vasco rossi, the departure of his tour, with date zero in Rimini, is a bit of a test of restart even for the Emilia-Romagna affected by the flood. You immediately gave yourself to the affected population, with a personal donation.
“I arrive in Rimini, in that extraordinary and generous land that is Emilia-Romagna, recently hit by a terrible flood. But I trust my compatriots, we are people who never give up. I’m coming, we musicians can try to bring some joy and that’s what we’ll do in a few days in Rimini Stadium. I can’t wait I always look forward to it, being on stage is a disease I will never recover from. This time a little more.”
How are you preparing for the tour? What was your typical day like?
“This year I continue last year’s tour with more stops in the south. Let’s say from Bologna down. For the first time I’m leaving ‘home’, from Bologna where I haven’t given a concert for quite some time (since 2015), and I am proud of the 4 dates booked in the stadium, a poker in Bologna is a great satisfaction. Since the beginning of May we went to the Cromie di Castellaneta (Taranto), just us, my staff and the band, we rehearsed every day all the formation , I arrived at 4 in the afternoon, after my hard daily morning training in the pine forest, while Vince Pàstano, who is also in charge of the artistic organization of the band, rehearsed with them all morning. When I arrived, the pieces were already they were all set up and I could start testing them all in a row. At the end of the day, here’s the situation with Vince and if there’s any adjustment to be made, it’s done. I’m very happy, the set list is rolling well.”
What would you say to your fans who can’t wait to hear you live again? What should they expect from this tour?
“More than fans, I would call them my people for a matter of elective affinities. They know me, they trust me and they already know that they are going to see the most powerful and exciting rock show in the world. There will be many surprises from the driest and rockiest arrangements, lots of guitars (Stef Burns and Vince Pàstano join Antonello d’Urso on acoustic guitar, ed.). Confirmed the horn section that becomes the link with last year’s tour. The 28 songs chosen on the bill are also appropriate to the times we live in. As in the best (and immortal) rock tradition, the atmosphere will be “sax, sex and rock’n roll” and a good part of the conversation is directed to the other half of heaven, women. The ultimate goal is to bring a little joy , especially in these difficult years”.
What is your relationship with Rimini and Riccione? You have spent a long time in Romagna. Send us some postcards, unlock some memories. Three places of the heart and a story. .
“I saw the Adriatic Sea for the first time when I was 7/8 years old, when my aunt took me there. Even today I remember the strong emotion I felt seeing so much water. It seems trivial, but I have never seen it before Zocca is a vacation spot , I spent my summers there at home, in the woods with my childhood friends, who in the summer were joined by those who came to us on vacation. A few years later I frequented Rimini and Riccione, but I never really saw the sea, to me it was as if it did not exist. Having a night at the disco, I would go to bed early in the morning and get up late in the afternoon to… come back in the morning. I had rented a villa in the hills, how beautiful to go and come from friends!
And Rimini?
“I’ve always had a good time in Rimini, I feel at home. Maybe it’s the way of life, the human and positive attitude, how things get, it’s a bit like Zocca’s. I remember when I saw ‘Amarcord’ of Fellini, I had that impression there: he described Rimini, the way of being of the people and I found in him a bit of the air of Zocca, the ‘Paesone’ rich in varied humanity, where everyone knows you and you know them and you have to tolerate and you have to accept it.”
In “Rimini”, Pier Vittorio Tondelli wrote that “one is always looking for oneself, after all. Or something of us that is not clear to us or we have not understood: the reasons for suffering, or for that subterranean disease that takes away the breath and is black and humid like melancholy”. In the same year, 1985, he wrote ‘What happens in the city’ where “It’s us, it’s us, the most tired, it’s us, it’s us, who will have to continue.” What years were they? How different (or similar) to today?
“Sounds like a catchphrase for today’s young people… We were then in the mid-80s, in the midst of all that ‘fun’ in the air and the intoxication of drinking Milan. Mine was a cry of alarm, the instinctive cry of the artist who realizes that the world has not improved since the 70s, in fact everything had gone down the drain for both of us, and in a world that was already going badly , it was up to us who were young, ‘those who will have to continue’, to roll up our sleeves and pick up the pieces. I see a great connection with the young people of today who denounce the problems of the planet that sooner or later will disappear. And none of those who can do anything, that is, the powerful, do anything to change things.”
