Location: Stadio Friuli / Udine / Italy
Concert date: 11.09.2008
Attendance: 40
Italian rock star Vasco Rossi, probably the hottest ticket in rock slang, the one our Western neighbors fall for en masse, keeps plowing unstoppably through his concert adventures. I finally got to experience it myself at his show in Udine, which I headed to completely out of the blue. The crush at the highway exit alone was a symbolic hint of what kind of mass delirium Jernej and I were walking into.Huge crowds at shows by U2, AC/DC and The Police aren’t exactly common, but when they happen, all sorts of miracles start to unfold. One of the worst, of course, was the total traffic chaos ruling the streets in front of the stadium.
After a nice rainy stroll of some 20 minutes from where we’d parked the car, we somehow made it, found ourselves in a maze of kiosks, picked up our tickets and mingled with the hysterical crowd at the home ground of the Udinese football club (Stadio Friuli). This was one of those concerts where you blend in among the people without a care and give yourself over to the music and a full-on good time. A gigantic stage stood in the stadium, the structure behind the instruments was covered in round mirrors, and from a distance the whole thing looked like some kind of hotel. Interestingly, there was still quite a bit of room on the floor and in the stands, and the capacity wasn’t sold out.
Vasco Rossi is holding up very well. At 57 he delivered a superbly preserved voice, and he looked after it diligently throughout the show with careful articulation, making sure not to strain himself while singing so he wouldn’t run out of breath, especially toward the end of a marathon set list that kept the crowd happy for a solid two and a half hours. The guy really needs nothing. He just has to open his mouth and the crowd does the rest. They followed his every move with a roar, greeted the start of every single song on the set list with thunderous cheers, and sang the lyrics of absolutely every song as if in a trance. The feeling of 40,000 people singing in one voice was really reminiscent of that feverish euphoria that gets unleashed at mass gatherings like AC/DC, U2 or The Rolling Stones. Incredible energy. Old and young, whole families pouring in by the droves to his shows.
Vasco tossed a few of his Cuban caps into the crowd, but that’s not the reason the masses come to his shows. The Italian crowd obviously identifies with him because of the lyrics about the “little guy” who wants to stay modest, humble and honest, only to get wronged every time, and also because of his look as an amiable musician, with the kind eyes of a good-natured uncle who now and then turns into that reproachful type, some down-on-his-luck truck driver looking for a spritzer in the first bar he sees.
Vasco is backed by an excellent band that didn’t commit the slightest slip during the show. The vocal harmonies could easily have been upgraded, since the man has mountains of money and could hire a bunch of soulful backing vocalists, but he probably sticks to Italian-ness out of nostalgia, partly for the image, partly for the feelings of his countrymen. So in this purebred backing band, guitarist Steff Burns somehow turned up, probably after a great miracle, and rock connoisseurs know him all too well from his work in Y&T. You read that right. Y&T! This time too, the guy showed finesse and sensitivity when it was called for, and at the same time blasted out his riffs the way a musician of his caliber should. It was a real pleasure watching him work.
Two and a half hours of heaven on Earth for the Friulians, who weren’t alone, since you could spot plenty of license plates from hundreds of kilometers away from Udine. It’s a kind of bread and circuses that a Slovenian performer can hardly experience in Slovenia. It’s also unbelievable to realize how Vasco can draw 120,000 people to his show the day before the legendary The Police play, while the day after, The Police get “only” 45,000. And that’s not a one-time thing either, this tradition has been going on for Rossi for years. Judging by the authentic Italian concert magic I saw and lived through, this tradition will last a long, long time.
1. Intro
2. Qui si fa la storia
3. Cosa importa a me
4. Dimmelo te
5. La noia
6. Vieni qui
7. Non appari mai
8. E adesso che tocca a me
9. L’uomo che hai di fronte
10. Colpa del whisky
11. T’immagini
12. Siamo soli
13. Rock medley:
– Ormai è tardi
– Non mi va
– Ci credi
– Susanna
– Sensazioni forti
– Deviazioni
– Asilo “republic”
– Colpa d’Alfredo
14. Gioca con me
15. Siamo solo noi (with band introductions)
16. Sally
17. Rewind
18. Stupendo
19. Un senso
20. C’è chi dice no
21. Gli spari sopra
22. Il mondo che vorrei
23. Vivere
—encore—
24. Acoustic medley:
– Toffèe
– Ridere di te
– Dormi dormi
– Brava giulia
– Dormi dormi reprise
– Va bene va bene così
25. Vita spericolata
26. Canzone
27. Albachiara
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