Six summer evenings to retrace an enviable career, that of sugar “sugar” Fornaciari, over sixty million records sold, stars of world size, known and appreciated well beyond our national borders, almost seventy years “played” and a crazy desire not to give up the grip. Six concerts organized in large spaces open: four stadiums (Ancona, Bari, Turin, Padua) plus – for two consecutive days – for the first time the Circus Maximus of Rome.
On the occasion of an event of this reach, it is impossible for sugar to conceal the emotion, especially when, during the second half of the set, it goes to sit at the end of the catwalk that insinuates itself in the middle of the crowded parterre. It is at that moment that Adelmo, so they invoke him from the audience, with his name of baptism, finally becomes a talkative, thanking the audience of the capital for the heat and affection that he has always known. While pitting excerpts of songs sought by surprise by his discography (this evening it is up to “A little help”, “eyes” and “like the sun suddenly”), with the band that continues to accompany him behind him, the Emilian singer -songwriter takes advantage of it to say his, without too many hair on the language, also on the international political situation, taking a clear position against the wars that are being consumed in these days. “I only want to say one thing: those who kill children is a great cock head”, these are his words and, later, the word “Free Palestine” will appear in cubital characters on the three gabilizers who frame the stage.
An absolutely vibrant concert, a sequence of super-energy songs, composed by rummaging the discography of the Emilian musician far and wide, with absolute peaks reached on the occasion of “The impetuous sea at sunset climbed to the moon and behind a curtain of stars”, “With his hands”, “only a healthy and conscious libido …”, “Baila”, “Overdose”), ” In me “. This handful of titles is enough to understand the energy resulting from a stellar band, which Fornaciari thanks several times, underlining how some components are with him since the beginning of his arrhythic path. OMA Jali is the presence that most is noted: the Cameroonian singer is not only a wonderful chorister, but takes the center of the scene with authority at the beginning of the concert, on the notes of “Oh, Doctor Jesus”, cover of Ella Fitgerald and Louis Armstrong, and even more when sugar decides to opt for about ten minutes of coffee break leaving his own. backing bandwith the one who becomes credible frontwoman For the deadly brace at all rock'n'roll “Jumpin 'Jack Flash”/”Nutbush City Limits”, by the repertoires of Rolling Stones and Tina Turner respectively, double followed by the instrumental “Honky Tonk Train Blues”, evergreen led to success by Keith Emerson, with the aforementionist Peter-John Vettese on the Sudes, from Glasgow. To complete the band the other keyboardist Nicola Peruch, the two guitars of Mario Schilò and Kat Dyson (in the past collaborator of Prince at the time of the New Power Generation), the bass of Polo Jones, the two batteries of Adriano Molinari and Monica Mz Carter, from Atlanta, the winds of James Thompson, Lazaro Amauri Oviedo Dilout and Carlos Minoso, the latter from La Habana.
We said more energetic songs, but the emotional load mounts dramatically when sugar fishing among its most rarefied timeless compositions, such as “Iruben me”, “dunes move”, “diamond”, “so light blue”. Real chills. If you then put in the middle other goodies of the caliber of “Soul Mama”, “Blue”, “I see black” or “penis”, here is an important portion of the history of Italian music, packaged by those who better than any other has been able to make the blues and the soul in Italian, always playing absolutely international.
More and more similar to Joe Cocker, both in the way of setting on stage, and in the grit shown, today that his new record publications become less and less frequent, Zucchero collects the affection of the fans. And to make the event of the Circus Maximus even more unique, the “gladiator”, Russell Crowe, arrives on stage, who plays a sort of “home return” to perform in pairs with “Just Breathe” bakers of Pearl Jam. Other guests of the evening, twenty elements of the Sherrita Duran Gospel Choir, co -protagonists in four songs towards the ending, and – indirectly – Luciano Pavarotti, whose recorded voice is used to stage another duet, obviously on the notes of “Miserere”.
A couple of minutes of break and, when approximately midnight, the encore arrives with “chocabeck” and “Hey Man”. In all there will be three round hours in concert, thirty -five songs, a capable show, while presenting themselves quietly than other much more claimed events of these months, much more surrounded by thehypeto impose himself among the greatest appointments of this Roman summer that has just begun. Part of a world tour that, after the six appointments in Italy (the next are scheduled for June 26 in Turin and for June 28 in Padua), will bring the sugar show in Europe during the month of July, with shows scheduled in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Malta. In September eight stages at the Arena in Verona, which will make it the recordman In the amphitheater: over six hundred thousand tickets sold for the 54 concerts held so far in his career in the prestigious Venetian setting, he was the first artist to perform for 22 evenings at the Arena in just one year (from September 2016 to September 2017), where he also holds the primacy of artist with the largest number of consecutive concerts, 14, held between April and May 2022. With six evenings scheduled over Ocean, in the United States, distributed between California, Arizona and Nevada.
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
