Location: Koper / Carpacciov trg / Slovenia
Date: Saturday, July 20, 2019
It doesn’t exactly happen often that the one Italian progressive rock band that won worldwide fame in the seventies, and that in its best years went toe to toe in musical quality with its better-known and more established British prog rock peers, shows up on our side of the border. We’re talking, of course, about the legendary Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM for short), who, to the delight of every Slovenian fan of symphonic progressive rock, played a free show in the middle of Carpacciov trg in Koper. Since the gig cost nothing, the square quickly filled up with prog rock fans, as well as people who came out of sheer curiosity to find out what the hell this ‘award-winning Marconi bakery’ (our translation of their name) actually plays.
PFM, who will celebrate fifty years of existence next year, played a two-hour-plus set that was a kind of best-of from their colorful history. As tradition demands, they added a few covers from the songbook of their old, sadly long-departed buddy, the beloved Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André, plus a handful of tracks from the current studio album »Emotional Tattoos« (2018).
Besides the last remaining founding member, charismatic drummer/vocalist Franz Di Cioccio, and longtime French-Italian bassist Patrick Djivas, the current lineup of PFM features guitar virtuoso Marco Sfogli, who replaced founding guitarist Franco Mussida. Until now, the exceptional Sfogli was best known to prog metal fans as a collaborator of singer James LaBrie and keyboardist Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater. The band is rounded out by violinist Lucio Fabbri, additional drummer Roberto Gualdi, keyboardist Alessandro Scaglione, and additional keyboardist/acoustic guitarist/additional vocalist Alberto Bravin, who hails from Trieste and joined the band in 2015. Two drum kits stood on stage, Di Cioccio’s and Gualdi’s. During the many instrumental moments both drummers were in action, while Bravin successfully filled in on vocals for Franz’s absence at the main mic.
The founding fathers of Italian symphonic prog, who have ‘blended’ plenty of musical genres over their rich career, opened the show with a new song, »Il Regno«, off »Emotional Tattoos«, which has environmentally minded lyrics. Anyone who was worried that PFM would overdo the material from the pretty mediocre, more pop-rock-leaning current album could drop those fears as soon as PFM launched into the opening bars of the nostalgic evergreen »La luna nuova« from »L’Isola Di Niente« (1974), which came out just the way it should and created an incredible vibe in an instant. Di Cioccio’s voice isn’t what it used to be, even though the man does his best with Bravin’s occasional help or fill-in, while his drumming chops are still intact. As is his old habit, he had a ton of drumsticks stuffed in his pants pocket, but not a single one ‘flew’ into the crowd that night.
The run of classics from the golden era of Italian prog rock continued with »Photos of Ghosts«, from the album of the same name released in 1973, their first effort with English lyrics penned by former King Crimson poet Peter Sinfield. »Impressioni di Settembre« and »La carozza di Hans« from PFM’s debut »Storia di un Minuto« (1971) were among the highlights of the night. Then came time for a change of genre and two De André classics, »Un giudice« and the folk-anthem-by-now »Volta la carta«, which plenty of Italians, as well as our fellow Slovenes from the coast, can sing by heart without a hitch. Between songs, Di Cioccio stressed several times that PFM have always loved experimenting with lots of different musical styles and that they’re proud of it. After two more pieces from the current album and the »Suonare Suonare« (1980) standard »Maestro della voce«, PFM played the »Dance of the Knights« section from Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s classical suite »Romeo and Juliet«, which their idols and ‘old acquaintances’, the legendary Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), also played back in the day.
Then Fabbri treated himself to a violin jam, at the end of which PFM wedged in Rossini’s »William Tell«, a hugely fun twist that spiced up this splendid evening of live music. With a thrilling version of the »Photos of Ghosts« standard »Mr. 9 Till 5«, those of us who love their best work from the seventies got yet another fantastically played sonic treat that night. For the encore, PFM played a cover of De André’s standard »Il pescatore« and the expected evergreen »E Festa«, a.k.a. »Celebration«, putting the cherry on top of their outstanding show near the beach in Koper. The sound was top quality the whole time, and this incredibly tight band of exceptional musicians didn’t make a single obvious slip-up during the gig.
PFM’s stellar show, packed with evergreens from the golden era of Italian progressive rock, flew by way too fast in the gorgeous atmosphere of Carpacciov trg. We could be more than happy with what we heard and saw over a good two hours. Knowing that a legendary prog rock outfit, still running like a well-oiled machine after almost fifty years, had finally visited one of our bigger cities after a long, long time felt downright fantastic and fulfilling. Too bad it doesn’t happen more often.
author: Peter Podbrežnik
photos: Gregor Lutman & Jernej Vene
Setlist:
1. Il Regno
2. La luna nuova
3. Photos of Ghosts
4. Impressioni di Settembre
5. La carrozza di Hans
6. Un giudice (orig. Fabrizio De André)
7. Volta la carta (orig. Fabrizio De André)
8. La danza degli specchi
9. Maestro della voce
10. Freedom Square
11. Romeo e Giulietta: Danza dei cavalieri (orig. Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev)
12. Violin Jam + William Tell
13. Mr. 9 Till 5
—encore—
14. Il pescatore (orig. Fabrizio De André)
15. Celebration
