Our eldest is already over the 30-year mark! Hard to believe. Good thing we aren’t getting any older!! haha!
Time to choose a song to go with the lovely video created by Kelly! 🙂
Here are some guidelines:
It is recommended you choose a song NOT sung by Il Volo or Piero….
I know many cannot make up their minds, there are so many songs, but please keep your choices to the TOP THREE! (that is per person, not per email…)
You may start sending in your wishes as well
to make it easier on me, please send your wishes and birthday song in SEPARATE emails and indicate song or wish in the subject, as to make sure I don’t miss anyone, I delete them, after I add them to my file. Sorry, it’s the way I do it….
Please send all wishes and birthday song choices to: ilvoloflightcrew@gmail.com
PLEASE DO NOT POST ANYTHING ON FACEBOOK, I DO NOT GO ON THERE…
Ok, deadline for song choices is NO LATER THAN Fri, Jun 7, 2024. Song choices after this date WILL NOT be submitted.
Please send wishes NO LATER THAN Thursday, June 20, 2024.
These dates with give both Kelly and I time to get everything together. It takes both of us HOURS to put this together! 😉 And we both have full time jobs.
And here we are at the second TUTTI PER UNO concert broadcast by Canale 5.
Almost the entire concert corresponds to the concert that I myself saw live in the Arena on May 11th.
What a thrill, seeing those moments again, the beautiful atmosphere and wonderful songs and then them…… the three of them: Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero, our three super artists so loved by the public. 😍😍😍
But let’s go straight to the television concert, where I will translate the speeches for you and so you will understand each situation better.
I thank Il Volo En Clase who once again reproduced the entire concert so that it is visible on YouTube 😘 (for us in Italy it is not visible)
The preview begins with Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio walking under the stands of the Arena to reach the stage and are stopped by a control officer who looks at the list and reads all the names of the various guest singers who will perform, but their three names are not there. Ignazio tells him to check if Il Volo is there and the man confirms that Il Volo is at the top of all the names and Piero confirms: “We are here for TUTTI PER UNO”.🤩
The concert begins.
The Arena seen from above is wonderful, full of people waiting for the three of them to start singing UN AMORE COSÌ GRANDE.(In reality that evening the concert began with the music of Il Gladiatore.) 😉
After Piero’s greetings to the public and viewers at home, Ignazio explains the meaning of TUTTI PER UNO and wishes you a good evening.
Gianluca wants to reveal the names of the guests but Ignazio and Piero tell him not to spoil, but Gianluca immediately introduces the first guest, the rock singer Gianna Nannini.
Gianna truly loves our boys and has always admired them from the beginning.
A medley of Gianna Nannini’s beautiful songs begins:
MERAVIGLIOSA CREATURA, sings with Piero
SEI NELL’ANIMA, sings with Ignazio
BELLO E IMPOSSIBILE, sings with Gianluca
The effect of the lights in the Arena and the people were fantastic, what a wonderful choir of voices, these songs are very well known here in Italy and I assure you that all the people in the Arena who knew them, sang at the top of their lungs, including me, magnificent and engaging! 🤩
PIERO= Gianna, music has no boundaries, apparently distant styles but which manage to come together.
GIANNA= Melody has no boundaries!
PIERO= You are unique, you are unique.
GIANLUCA= Last year you came to visit us and it was exciting, but coming back here…
GIANNA= You and I didn’t sing together last year.
GIANLUCA= You sang with Piero.
IGNAZIO= I didn’t sing with you either.
GIANLUCA= This year, however, we all wanted to sing with you and being here with you is always exciting.
GIANNA= I always enjoy singing with you, because you bring true Italian music to the world, (addressing the audience) this is the music, this is the music.
PIERO= You know Gianna, this is a magical night for us…..(way to introduce the next song they sing together, Gianna, Il Volo and the whole Arena)UN’ESTATE ITALIANA (Notti Magiche) song by Gianna Nannini written for the football world cup held in Italy in 1990. 🥰 ⚽
The boys present Federica Panicucci, the face of Canale 5 who already presented last year. Federica after the greetings and pleasantries says that she finds the boys well after a year but something has changed because she announces that Ignazio is getting married to Michelle and confirms that Michelle is a beautiful girl and that she was Miss Venezuela. 🥰
The solos begin.
Ignazio sings the beautiful ALMENO TU NELL’UNIVERSO. 🥰
Piero continues with the beautiful MATTINATA by Leoncavallo.
In the end Ignazio says that he was used to singing Mattinata in duet with Piero and now Piero sang it alone and behind the stage he thought “what a Caino” 🤪 (like saying what a traitor), but he liked it and in the end Ignazio says to Piero is proud of him who has been studying day by day for more than a year and the results can be felt.❤️
Gianluca comments “Che patatone (as if to say that Ignazio is very sweet). I’m happy for you too.” (turning to Piero) ❤️❤️
Gianluca continues with THE POWER OF LOVE song by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, wonderful, I always listened to it. 😍
Ignazio says that now there is a song that they haven’t sung for many years, words full of meaning for: LA VITA. 🤩
Federica Panicucci entertains Il Volo and the public by taking a “journey into music”.
She shows the boys a “cassette recorder, or cassette player” and asks if they know about it.
Gianluca asks if it’s a toaster. 😂
Piero says he knows it because his grandfather used a similar one. 😘
Federcia remembers that the ribbons were always twisted and fingers or pencils were used to unravel them. 🙄😁
Then Federica shows an old cassette with a song by Umberto Tozzi from 1978.
Umberto Tozzi enters and everyone sings the song TU.
