Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Lignano Sabbiadoro / Piazza Marcello D'Olivo / Italy
Concert date: 01.09.2016
Attendance: 800
Ticket price: €0.00 (free entry!!!)
New Trols, or rather Note New Trolls, as the current incarnation of the legendary Italian symphonic prog rock outfit is called, in which old pals Nico Di Palo, Ricky Belloni, Gianni Belleno and Giorgio Usai have gotten back together, put on an outstanding show in the pleasant Italian resort town of Lignano, and it didn’t even cost a cent to get in. A good time was on the cards for all the music connoisseurs, as well as for plenty of curious folks who don’t know the rich history of the Italian prog scene. This version of New Trolls also features two newer members, the fantastic drummer Alex Polifroni and the virtuoso bassist/guitarist Andrea Cervetto. In the style of the legendary Genesis and King Crimson, New Trolls took the stage that night with a double-drummer setup, commanded by Belleno and his younger colleague Polifroni.
Prog fans probably scratched their heads a few times with some worry during the first part of the New Trolls set, because instead of symphonic prog, orchestral-leaning masterpieces, the start was dominated by sugar-coated soft rockers, goofy disco experiments, more or less interesting AOR hybrids and the ‘hit parade numbers’ they used to play at Sanremo. Like plenty of other prog veterans, New Trolls had their own ‘pop phase’ in the eighties, one that still stirs mixed feelings among their followers today. Most ‘prog lovers’ would happily forget that era, even though a few real pearls turned up in that ‘difficult’ period too, when they enjoyed hefty commercial backing on home turf. The ‘real’ symphonic prog New Trolls didn’t show up until the second part of the show, when they slowly worked their way back into their past and started playing songs from the seventies too.
Before the third song of the night, »Visioni« (originally from their second album, »New Trolls«, from 1970), the crowd really went wild for the first time, because the legendary, hugely charismatic singer, keyboardist and former guitarist Nico Di Palo joined the band on stage. Nico was once one of the best guitarists in Europe (even according to a Melody Maker poll), and Jimi Hendrix had a major influence on him early in his career. Since a serious traffic accident in 1998, half of Nico’s body is paralyzed and he can only play keyboards with one hand, but his voice is incredibly well preserved and he sings like he’s still a ‘kid’ in his early twenties. Despite the misgivings of those who feared the pop numbers would dominate the whole evening, they were all played superbly, and the vocal harmonies simply couldn’t be praised enough.
Every single member of the band is a quality singer, especially Nico, who could easily be dubbed the Italian Barry Gibb (Bee Gees), whom he reminds you of quite a bit when he goes into falsetto, while Belloni and Usai, whose look is honestly a dead ringer for Asterix, deserve special congratulations too. Both Usai and drummer Belleno ended up on lead vocals at least once during the night and handled their duty with confidence. It was also fun to watch Cervetto switch between bass and guitar during certain songs, with drummer Belleno stepping in on bass once, and then, in the second part of the show, Polifroni as well. The band kept us amazed the whole time with their versatility. They also played a few songs with English lyrics and reminded us that they’re one of the few Italian prog bands who use decent English when singing, even though that sort of thing has never been all that popular with the home crowd.
New Trolls also reminded us a few times just how much Queen shaped their creative style and their weaving of operatic vocal harmonies in the second half of the seventies, which you could hear during »Una Notte Sul Montecalvo« (an adaptation of the symphonic poem “Night on Bald Mountain” by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky), while with the hits »Quella carezza della serra« and »Aldebaran« from the album of the same name from 1978, they showed they could also create plenty of touching, un-sugary ballads. The New Trolls guys, especially Belloni and Palo, cracked jokes and poked fun at each other (mostly at their own expense) between songs the whole time, setting off waves of laughter among the mostly local crowd like they were doing it for a bet. Those of us with weaker Italian had a bit less fun with that part, but we still understood enough not to get bored. The highlight of the night was, of course, their ‘magnum opus’, that is »Concerto grosso« in three acts, including the drum solo in the middle. In the drum duel, the energetic Polifroni took down his older rival Belleno with his ‘left hand’. Belleno earned his spot in the current band mainly through his long years of service as an original member, but his drumming style no longer cuts it for the current New Trolls’ needs, so they badly needed the technically sharper and faster Polifroni.
In the not-so-obvious encore, since Nico looked already pretty tired and needed a bit more time to get back to the keyboards with some help and join his bandmates in the vocal harmonies, two more classics followed. New Trolls closed their show with yet another vocally very demanding song, »Le Rei Soleil« from the album »Concerto grosso no. 2« (1976), which wasn’t received as warmly on release as its more famous predecessor »Concerto grosso no. 1« (1971), but after the ‘test of time’ now enjoys a somewhat better standing among prog rock fans. New Trolls are rightly proudest of their »Concerto grosso« trilogy, in which the cult status belongs above all to its first ‘chapter’, which in 1971 was one of the most important and best albums of the Italian prog rock scene.
Taking a musical ‘stroll’ through the magnificent New Trolls legacy at their show in Lignano was a one-of-a-kind experience, and it surely made every fan of the Italian prog rock scene in the crowd happy. I have to admit that the first part of the show, when they ‘dove headfirst’ into their Sanremo-flavored pop era, left us with somewhat mixed feelings, as if we’d gone to see a completely different band instead of the heroes of the Italian symphonic prog scene, even though the technical execution was flawless the whole time, and the same goes for the sound. Well, things gradually turned around in the second part of the show, and the fans of the classic, symphonic prog New Trolls finally got our money’s worth too, though what we missed that night above all was Nico’s old friend and occasional rival Vittorio De Scalzi, who didn’t want to work with the current version of the band. New Trolls will celebrate fifty years of existence next year, and on that occasion we can wish Nico and the gang all the best and plenty more good music in the future, if not another fifty equally successful creative years.
Setlist
1. Suite disco
2. La signora senza anelli
3. Visioni
4. Faccia di cane
5. Che idea
6. America OK
7. Quella musica
8. Irish
9. Davanti agli occhi miei
10. Medley acustico
11. Dancing
12. Una notte sul montecalvo
13. Concerto grosso
14. Una mintera
15. Aldebaran
16. Quella carezza della serra
—encore—
17. Quelli come noi
18. Le roi soleil
Photo gallery
