Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Casino Lipica / Lipica / Slovenia
Concert date: 12.12.2008
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: €0.00
Le Orme come from Venice and have swung through here, or at least close to Slovenia, quite a few times, so it was almost a sin that I still hadn’t seen these legends of Italian symphonic music. This time they stopped at the casino in Lipica. Casinos are clearly a regular thing for Le Orme, since they’ve played quite a few equally “unfortunate” venues like this.
Le Orme are of course still a pretty well-known name in Italy. Maybe not as big as Premiata Forneria Marconi or Banco del mutuo soccorso, but plenty of people still remember their “belle canzone”. So the casino in Lipica is actually a fitting spot for Le Orme, since it’s always full of Italian big shots burning through their cash.
A nice crowd had gathered at the venue, but at first it was hard to tell how many had come for the gig and how many were playing bingo. There were quite a few Slovenes too, since the loud Italian chatter was sprinkled with the odd Slovenian word.
The show kicked off with a mighty rendition of L’Infinito from their latest album. You could feel loads of classical motifs, and in the vocal parts Aldo’s indestructible voice shone once again. They went on with two songs from Uomo di Pezza, the ballad Gioco di bimba, where the crowd happily sang along, and the more experimental La porta chiusa. Then came nothing but classics, until Aldo surprised us by announcing their big eighties hit, Marinai, where the audience joined in again. Once they’d satisfied their craving for pop, they took us back to their golden era. At first I was thrilled to hear Fine di un viaggio from my favorite album, Florian (review HERE), but I didn’t enjoy this version as much, since Michelle Bon swapped the mandolin and violin parts for annoying-sounding keyboards. Then came Figure di Cartone, which in the seventies was Italy’s answer to what Lucky Man by Emerson, Lake & Palmer did with moog keyboards. And for the finale, they saved the best for last. They played us a twenty-minute excerpt from their ambitious concept work Felona e Sorona. After such an ending the guys said their goodbyes, but the delighted crowd called them back for one more treat.
Le Orme are still in top form. Aldo Tagliapietra isn’t the best guitarist or bassist, but his voice is still exceptional. It’s unbelievable what heights he can still hit. If Le Orme wanted to, they could probably be one of the most popular bands in Italy, since Aldo’s voice is phenomenal and would be perfect for all those Italian pop song festivals too. That makes their dedication to less commercial music count even more in their favor. It’s also a shame that Aldo didn’t bring along the sitar player he’s been using on their last few albums, and went with just a double-neck guitar (bass + twelve-string). Michi dei Rossi is still a tireless rocker who knew how to get the crowd more involved. He’s still a superb drummer, with a great feel for rhythm and its changes. The youngest member and the only keyboardist left (after Andrea Bassato’s departure), Michele Bon, was confident on the keys. He slipped up a couple of times, but nothing terribly noticeable.
The setting maybe wasn’t exactly right for this kind of music, but I think Le Orme squeezed everything they could out of the gig. Since they knew they’d be playing for a crowd that also knows their more commercial stuff, they had to work some of that in too. Standing out most in that respect was Marinai (which they also played at the San Remo festival in the eighties), where people helped Aldo sing the choruses. The same happened with a few other ballads, like Gioco di bimba. Le Orme definitely need to be seen again at a more suitable venue, where the band would have more freedom in picking songs. The overall impression after the show is good. Le Orme played a solid hour and a half and it was interesting the whole way through. You could tell there was a bit more emphasis on ballads, but their ballads are so beautiful and powerful that it honestly didn’t bother anyone.
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
1. L’Infinito 2. Gioco di bimba 3. La porta chiusa 4. Frutto acerbo 5. Amico di ieri 6. Marinai 7. Fine di un Viaggio 8. Figure di cartone 9. Felona e Sorona (Sospesi nell Incredibile, Felona, Sorona, Attesa Inerte, Al Infuori del Tempo, Ritorno al Nulla) 10. Collage
Photo gallery