At the end Ignazio congratulates Tozzi for his results and for 50 years of career and makes the audience sing the refrains of some very famous Tozzi songs: Ti Amo and Gloria.
Piero presents a young and talented soprano Nina Solodovnikova, together they will duet in LIBIAM DE’ LIETI CALICI. 🥂
Gianluca continues with the beautiful ELEANOR RIGBY of the Beatles.
At the beginning Gianluca explains the words of the song and says that Paul McCartney had invented those names in the song but a few years later visiting a cemetery he actually found a gravestone with the name Eleanor Rigby and a little further away one with the name Father McKenzie, just a coincidence ? 🙏
The beautiful CAPOLAVORO follows, (in reality that evening it was sung immediately after Il Gladiatore).
When the chorus starts and Gianluca is on the left of the stage, he is exactly in front of the seats where we were sitting and I must tell you that it was clear that he was very excited, hearing all the people singing the chorus he was overwhelmed with emotion and didn’t hold back a few tears, what a sweet and extraordinary boy. 😍❤️
Ignazio launches the advertisement and then resumes with L’IMMENSITÀ. 🥰
Federica Panicucci returns to the stage and this time offers the guys the CD player.
Gianluca says he used it often, put on headphones and listened to music.
The whole skit introduces a Negramaro song, as their front-man Giuliano Sangiorgi is the next guest and enters to sing SOLO PER TE in duet with Piero.
Personally, I don’t really like Sangiorgi’s type of singing, but the song is very beautiful and I really liked the unexpected duet. Even Sangiorgi, in the end, admits that he has never heard his song sung in an opera version and he really liked it. 🤩
Ignazio and Gianluca also return and Ignazio asks the Arena to sing choruses of famous Negramaro songs such as:
Usami, straziami Stringimi Ancora Estate
Then Piero presents the new song which will be sung in duet by Umberto Tozzi and Giuliano Sangiorgi: DONNA AMANTE MIA.
Now there is a moment full of feeling, Ignazio reads a letter he wrote and which he dedicates to his father. ❤️🙏
IGNAZIO= You know, there comes a point in life, especially for a guy like me, that you can only talk about some things when you reach a certain emotional maturity and today I feel like doing something, reading you a letter, a letter that I wrote and I wanted to read it to you. ❤️
“Life has taught us the difference between lack and absence. There is a thread so subtle that those who don’t experience it first-hand cannot understand it.
I often want to pick up the phone and call you:
-I found traffic on the highway….
-You know I managed to fix that locker in the room, the one that was broken….
-Today the weather sucks….
-You know, I’m getting married…..
But I can’t, you’re not there, you’re not there physically, I live on memories, I live on sensations.
Precisely for this reason I don’t want to tell you that I miss you, because the memories keep you alive, they keep you alive and you are still in my mind, in my heart, so I want to tell you that I absente you (you are absent and I take note of it).
I absente you because I am madly missing you, and I will stay in front of the school waiting for you dad…..with my pockets full of rocks and my heart full of you!”
Much emotion for Ignazio.😍
Enter Enrico Nigiotti, with whom Ignazio will do a duet singing a song by JovanottI, with very sweet words: LE TASCHE PIENE DI SASSI. ❤️🙏
At the end of the song Ignazio affectionately embraces Enrico Nigiotti and tells him that there was a great feeling with him right away and thanks him.
This is followed by a beautiful embrace full of affection between Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca. ❤️❤️❤️
All together now for the beautiful song by De Crescenzo: ANCORA.
This time Panicucci arrives with a juke box and all three remember this well, in fact Ignazio says that at the beginning when they were in Los Angeles they went to have breakfast in a place called MEL’S and there was this juke box which for them it was a vintage thing, in fact he calls it “boxed Spotify”, so they ask maestro Rota for a coin who kindly takes the joke and says goodbye to the Arena. Federica enters and explains how the juke box works with the token, and this is why it was called “la canzone più gettonata” (the song that had the most hits) and in 1964 the most popular single was NEL BLU DIPINTO DI BLU by Modugno. 🤩🤩🤩
At this point, from the royal box the actor Beppe Fiorello reads a passage dedicated to the sad story of Sacco and Vanzetti, the two Italians unjustly condemned to death. Since then their names have become the symbol of judicial errors and intolerance. Thanks to the film, their story became known everywhere and Morricone took care of the soundtrack.
HERE’S TO YOU begins and Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio singing in the audience.
Very sweet Piero and Gianluca who reach out and hug their mothers. ❤️❤️❤️
Beppe Fiorello joins Il Volo on stage. He is an actor (he is the brother of the Fiorello we already know) and being an actor, together with Il Volo, play a game that is inspired by various cinemas, because Beppe Fiorello says that, “cinema crystallizes things in history” and so do the “famous phrases” of cinema and being in a place like the Arena the first sentence that Beppe Fiorello utters….
B.FIORELLO= At my signal unleash hell. (phrase from Il Gladiatore)
Houston Houston, we have a problem. (phrase from Apollo 13)…..Ignazio pronounces it in Sicilian
Wax on, wax off. (Karate Kid quote)
I’ve seen things you humans can’t imagine. (Blade Runner quote)
My name is Bond, James Bond. (Phrase from 007)
Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca perform the phrase with their name, truly hilarious!!😂😂😂
Last sentence, B.Fiorello says that when Piero called him he asked him if he was taking part in their evening and B.Fiorello replied that he had to see the commitments already made and Piero replied: “I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.” (said in Sicilian dialect, it’s a phrase from The Godfather).
B.Fiorello quickly says some famous phrases: “You’re just talk and a badge.” (The Untouchables) “Are you talking to me? Are you talking to me?” (Taxi Driver) “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” (Forrest Gump).
B.Fiorello concludes by saying that: “The words of cinema come out of the screen and enter us, making us protagonists of the greatest film of humanity, our life.”🤩
Great B. Fiorello, actor and director, and when he comes out they all sing PIOVE together. 🥰
We continue with the next guest Irama, with whom Il Volo performs SATURNO E VENERE taken from their latest album Ad Astra. Beautiful song born from a beautiful collaboration and great friendship with Irama! 😍😍😍😍
And finally here is the beautiful song from Il Gladiatore, the music is powerful, the scenes are fantastic, the choir and orchestra are magnificent and Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio are immense!!! NELLE TUE MANI (NOW WE ARE FREE) ❤️❤️❤️
Gianluca presents the next singer who will duet with him. She sings, plays, is also an actress, she was also in Sanremo: Clara.
Together they sing SAY SOMETHING. 😍😍
And now Piero pays homage to Puccini and sings an aria from Turandot: NON PIANGERE LIÙ.
Piero is accompanied by five opera singers who he will eventually present. A beautiful operatic moment arises and at the end there is a beautiful standing ovation.👏👏👏
Ignazio performs a solo on Adamo’s beautiful album, a song that my brothers always played when I was little: LA NOTTE. 😍
Gianna Nannini follows from the royal box with a solo: IO VOGLIO TE.
We resume with two artists who we met in Sanremo, and have become friends, Alessandro and Mario: I Santi Francesi. Together with Gianluca they sing WICKED GAME by Chris Isaac. 🤩
In the end Gianluca says that he found in them some nice people with whom he shared the same passion for music and they became friends.
The beauty of this concert is that in an instant you go from a pop song to a classical song, always beautiful music!!
Piero in a solo in Spanish: TORERO QUIERO SER.
But there is also soul and Ignazio remembers to let us listen to it: HIGHER GROUND by Stevie Wonder.
The always touchingNESSUN DORMA follows, all together.
Federica Panicucci returns for the final greetings and congratulates the boys and talks about the hard work to achieve great results and great successes, just like them. She elegantly announcesFRAMMENTI DI UNIVERSOand greets everyone. 🥰
On the beautiful notes of Ad Astra, the final greetings of Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca begin.
A great show!! 🤩🤩🤩❤️❤️❤️
As you know, I was present at this concert and I’ll tell you three moments that were not filmed by Canale 5 cameras.
As I have already told you, my husband and I were sitting on the far left looking at the stage and there on the first steps there were Torpedine, Barbara, Ercole, Ernesto, Michelle and other people from the staff or family, so I could see these three very well – sweet moments.
At a certain point, Gianluca, during a song, ran up the steps to hug his brother: adorable. 😍😍
Instead Ignazio took advantage of his moment of pause while Gianluca and Piero were singing solos and joined Michelle, what love. ❤️❤️
Piero then, once Mimì’s romance was over, ran to hug his singing teacher Fulvio Massa.
And these are the moments that make us understand the sensitivity, the affection, the respect that Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero have towards people. Simply adorable. ❤️❤️❤️
This time too, the concert had maximum television ratings. 🎉🎉
Many articles now, after the second concert, talk about the success of the audience and how much people love Il Volo.
Il Volo published this thank you with these words that I translate:
Thank you for the warmth and affection you showed us also in the second episode of Tutti Per Uno. ✨
I’m sorry to say there will be no story today. In fact, I need to step out for a while.
As you know I am writing a new book and right now I am hitting a hard deadline. In order to meet my obligations to my publisher, I must give my undivided attention to my new book. I will be busy over the next two months writing, doing my interviews, and also tending to my pilgrimage business. As a result, I will not publish my column again until July 17th.
I will miss you all and I look forward to returning in July.
In the meantime, as I’ve told you on other occasion, you can get all my stories and Daniela’s stories on www.ilvoloflightcrw.com
Go to the search bar and ask for what it is you want to read about. Ex. If you want to read about Gianluca just type in his name and his stories will come up. The same for Ignazio and Piero. If you want to read a story by Daniela type Daniela or Daniela Perani. The same for my stories. Susan or Susan De Bartoli
Join me on July 17th as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and bring you an amazing Il Volo story.
For your listening pleasure, I will leave you with this concert from Verona 2024
And here I am to offer you the first of the three television evenings of Canale 5 which broadcasts the three Il Volo concerts.
It was a lot of work for everyone, but it was worth it, three fantastic evenings designed for Italian television which will feature many beautiful songs by Italian singer-songwriters sung by our talented Piero, Gianluca and Ignazio.
Once again Il Volo demonstrated that it was able to offer different musical styles and guests with whom it duetted without problems.
In addition to the beautiful scenes projected on the screens, you will certainly notice the play of light created by the audience.
Upon entering the Arena, each spectator was given a beautiful luminous bracelet which then had to be returned at the end, a truly wonderful idea!!
I honestly understand that the program was more suitable for an Italian audience, but I will try to make you understand clearly what they wanted to demonstrate.
Naturally certain moments were edited for different evenings, but this was done to make everything more homogeneous and does not affect the final result.
The first TV evening begins with Claudio Baglioni (Italian singer) who enters the scene and sits at the piano, almost immediately he is joined by Ignazio who tells him that they should start by singing MILLE GIORNI DI ME DI TE (Baglioni’s song) and he performs it, then Gianluca arrives and says that it is better to start with AVRAI (Baglioni’s song) and performs it, and Piero arrives who instead wants to start by singing PICCOLO GRANDE AMORE (Baglioni’s song) and sings it, but in the end Baglioni says that he decides what with they will open the evening and he decides for STRADA FACENDO (Baglioni’s song) and all four sing it together.
Immediately afterwards Ignazio Piero and Gianluca greet the Arena audience and sing the beautiful CAPOLAVORO. 😍
This year Il Volo has decided to pay homage to Italian singer-songwriters by performing several of their songs and Ignazio begins with: TI SENTO song by Matia Bazar. 🥰
Gianluca immediately continues with the beautiful ROCKET MAN by Elton John. 🥰
And finally, Piero sings the MISERERE which this year he did in duet with Giorgia, a very good Italian singer.
At the end of the song, Piero says: “Giorgia, we just sang a song by Zucchero and Zucchero sang it with Pavarotti. Then Pavarotti with Bocelli, you sang with Bocelli and now I sing with you, all this to thank and pay homage to the man who acted as a glue to all these names, our manager Michele Torpedine.” (Torpedine is framed, Ernie is also seen behind him).
GIORGIA= Mythical Michele.
Then Giorgia thanks Piero for the beautiful evening, but Ignazio tells her that there are also him and Gianluca, 😂😂 then the guys will convince Giorgia to stay and so she will also act as co-host during the evening. 🥰
ADVERTISING CUT
Il Volo sings SE TELEFONANDO.
Now it’s time for a duet, Gianluca presents the song IL CIELO IN UNA STANZA, a beautiful song by Gino Paoli that Gianluca will sing together with Alessandra Amoroso. Beautiful duet. 😍😍
Alessandra also celebrates 15 years of career and therefore, all together sing a song by Alessandra Amoroso: STUPENDO FINO QUI.
This is followed by a duet by Piero who tells how this song was born, from a news that a circus was in difficulty because the cannon woman had left. The author combined music with this news and the song was born. The author is Francesco De Gregori who enters and sings a duet with Piero. This song has never been performed with the classical imprint that Piero gives it and it is very beautiful, LA DONNA CANNONE. (this duet was done the night I was at the concert) 🥰
Piero finally admits that he was moved. ❤️
Ignazio calls Giorgia, and instead…. Giorgio Panariello (Italian comedian) enters.
In the gag, Giorgio apologizes and Giorgia is called back. She comes in and says she thought she’ll ask questions “on the fly” and they’ll have to answer quickly.
GIORGIA= What do you sing in the shower?
G= COME SAPREI (song by Giorgia)
GIORGIA= Liar!
I= (I don’t understand)
P= CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU Ignazio makes fun of Piero by thinking of him singing that song in the shower. 😂😂
GIORGIA= What is the song that is never missing from your playlist.
G= CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE. 😍
GIORGIA= How romantic!
I= YOU AND I by Stevie Wonder
P= MY WAY, every morning I brush my teeth with Frank Sinatra
GIORGIA= If you had to choose a solo stage name, what would you choose?
G= Ignazio Boschetto 😂
I= Cucu Ramaya (song) 😂
P= Giorgio 😂
GIORGIA= Which historical group would you have liked to be part of?
G=Beatles
I= Bon Jovi
P= The Poohs
GIORGIA= The song that gives you energy.
G= THE SHOW MUST GO ON by Queen.
I= I FEEL GOOD
P= FIESTA, by Carrà
GIORGIA= The song you would dedicate to your son or daughter.
G= AVRAI (he sang it at the beginning) Or A TE by Jovannotti.
I= I don’t know because I will write it when I have a baby. ❤️❤️
P= CAPOLAVORO
GIORGIA= Last question: Which one of you will sing the next song? I’m telling you, Ignazio, the stage is yours!
Ignazio will perform a rock song, so he changes his jacket.
In the presentation he explains that this singer-songwriter’s father broke his guitar because he wanted him to study, but then he showed him that music was his life, Ignazio talks about Lucio Battisti, a very famous singer-songwriter in Italy. The song is: IL TEMPO DI MORIRE and Ignazio uses a rock guitar!😉
ADVERTISING CUT
Il Volo performs the always beautiful GRANDE AMORE. ❤️
Now there is a truly very touching duet between Gianluca and a much-loved singer-songwriter, Roberto Vecchioni. Gianluca dedicates a letter to him written “from the bottom of his heart” and reads it as he enters. I translate it for you.
“Thank you professor (Vecchioni is a university teacher) for teaching us the art of the word that opens the doors of infinity.” (Vecchioni enters and both are very moved). You are here. (Gianluca repeats and continues) You taught me to embrace pain, even if it hurts and with kindness the chains of ignorance and intolerance can be broken, generating beauty. You showed all of us that strength lies in fragility and the courage to be yourself and that love comes suddenly and you can’t control it. Happens. The purity of a feeling that does not possess, but frees. I hope that no end will put your love to sleep and that your message will continue to shout loudly for all those guys like me, like us. And you’re right about my girlfriend, it’s my job and I promise to continue treating it with care. ❤️ (The last sentences from “I hope….” are sentences taken from Vecchioni’s songs)
A long hug.
VECCHIONI= Now let’s not sing anymore, you moved me!
GIANLUCA= I want to leave you the letter, it’s a memory of me.
VECCHIONI= I’ll put it in my room in a painting. An evening like this is unforgettable and then with you saying these things, how nice!
GIANLUCA= Thanks, it’s thanks to you.
VECCHIONI = It is thanks to humanity in general that it manages to produce sensitive people like you. (cheers)
GIANLUCA= Shall we sing?
Together they perform Vecchioni’s song: CHIAMAMI ANCORA AMORE ❤️
At the end, long hugs and Gianluca can’t hold back his tears. (Gianluca has always said that when he was little his dad made him listen to the songs of this singer-songwriter, which is why he has such great respect for him)
GIANLUCA= I dreamed and I achieved my dreams also thanks to this moment which was one of the most exciting of my life. ❤️
VECCHIONI = For me too.
GIANLUCA= And I thank you.
VECCHIONI= Are you crying? You who conquered the world, are crying for me who have conquered only one country! You’re great. ❤️
GIANLUCA= You are great. Roberto Vecchioni!
VECCHIONI = Bye everyone.
Piero’s beautiful classic solo follows: AMOR, VIDA DE MI VIDA, sung in Spanish .
It’s Ignazio’s moment who offers a medley by another Italian singer-songwriter who I think you already know: Pino Daniele.
The medley includes: RESTA CU’MME I SAY I STO CCÀ YES I KNOW MY WAY in a mix of Italian and Neapolitan.
The always beautiful Tosca romance follows: NESSUN DORMA
At this point Giorgia is called back on stage and once again Giorgio didn’t understand that it wasn’t his moment…
GIORGIO= Good thing you called me because I fell asleep on the Nessun Dorma. 😂😂
The boys apologize to Giorgio and say that he didn’t understand that the ending of the name was A and not O. 😳😁😁
Giorgio says that perhaps the Arena has bad acoustics because the three of them sing well but speak badly and from behind you can’t understand A or O well so he recommends the kids to pronounce well or to send him a whatsapp!! 🤣🤣🤣
Giorgio goes out and Ignazio tells the boys that maybe it’s best for Giorgio to have his hearing checked. 😉😂😂
And now GiorgiA comes in and has prepared some nice questions for Il Volo.
This time Giorgia will ask personal questions, but they will have to answer as if they were another of the three. 😳😳🤪🤪
PIERO/GIAN= My name is Gianluca, hi…..wait I have to wink.
GIORGIA= Your favorite hobby.
PIERO/GIAN= Instagram 😂
GIAN/IGNA= Playstation.
Ignazio says it’s not true, but Gianluca protests by saying that he and Piero can say everything about him, so he can do it too. 😉
IGNA/PIERO= I’m doing the marathon so I run, I run.
GIORGIA= How do you like to dress?
PIERO/GIAN= Every day different from the next. 😁
IGNAZIO=….how much I liked being Gianluca at this moment….😁😁
GIAN/IGNA= Does he know what he’s doing? He spreads the glue, goes into the wardrobe and puts on whatever remains stuck to him. 🤣🤣 (Piero compliments him for the answer)
GIANLUCA= You’ve seen, I can be nice too!😉
GIORGIA= (To Ignazio) Do you want to say something?
IGNAZIO= Now I’ve redone the walk-in closet, I got all the same clothes so I’m dressed the same every day. 😂
GIORGIA= So how do you dress?
IGNA/PIERO= Terrible! 🤣
GIORGIA= Your relationship with social media.
PIERO/GIAN= I’m here every day😂
GIANLUCA= But at least I always stay in touch with our fans.🥰
PIERO= You must know that we have just returned from Japan, we visited Nara, I have been there, but I saw more things on his Instagram than with my own eyes.😂
GIAN/IGNA= Non-existent, Ignazio doesn’t have a telephone.
GIORGIA= This honors you, can I say it??
PIERO= But who are you telling? (Igna has the sign with the name Piero)😳😳😁
GIORGIA= I don’t know, I’m confused!! 🤪🤪 Last question: What relationship do you have with the hairdresser?
PIERO/GIAN= I’ll even take my personal one to Japan.😂😂
IGNA/PIERO= He (Piero) when he goes to cut his hair, in front of the mirror says: “The thirty-second hair back here and the one hundred and twenty-seventh is longer.” 😂😂
GIAN/IGNA= Instead you (Ignazio) go with the lawnmower 🤣🤣
GIORGIA= Give me back the signs, guys, you were very nice.
From above in the royal box position, Giorgio Panariello in a serious moment reads beautiful words of Bertolt Brecht.
“Children play at war, it is rare for them to play at peace, because adults have always been at war.
You go PUM (shot) and laugh, the soldier shoots and another man doesn’t laugh anymore.
It’s war.
There is another game to invent: make the world smile, don’t make it cry.
Peace means that not everyone likes the same game, that your toys are also liked by other children who often don’t have them, because maybe you have too many of your own, that other children’s drawings are not messes, that your mother doesn’t it’s just all yours, that all children are your friends.
And peace is still: don’t be hungry, don’t be cold, don’t be afraid.” ❤️
Il Volo sings the beautiful SMILE. 🥰
Gianluca calls GiorgiO Panariello on stage, but GiorgiA arrives.
IGNAZIO= There must be a problem back there: GiorgiO 🤣
GIORGIA= Eh, wasn’t it me?
(Giorgio enters) Hi GiorgiO
GIORGIO= Hi GiorgiA.
GIANLUCA= But we can’t do these figures though.
GIORGIO= I explained the acoustics problem to GiorgiA back there, but she doesn’t remember it. (to Giorgia) You have to take the drops of memory (Drops of memory is a song by Giorgia) 🤣🤣🤣 because they are useful to you in these moments here. Agree?
Now it’s my turn.
Then GiorgiA goes backstage.
A long funny historical comic monologue begins by Giorgio Panariello who explains the origins of the Arena. (I translate some passages of the monologue.)
GIORGIO= We are at the Verona Arena, we are immersed in history, you don’t know these things, I have studied, this amphitheater where you are sitting comfortably, it is a Roman amphitheater dating back to the first century AD, think about it, this structure was built even before the Colosseum.
PIERO= I’ve known you forever, but I didn’t think you were such a man of culture. How do you know all these things?
GIORGIO= It’s written on the teleprompter. 🤣🤣
It’s written there.
GIANLUCA= But you can’t reveal it like that.
GIORGIO= You can read too….it’s all written there.
IGNAZIO= But you certainly read it better!
GIORGIO= Because in Verona there is nothing older and better preserved, apart from Gianluca’s forelock, than the Verona Arena. This tuft (talking to Gianluca) dates back to the time of the Etruscans, they already had this tuft here. 😂
The Arena of Verona was built by the Romans right here in Verona, what a coincidence……(now he makes a list of Italian monuments)…..look at this Arena how well it has been preserved, the walls, the stands, the audience, look at how the audience was preserved, when the Romans arrived these people were already here, with umbrellas and raincoats when it rains, they built the Arena around them, I’ve already seen that gentleman there in a bas-relief preserved in the Vatican museums.🤣
People were already here when gladiators fought in the Arena and there were also chariots, have you ever seen chariots? (The speech takes on a mischievous tone and Piero and Ignazio laugh a lot.)
Then in the Middle Ages theatrical and lyrical and therefore musical shows began to be performed and this is why you are here, and with you there is also me, your Giorgio…….your GiorgiO!!!!
GiorgiA comes back after hearing her name called, but Giorgio tells her that it wasn’t her time and sends her away.
Giorgio says that he came to sing and together with Il Volo and the audience they perform a small singing gag. 😁😁😁
Gianluca presents one of the most loved songs in the world, precisely: IL MONDO.
Ignazio says that it has been many years since they sang this beautiful song that everyone knows: LEI (SHE).
Giorgia returns and now it’s Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca who want to ask her questions.
PIERO= Question number one. Which artist did you have a poster of in your room?
GIORGIA= Whitney Houston.
IGNAZIO= Which historical group would you have liked to be part of?
GIORGIA= Queen.
GIANLUCA= What lullaby did you sing to your baby?
GIORGIA= I sang Lullaby to Smelly Cat.
PIERO= Which piece of music are you most attached to?
GIORGIA= Soul of Pino Daniele.
IGNAZIO= The strangest place where you sang a song?
GIORGIA= A wardrobe.
GIANLUCA= The most absurd gift you’ve ever received from a fan?
GIORGIA= The toilet brush shaped like a microphone.
The questions are over and Giorgia thanks the guys for the experience of being with them, she also tells them that they are human, nice and cool people.
It’s Piero’s moment who says that it’s not Il Volo that brings Italian music around, but Italian music that brings Il Volo into the world.
Piero pays homage to Puccini and all the writers of Operas by saying that Operas are nothing more than life stories where usually two people get to know each other and then everyone dies. 😳😁
Piero performs from Tosca: RECONDITA ARMONIA
Gianluca follows with the solo: ALWAYS ON MY MIND in memory of great Elvis Presley.
Now another touching moment, Ignazio reads a letter dedicated to a woman killed by her man a year ago.
And where are you, a fragile soul, in which part of the universe do you find yourself.
Who knows if where you are the sun rises and then sets.
Who knows if grandmothers bake cakes and grandfathers tell fairy tales.
Who knows if people go to harvest and you can still run among the vines.
Who knows if the sea is always curled and the wind blows strong, or maybe everything is calm, calm and silent. Who knows if there is someone there too who wants to tie up your freedom, because here you were not free to choose. You were deprived of the beauty of life with an act of human smallness. Alone I am no one to say enough to violence, but if we say it together we can make a difference. Who knows if now, where you are, you will have found love.
Hi Marisa! 🙏
Ignazio sings ANIMA FRAGILE, a song written by the singer-songwriter Vasco Rossi.
Enter Gaetano Curreri, singer of Stadio, a boy band that Ignazio followed and imitated as a child.
At the end of the duet Ignazio thanks Gaetano Curreri and at the end he says that it was a great emotion to sing this song with him and now he feels happy.
And now Il Volo, reunited, sings GRANADA in three different styles.
A beautiful tribute to Morricone follows with the song SE, taken from Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.
Now a beautiful duet by Ignazio with Mara Sattei singing CREEP by Radiohead.
We return to classical music with a solo by Piero who performs Rossini’s tarantella LA DANZA, a song already sung by Gianluca during Notte Magica.
A solo by Gianluca who sings a beautiful song by the singer-songwriter De Andrè: LA CANZONE DELL’AMORE.
This song is very sweet and Gianluca sings it with so much emotion.
When Piero and Ignazio return, Piero says: “Good boy” and Ignazio says: “This is proof that when you sing from the heart you make a difference and so I was moved.” 😍😍😍
Giorgia returns, but this time to sing together with Il Volo, (in particular with Ignazio who often sings it), her song E POI.
Piero announces the final song of the concert, a song taken from their new album: AD ASTRA.
At the final bars of the beautiful song, a riot of confetti floods the people.
Thus ends a fantastic concert, a perfect and harmonious set of voices, sounds, colours.
Next week will be the concert I attended.
Needless to say, the television broadcast achieved maximum ratings.
Now I want to hear your opinions.
See you soon: Daniela 🤗
They may not have won Sanremo but they are still riding high. After winning Sanremo 2015, the guys were also riding high, and they presented Palasport 2016. In January 2016 and now in January 2025 nine years later, they will again perform concerts at Palasport 2025. The Italian word Palasport is an arena or stadium where sports events take place but more recently, it is also a place where great concerts take place.
At PALASPORT 2016 the guys performed in the following arenas:
ROSETO DEGLI ABRUZZI, PALA MAGGETTI
ANCONA, PALA ROSSIN
PADOVA, ARENA SPETTACOLO PADOVA FIERE
LIVORNO, MODIGLIANI FORUM
FLORENCE, NELSON MANDELA FORUM
ROME, PALALOTTOMATICA
CASERTA, PALA MAGGIÒ
BARI, PALA FLORIO
ACIREALE (CT), PALASPORT
BOLOGNA, UNIPOL ARENA
TURIN, PALA ALPITOUR
MILAN, MEDIOLANUM FORUM
For those of you who are new to Il Volo or have come into the picture after 2016 or after they won Sanremo, I would like to fill you in a little on the event which took place after they won Sanremo.
Palasport 2016 was an exciting event for the guys because now Italy knew them and what they could do, and Italy filled every arena at every performance.
Nine years have passed, and we’ve watched the guys very closely especially these last few months. We’ve noticed how they’ve grown not just in their voices but in their lives. They have new goals, new realities, new dreams! They’ve come into their own and they are experiencing new things in their lives.
Piero aspires to opera and works towards that dream every day. I’m sure he will sing in an opera very soon.
Ignazio dreams of a life with a wife and children, “at least three!” We all know this will come true now that the beautiful Michelle Bertolini has come into his life. And of course, his soulful voice is becoming more and more evident in his performances. His lyrical voice can take him anywhere especially all the way to high C! Is there any song you can’t sing, Ignazio?
And Gianluca has found himself in the voices of Elton John, the Beatles, even Louis Armstrong.
They’ve found their way! Not away from each other! No, Il Volo is Il Volo. But they found a middle road that works for all of them.
After Sanremo 2015 and Eurovision, the guys were riding high! Italy opened its eyes, and their fate was sealed! The Grande Amore Tour had them spinning but perhaps their proudest moments were PALASPORT 2016 at home with the Italian people. I like to go back and watch these videos because I can see how much the guys enjoyed these concerts. I thought about how the guys are preparing for the upcoming World Tour. So, I went back Through the Fields of My Mind, and I pulled some of these videos. Then I remembered an article by Daniela where she wrote about an interview with some of the people behind the scenes and it was very interesting so, I decided to put it all together and relive PALASPORT 2016
These last months have brought the guy’s center stage doing one interview after another. Endless interviews! It was the same after Sanremo 2015. In that period the guys had so many interviews and they had to repeat the same answers over and over again.
I decided to give the guys a break and let someone else do the talking. So, instead of all those questions and answers let’s look at an interview by the technical team from 2016 while we listen to the wonderful voices of Il Volo!
The date is 2016 and the Grande Amore Tour is under way between Italy, Europe and America.
The guys are already into the tour but there is always the fine-tuning for each concert. The crew is together, and they will lead us through the technicalities but without all the long technical parts.
This interview was written for the Sound & Lite newspaper.
IL VOLO – Live Palasport 2016 by Douglas Cole
They call this “Pòpera” a resurgence of opera in the field of popular music and a phenomenon that, in our humble opinion, returns a little faith in the ability of the general public to discern a true capacity for musical performance … because taste apart, the talent and work necessary to develop virtuosity with the lyric voice as an instrument are undeniable. So far, in this latest return of classical singing, the foreign public has been more receptive than the Italians.
Il Volo became the first Italian group in history to directly sign a record deal in America, before they left Italy.
Since the release of the first album, this trio has been almost constantly on tour in North America, South America, Europe and Italy.
In 2012, in addition to a tour in Latin America and the Il Volo Takes Flight tour in the United States, the group also did a very rare (and very successful) tour with Barbra Streisand, which cemented their fame in American pop. Since then, every year they do at least two Il Volo tours on at least two continents.
Having been taken away to America at the very beginning of their career and despite a large number of concerts in Italy, since the beginning of last year with the almost fortuitous victory of “Grande Amore” at the Sanremo Festival and with the consequent representation of Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest (third place, but with the prize of the press), Il Volo was still rather unknown in our country (Italy).
2015, on the other hand, marked the true return to the homeland, with their new album Sanremo Grande Amore which earned a triple platinum record, and a very successful summer tour, culminating in a big event at the Arena di Verona in September, re-transmitted in prime time on RAI 1. Well … better late than never: welcome home, guys!
We crossed this tour more or less halfway, on a date at the Unipol Arena in Bologna, where we found the production manager, Eliana Dalila Biondi.
Elinana: I have been working for Michele Torpedine since 2011. In 2013, during a tour in South America, Michele asked me to follow the production. I am Argentine and, as a matter of language, I was the right person for the role. In that case we did a tour with local productions, 28 dates in 50 days …
This year, instead, it was decided to take the step organizing the tour in the arenas. We have prepared this project together with Francesco de Cave (lights and show-design) for a world tour, which starts from Italy and then goes to the United States and then back to Europe.
Douglas: With the whole production?
Eliana: In Italy and the United States with the entire production, while in Europe we use local production materials, and we bring the direction, with us.
Douglas: Is this production a big leap forward compared to last summer?
Eliana: Yes, because this summer fundamentally focused on natural scenery: Taormina and other picturesque places where there was no need for much. The guys really don’t need much … they do the show. (Truer words were never spoken)
Douglas: The boys already seem very good at working the stage with professionalism!
Eliana: They are very confident of their abilities, in a positive sense, so they are never arrogant. They’ve been doing this job since they were 14, so they grew up on music and the stage. They have security dictated by experience. On stage they create a very nice atmosphere, thanks to their jokes and complicity with the public they have created over time and in many live performances.
Douglas: How many are you on tour?
Eliana: About sixty, and if we add the orchestra of as many as 34 elements in each city … we arrive at a beautiful number.
Douglas: Are the orchestras different at each stage?
Eliana: Unlike last summer, where there was always the same orchestra, this year due to a calendar issue we chose to take local orchestras.
Douglas: Logistically, for orchestral music rehearsals, how do you do it?
Eliana: There is a lot of work that is done upstream. All the material of the repertoire is collected, and our musical director sends it in advance to the orchestras who do the tests independently. Then there were also rehearsals with the Maestro who, whenever possible, anticipated the production to be able to listen and guide the orchestras before the concert … maybe even the morning of the show or, even, in the case of back-to-back long, a few hours before the concert!
Douglas: I ask Alessio Guerrieri, stage director, if it is difficult to manage, such as artists, Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca.
Alessio: Absolutely not! Indeed: they are very good. They are not used to doing great tests … in fact when Francesco De Cave arrived, who was new to the production and was planning the show, he asked me: ‘But how will we explain a show to them in two days?’ I reassured him by telling him that he had to do only the lineup and explain the dynamics of the show: the artists would do exactly what was required of them, every time. In fact, they come from a lyrical musical setting and training, so they have a completely different kind of discipline. Since they have to do a precise warm-up routine, they have to eat and do everything according to a fixed schedule. If the show is at 9pm, for example, you know they have to eat at 6pm, and they do the same things every day. They are very square, and this is our luck. It is also important as a form of respect. If they give me the time of the show, I send the orchestra at 8:55 pm and the artists are on stage at 9:00 pm. To date we have never started a minute late. They are very professional and attentive to these things. And I assure you that it is not at all obvious.
Douglas: (Asked the sound engineer, Enrico Belli.) How much does the show depend on the orchestra?
Enrico: Very much of course for classic songs. They are songs that the singers sing singularly (in fact they don’t always sing in three, but they also make duets and solo pieces) mostly on classical works that almost completely depend on the orchestra and the piano.
Douglas: We also ask the lighting operator, Emanuele Vangelatos, for an opinion.
Emanuele: In the show there is a good balance between the most static scenes, used on classic, beautiful, colored pieces, developed in depth along with the video, and the more dynamic ones of the pop songs, in which we also push a lot, because we have projectors able to move the scene a lot.
The pieces of the solos, which are almost all purely lyrical, are in fact illuminated with very static and intimate, almost theatrical scenes. When there are the pieces in trio, plus pop, there is a director behind them, and the director has also coordinated and agreed about the movements of the artists on stage.
Paradoxically, says the engineer, despite their young age, they have several years of experience on stage. The presence is there, and the public greatly appreciates it. Everywhere we did the full: it is a confirmation of the fact that they are also strong in Italy.”
Despite my personal tastes, I respect the musical talent of any kind without reservation, and I appreciate a majestic performance of any kind. I didn’t know Il Volo before and when I was told what kind of concert it would be, I was very afraid of having to suffer the evening.
Instead, it is a really pleasant concert. It was taken for granted that the boys were good at singing, but the lineup includes so many songs with an almost universal familiarity that the interest never drops – even during the moments of speech, in which the artists show total control of the stage and the audience. I am amazed by the audience, made up equally of teenage girls and elderly men out for an annual evening, often with the two categories combined in groups of grandparents with their grandchildren: universal appeal!
The mix is very well done, with an orchestra that even seems to come from recorded tracks (called as a compliment!) and a very sensitive hand in following the dynamics of that type of voice taken with handheld microphones. The sound in the room is very beautiful, especially in the platea (the central and lower part of the theater). We believe that a couple of delays would not have done any harm to offer a greater direct reflection relationship at the back of the room.
The visual spectacle is truly remarkable. The effect of the video that comes out and incorporates the orchestra is really effective. The inevitable central staircase to the Broadway skyline in LED, immediately imposes the tone of the show, but it is anything but a static set design. Even the light design is very flexible: sometimes it offers bandstand show lighting, with colorful or white scenes combined with graphics and lights, in others it looks like a pop or rock music show with backlight.
That was a very interesting description of how it is all put together. I must say the visuals today are so much more sensational. Technology! These guys just keep getting better each day!
I think Daniela said it best when she said, in the original article, “I was pleased to read the admiration towards our guys, from the technical team that supports them on their travels.
It is a very important thing and makes us understand the harmony in the team, also due to the seriousness of Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, guys sometimes jokers, but also real professionals.”
Exactly right Daniela!
I want to sum this article up by saying our guys have total control of the stage and the audience. The music in each concert is framed and the setlist is run according to their audience. In some cases, the music in Italy will be different from that of North America or South America but the classics always remain along with all the new music. But above all Italy may have been the last to get on the bandwagon but I’m sure you noticed when they did, they went all out! The trio becomes an auditorium of singers!
I must say I enjoyed reliving PALASPORT 2016 and I hope you enjoyed it too! Now we wait as the guys prepare for Palasport 2025.
This is an interview the guys did while they were touring with Barbara Streisand.
For your listening pleasure Part One and Two of the Palasport 2016 Milan Concert
Join me next week as I go Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
To read the original interview by Daniela, go to http://www.ilvoloflightcrw.com and search BIRTH OF A CONCERT AND A TOUR. As always, thank you Daniela for your wonderful translations.
If you would like to share a story with me, please email: susan.flightcrew@yahoo.com
