Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Hala Tivoli / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 19.11.2009
Attendance: 8
Ticket price: 79,00€ (floor) / 69,00€ (stands)
Eros Ramazzotti: Italian superstar and pretty much the only one from over there that planet Earth has actually gotten to know beyond the borders of our western neighbor, Italy. Astronomical ticket prices were no excuse for the crowd to skip the Ljubljana show, which just goes to prove what a big, deeply rooted name Eros Ramazzotti is among Slovenes. Nice. ZZ Top already dutifully packed the main hall of Hala Tivoli on 16.10.2009, and so did Dream Theater on 31.10.2009. This time the stands were truly full to the brim, with a bit of room left on the floor (blame the agonizing over a seriously pricey stands ticket versus an even more seriously pricey floor ticket).
The Italian musician, who has sold over 36 million albums in his career, dropped a new studio effort this year, “Ali e Radici” (2009). For the show in the main hall of Hala Tivoli, thanks to the demanding production that comes with his appearance on the current world tour, he also rented the small hall of Hala Tivoli, where he set up the tech crew in charge of the entire video direction.
The man stepped onto the spacious stage of the main hall at twenty past eight. The stage was decked out with containers like the ones you see on the decks of transoceanic cargo ships, stacked in two sets of three, which slid apart and back together at will throughout the show. One more was parked out front. At the start, a little crew of workers theatrically “unboxed” the container, and inside we could see a “waking” Sleeping Beauty – Eros – tackling the opener Appunti e note. Of course, Eros had climbed into it via little steps built into the stage. After this song the container disappears from the stage, and the stage looks visibly bigger, flooded with much more intense lighting, revealing a ten-piece backing crew. Among them are musicians of the caliber of Reggie Hamilton (bass), Everette Harp (saxophones) and one of the best studio guitarists in the world, I’d even say the “great” Michael Landau.
Ramazzotti himself doesn’t have to burn much energy. His repertoire does all the work, hit after hit. Still, as with any business at the top level, it’s not as simple as it seems at first listen. A bigger caliber turns over more money, but it also needs that much more room. The ten-piece crew backed the singer flawlessly all night. He strapped on a guitar himself, too, and showed he can dish out a serious solo. Keeping watch beside him the whole time was the ever-so-attentive Michael Landau, known for his superb touch, which his tone in the solos proved as well. Yes. The sound picture was outstanding, crisp as if pulled straight out of a box, and the goosebumps down the spine weren’t spared either, confirming we’d definitely shown up at the right place tonight. Over the years some songs have had their arrangements corrected. Maybe “corrected” is too harsh. Let’s call it a maturing upgrade. Take Terra promessa, the winner of Sanremo 1984, which earned Ramazzotti first place in the “newcomer” category. Here it was driven by an almost funky groove and a pronounced rock touch from the guitars.
“Pint-Size Eros” knew how to fire up the Slovenes with a few small gestures from a big man. The first was congratulating us on our well-deserved spot at next year’s soccer World Cup in South Africa, after theatrically lifting a Slovenian fan scarf on stage and yelling: “Sloven-ja, Sloven-ja, Sloven-ja!!!” He also paid special attention to teaching the pronunciation of the letter “H” (repeatedly: “Ha-vala!”), which is a rarity for our western neighbors, who barely even try to speak Slovenian.
Ramazzotti is an excellent singer and stage performer who loves basking in the spotlight. The liveliness of the stage show was backed up by three sweet backing vocalists, who got shared lead vocals in I belong to you, which Ramazzotti originally performs with Anastacia. Eros thanked them sweetly: “My three little candies!” The sound definitely served up a lot more rock crunch than we’re used to from the studio albums. The rock edge was especially pronounced in the numbers with three electric guitars on stage. This time Eros ran into a fairly reserved audience. Luckily a handful of crazy Italian fans also made it to Tivoli, loudly singing along with the star verse by verse and somehow shaking up the desolate stillness of the crowd during the show. Funny thing: 7500 people were crammed into the hall, and yet they didn’t make much of a racket.
The concert, for which you had to dig deep into your pocket, ran on the principle of sheer rehearsed routine, disguised, of course, by the big money sunk into the stage production itself. So Ramazzotti gave the Slovenian crowd just an hour and 40 minutes of hanging out and then packed up and left. For that kind of money (or even less) you usually get at least two full hours (if not more) of repertoire, so I can only conclude he really pulled our leg.
photos: Robi Lipej
Setlist
1. Appunti e note 2. Dove c’è musica 3. Un attimo di pace 4. Quanto amore sei 5. Stella gemella 6. Terra promessa 7. Una storia importante 8. Adesso tu 9. Se bastasse una canzone 10. Bucaneve 11. Un’emozione per sempre 12. I belong to you 13. Musica è 14. Favola 15. L’ombra del gigante 16. L’aurora 17. L’orizzonte 18. Ali e Radici 19. Fuoco nel fuoco 20. Più bella cosa 21. Parla con me 22. Questo immenso show 23. Controvento 24. Non possiamo chiudere gli occhi
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