always return (“and on foot he will not leave us, in this city”).
Discover the photos of Max Pezzali's concert at San Siro on July 2nd or browse the gallery below
Discover the lineup of Max Pezzali's concert – July 2 – San Siro (Milan)
Journey to the Center of the World
Really beautiful
The Queen of Celebrity
The Friend Rule
I will be there
How it should go
Route to the house of God
Don't give me the cold shoulder / you're acting like a loser / blue joker / the 1000 watt radio
You are fantastic
The big nightmare
Abandoned nightclubs
You're a myth
In the night (rmx)
Weekend (rmx)
The long, hot summer
A love song
How come
No regrets
Here you are
I'm here too
The harsh law of the goal
They killed Spider-Man
Years
Thank you very much (acoustic version)
North South West East
Keep time
With a decade
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM