While the Italian summer tour was in progress and then the one in Canada-North America-Australia, I received some concert reviews you attended.
I could not publish them before, because I was busy following all the various stages of the Il Volo tour, but now that Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca are at home, I intend to publish them.
I start by publishing the Ostuni concert review that came to me from Leena.
Leena is a Finnish woman, married to an Italian and they have two children. They live in Finland and in the summer they come to Italy on vacation.
I have known Leena thanks to the publication of the Ostuni concert. You remember that in the comment of a video, I explained that a woman had raised a sign that read:
“I come from Finland and I love you.”
Well, Leena read our post published on the Facebook page and understood that we were talking about her, she wrote me a message: “It was me with the sign, thank you, because I didn’t understand that Piero had read and commented on it”.
So we got in touch and exchanged many messages.
Leena, in Finland teaches Italian to a class of nearly 50 adults. She also talks about Il Volo and sometimes she uses their book “An Extraordinary Adventure” to give lessons, isn’t it fantastic???
But here’s her review:
The concert in Ostuni on July 26, 2022
I could not believe my luck, that of having the opportunity to attend a concert of Il Volo, only because this year they had decided to stop over in Ostuni and only because at that time we were already in the neighboring region for the holidays. Even now, after three months, I still can’t believe it. It seems something detached from my everyday life.
I would say that the one in Ostuni was a routine concert for the boys of Il Volo. It was still too hot when the concert started, if I remember correctly thermometer in the center of Ostuni showed 34 degrees (93 degrees Fahrenheit) and the heat there of Puglia is a humid heat that suffocates.
I had already noticed on the streets of Ostuni that there was very little publicity for the concert, practically I only saw some billboards hanging near the town villa but that billboard also advertised all the other concerts of the “Soundtrack festival” of that one week, not just theirs. I was sorry about this because I couldn’t understand why there was so little publicity given their talent and international fame.
On the evening of the 25th, while walking in Ostuni, I heard an American tourist say to their phone, “Tomorrow they will sing there,” so maybe this person too was there in Ostuni for the concert.
About a week before the concert they sent us the message in which they said it would be possible to attend the soundcheck in Ostuni. I was overjoyed because I had hoped so much since I didn’t intend to attend the M&G after the concert. On the day of the concert they called us for 6:20pm at the main entrance of the Foro Boario, the place of the concert.
The Foro Boario is a former market square for the cattle, in the shape of a stadium where they now hold concerts, and is surrounded by high walls.
When they let us in we all lined up, maybe there were 8-9 people. They sang three songs: Grande Amore, Nessun Dorma, and No Puede Ser.
I could notice many interesting things: Gianluca had a little sore throat or was it mildly cooled and seemed very suffering from the heat, Ignatius seemed the most relaxed of the three while Piero was the one who entertained us talking into the microphone throughout the soundcheck. After trying No puede ser, Piero was not happy with the performance by the musicians . After that song, it was clear that it was all over and I think they were leaving without getting off the stage to talk to us, therefore, I took courage and I am rushed to Ignazio and I asked him if they accepted gifts, so I delivered him the gifts I had bought in Finland, he seemed to me extremely kind and good.
If I had had more courage I would have asked him for the autograph for their book “An Extraordinary Adventure” that I had with me at the soundcheck but since they hadn’t gone down, I didn’t want to disturb them.
Now I regret it bitterly, if only I had had the courage to ask for that autograph, I am sure he would have done it to me. Maybe there will be another occasion.
After the soundcheck I went back to our accommodation, ate and then, I am back to the Forum again. I immediately noticed that the audience was composed mostly by people older than me, people aged 50 upwards, mostly by ladies but also by their husbands. This thing surprised me a little bit because I was expecting a slightly younger audience but I was pleased see that Il Volo attracts this type of people (perhaps people a little like me). The audience was very calm and polite, the atmosphere was very familiar and in the air there was this great expectation and enthusiasm among all of us to see and listen to the boys.
The concert started almost on time, at around 9:37pm and lasted exactly two hours. They sang 24 songs.
Here is the lineup in exact order (I wrote them down during the concert):
1. The Ecstasy of Gold
2. Nessun dorma (short version, only the first verse and the first chorus)
3. Il Mondo
4. Se telefonando
5. Se
6. Granada
7. Your Love
8. All by myself (Ignazio)
9. Your Ssong (Gianluca)
10. Un amore così grande
11. Delilah
12. My Way (Gianluca and Piero)
13. Hallelujah (Gianluca and Ignazio)
14. La donna è mobile (Ignazio and Piero)
15. Io che non vivo senza te
16. Here’s to You
17. Medley from: L’ amore si muove – Musica che resta
18. Can’t Help Falling in Love (Gianluca)
19. Caruso
20. Volare
21. Surrender
22. O ‘sole mio
23. Libiam de lieti calici
24. Grande Amore
When they got on stage and started singing, I heard right away that Gianluca’s voice no longer seemed as cold as it had been at sound check. Really very good !! I don’t know how he could fix it in a short time. We had the fourth row seats on the left so I was a lot focused on him during the concert. I noticed he had put on, or a makeup artist had put on him, a lot of black eyeliner on his eyes, this thing stood out immediately. Instead Piero and Ignazio seemed without makeup either, at least I didn’t notice anything. They started by singing the first three songs and only after the third did they start talking. When they finished “The Ecstasy of Gold” or “Nessun dorma”, I don’t remember exactly which one, Gianluca turned towards us, and with a little bow and with his hand over his heart he told us : “Good evening everyone”. You couldn’t hear it but I read the lips. After having sung “ Il Mondo”, they welcomed us and gave some compliments on the beauty of Ostuni, Gianluca said : ”How wonderful!”looking at the old part of Ostuni on the hill (I laughed because Gianluca says always “how wonderful”).
Ignazio immediately started joking saying that those people who had gathered at the foot of the city walls were tax evaders because from there it was possible to follow the whole concert without paying the ticket. Then they continued to sing. I remember that after “Your Love” Piero and Ignazio were terribly serious and also sad, they remained in silence in front of the microphone for a while. I know they think of Vito when they sing this song and I know that too little time has passed since his death but in Ostuni they didn’t mention it in any way.
My heart breaks too every time I hear Ignazio sing this song (I presume to say that I know exactly how it feels because I too lost my father at 25 and in my opinion at 25 is too young to lose a parent). Perhaps others in the audience have also heard this because even if we were sitting scattered in the stalls and in different rows, far from each other, it occurred to us to raise the billboards at the same time to lighten the atmosphere a little. I had made a big billboard, sticking together with tape cartons made from four packs of brioches and pasting on some sheets of paper on which I had written:
“I come from Finland and I love you.”
It had taken me hours to make it. When I raised it I was so excited that Piero’s immediate reaction escaped me. I only heard his question, “How do you say I LOVE YOU in Finnish?” But I absolutely didn’t want to shout it at him among the nice ladies who were sitting around me, and then also because in Finnish it is long, there are eight syllables (MINÄ RAKASTAN SINUA), I don’t think they would have remembered it.
They sang several songs without introducing them. This got me thinking that they were in a hurry to finish because they were really tired. I could also be wrong, but I had the feeling that Piero was looking forward to reaching Agrigento for the long-awaited concert in his native land, and Gianluca was just really exhausted by the heat and the frantic rhythm of the tour (Ostuni was their fifth concert in seven days, the tenth in the whole month). I wanted to hear a lot of their speeches, too about their career , but they talked little about it. They only said that they three who had met on that program and who had put them together and since then they sing and go around. I think they were almost too modest !!! Maybe their modesty is something that goes away with the years … but this is their still being very young, they are all less than 30 years old, it is another thing that I only understood attending this concert. Just watching them on TV I didn’t realize. You almost want to protect them the way you protect a child.
Before “Your Song” Gianluca did a slightly longer monologue on the importance of parents during adolescence, he was very sweet.
When he speaks, an enormous wisdom transpires, it makes me think that perhaps he reads a lot or that he spent a lot of time with older people when he was little. Personally he is my favorite of the trio when it comes to vocality, I’ve never heard anyone sing so well. It opens completely to the public, sometimes when he sings in certain songs it seems to me that he cries, with his voice. In my opinion he is the foundation of the group. Also as a physical presence, he looks like a god of Antiquity or a man of Renaissance. I looked at him there in Ostuni from my place and thought: “Now I look at this singing god. “ There are no words. I have seen many of their performances on YouTube and you don’t understand it when you only see it on your computer screen, but now that I’ve seen it live, I immediately noticed that it has a lot of dramatic presence.
This was my first impression during the soundcheck when I saw him and thought that this man was born to be an actor. And he would also be good … But let’s hope not because we still want him for a long time singer. Or if he wants to, he has to keep singing too.
Piero is the one who on stage keeps the rhythm with the speeches with the audience, has a way of speaking a little “professor” while Ignazio knows how to be both, very playful and very serious.
Perhaps Ignazio is the one who is more in the hands of the three. His interpretation of the song “All By Myself” was wonderful. He has such a clear voice and crystalline voice that when he sings loudly, I sometimes think it’s as if he were screaming his despair to the world, and it’s beautiful. Immediately after “Delilah” he entertained the audience by saying that his pants were broken, perhaps he said it in all the concerts, but the joke was so well done it seemed improvised.
A lady sitting not far from me said to him: “Come here, we sew it for you!” And the other ladies around us agreed. Piero commented: “Here we have many expert seamstresses.”
Compared to previous years, in my opinion they have become a little more serious, they do not joke more, as well as before. In Ostuni Piero and Ignazio teased a little Gianluca and Gianluca defended himself but never belittling them or in a vindictive way.
However towards the end of the concert they appeared very worn by the heat. Gianluca’s hair had become full of small curls due to the humidity and because of the heat, he must have sweated a lot. During the last song “Grande Amore” I raised my billboard for the second time, which I had done with so much love and dedication. Piero was positioned exactly in front of me on the stage and had it revised. He smiled shyly and nodded his head. I did not think that even Piero was so shy … I knew of Gianluca, that he had been at least as a child but now after the concert in Ostuni I know that Piero is a bit too. When I think about it again and I get excited … Piero gave me an excellent impression during the whole soundcheck and the concert even if in Ostuni he has not sung his solo. He took us very seriously and wanted us to be well and kept a good memory of it.
After they finished the concert, they still had to welcome the people with a smile because they had purchased access to Meet & Greet. I felt bad for the boys because they were exhausted. There were maybe 20 people waiting for this meeting. I did not take the ticket because in my opinion the price is exaggerated and I had already paid a lot for the tickets for all of my family.
I was very lucky to be able to attend this concert because the next day we still had to go to another concert, that of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Puglia, in the same place, but they decided to cancel it shortly before due to strong wind.
My big dream is one day be able to attend one of their concerts in Finland. Here they are still little known but at least in my small way I try to spread the word thanks to my work.
They are the best trio in the world right now and it’s impossible not to love them. Besides, if they never come here in the North, I’m sure they will other occasions to see them again in Italy.
Now, my sign is here, hanging in my home, reminding me of a beautiful concert.
Leena
Thanks Leena for the wonderful review.
It is truly remarkable that you try to make Il Volo known in Finland by teaching Italian.
See you soon with more reviews:
Daniela 🤗
LAST MINUTE NEWS!!
A new book has been released and written by Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero.
It goes on sale November 8, but you can pre-ordered it on Amazon.
The title is:Il Volo, WHAT I CARRY IN THE HEART
I’ll translate the presentation for you.Il Volo is the Italian music trio that today more than anyone else represents Italy in the world.
Since the success of Sanremo in 2015, it has had an unparalleled escalation of notoriety, which has led Piero, Gianluca and Ignazio to perform in front of millions of spectators, during the various intercontinental tours, due to which they are often far away from home.
But it is not for this, indeed perhaps by virtue of this, the bond that the three artists have with their lands of origin, with their roots and their families and traditions, remains very strong, and always represents an emotional and sentimental comfort. .
In this book the three boys talk about themselves, precisely in the light of that indissoluble bond that characterizes their artistic expression: an intimate, personal and extremely intense story of their past, their present and their future.
………… I can’t wait to read it !!!!
Credit to owners of all photos.