Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Sesto al Reghena concerts, July 29th, 2012




Two nice little concerts in the splendid town of Sesto al Reghena and its beautiful ancient abbey (which dates back to    ) with America’s Other Lives, an indie rock band (formed in 2004) and England’s Fanfaro (formed in  2006).  The concerts were part of the 7th edition of “”Sexto ‘Nplugged” summer music festival (the same venue hosted last year the so-called “new Patti Smith”, Anna Calvi). 

Other Lives had the great honor in 2012 of having opened up for the first leg of Radiohead’s North American tour.  They also highly impressed the folks over at “Mojo” magazine with their 2011 album, “Tamer Animals”.

Fanfarlo are an indie-alternative band that hails from London.  The band fuses elements of folk, indie rock and post-punk music by using trumpets, violins, mandolins and clarinets.  The band’s particular name actually comes from a novella by Charles Baudelaire, “La Fanfarlo”.  






























Indeed a great way to spend a hot summer evening in Sesto’s magnificent castle square!

Simple Minds, Grado July 28th, 2012



















































So what happens when you take a wonderful seaside resort such as Grado (it’s nestled in between Trieste and Venice in northern Italy), you throw in a splendid mid-summer evening with over 30 degrees,  you add to the setting some great cold beer, lots of beautiful women (and men too) and also delicious Italian gelato, you finally shake up the entire concoction and you then you sprinkle it all with a great little concert by one of the all-time beloved Scottish bands, Simple Minds?  A deadly cocktail of exceptional fun, that’s what you get!

Yes, Jim Kerr and his lads—fellow band members Charlie Burchill and drummer Mel Gaynor (all in great shape at 53 years old and counting) who have been together now since 1977—hit the small stage in Grado and played 90 minutes in front of close to 1,000 loyal fans.  Their repertoire was close to 20 songs and included some of their all-time greatest hits, such as “Sanctify”, “Don’t You Forget About Me” (from the soundtrack of the 1985 film, “Breakfast Club”.  Unquestionably, that song is the band’s most famous one), “Waterfront” (indeed an appropriate song seeing that the stage was 20 meters from the beach!), “Ghost Dancing”, “Someone Somewhere In Summertime” and to top it all off another great Simple Minds tune, “Alive And Kicking”!    

To see them in Grado you can’t help but thinking back at their great  performance on July 13th, 1985 at the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia during that memorable “Live Aid” event when in front of a totally packed stadium they played “Ghost Dancing” and “Don’t You Forget About Me”!  And with a splendid setting such as the one in Grado, who on earth wants to stay home and watch tv?

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Some of the rather interesting churches in Italy and around the world.