Then it will be the turn of Bologna, with four dates. What is Bologna for you? And how much did your land form it, Emilia?
“Bologna is my city! I came there when I was 15 when I ran away from boarding school in Modena. It was like New York to me. I went to high school and university in Bologna. I almost graduated in Bologna… Eh, no Everyone knows that I still have 4 exams left for my psychology degree, I was educated culturally, I did experimental theater following in the footsteps of Teatro Vivo, in ’77, it was the era of Bakunin, Ionesco, Allen Ginsberg and the barricades. At 23 years old Since I couldn’t change the system (as it was called then) I invented my own system.”
Which?
“‘The fourth estate of rock’, the story of Vasco Rossi. I started on the radio, Punto Radio, and then I dedicated myself completely to music. I have my headquarters, studio and offices in Bologna, guess where? I wanted it in the Via Emilia. I look out the window and the mythical Via Emilia that leads to the sea is all there in front of me. For a few years now, when the gray and cold weather arrives, I escape to Los Angeles, where the climate is always temperate and I’m free to walk calmly, it’s another life when you can go to the supermarket. But I always come home because I live here in Italy.”
Lucio Dalla would have turned 80 this year. Who was Lucio for you and how much is missing from Italian music?
“Ah, look, his voice and his genius. Dalla literally blew me away when I saw him in Sanremo with ‘4 March ’43’: then I was in a boarding school and they showed us Sanremo… I must have been 13/14 years old. I was competing between the singers, he was born as a singer, but he had the ability, I think unique at that time, to become a composer and write beautiful songs. A giant that has profoundly marked the history of Italian music.” .
It is the 40th anniversary of ‘Bubbles’, an iconic piece that denounces advertising distortions. How was the idea born?
“Think that today Coca Cola wants to be in the songs, back then they almost sued me, how times change! The idea arises from an advertising spot, that of the Vespa, and then leads to a fierce satirical denunciation of advertising that creates more and more needs. I had fun playing with words and pauses. The commercial read ‘Who eats apples on a Vespa?’ and I replied: ‘And who doesn’t eat Vespa anymore? He does pears’. It was what, unfortunately, happened more often in that period, the malaise was widespread and growing, palpable all around. So, I increased the dose with that (theatrical) break after the ‘coke’… On purpose to hit the right thought.”
Who are the people who think well today, 40 years later?
“It is always them, the ones who preach well and then scratch badly, and they always get away with it. They are the hypocrites who do not want to change the status quo of their privileges and do not realize that around them the world runs and changes rapidly.
In ‘Bubbles’ we talk about stereotypes, the power of the image. Today, in the era of social networks, how not to be stereotypes?
“Actually in the song I use stereotypes to blame those who create them, publicity in the first place. Social networks have upset the rules, everyone is free to express themselves as they want and this obviously has its pros and cons. On the one hand, c “there is more frankness and many taboos are broken down; on the other, without mediation, is the Far West. The possibility of creating false profiles allows you to defame anyone and in any case without taking responsibility for it. A real shame to which the American Congress does not intend to put a stop to it by demanding that each profile can only be opened with the identity certificate…”.
What is your relationship with social networks, clips and comments?
“Social media is one of my favorite hobbies, not being able to have a social life, I make a ‘social’ one. When social media came along, from Facebook to Instagram (a bit less Twitter) I finally found my ideal medium of communication. with the world, direct and without filters. And I also have a staff of collaborators who help me with the content, a true web editorial team under my direction. The clippini, the next step after the posts, I practically invented it, I direct it my followers with my news”.
Have you ever felt hostage to the phone?
“I always have him with me, inseparable. An indispensable tool now more for documenting with photos and videos than for making phone calls. I have always kept him at a distance, I never held the ring… but now that the name appears I am forced to answering, I don’t feel hostage because I still maintain the good habit of using it only when I need it, slave yes: I can’t resist the temptation to put it to film, photography”.
He turned 70 last year. Are you afraid of the passage of time?
“I have never been worried about the passage of time, I have always lived each day as if it were the last”.
