Hello All!  Ciao a tutti!

 

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a concert here.  Their last performance here in 2025, for me, was met with sadness, as my dear friend had just come home from the hospital, after surviving a very tragic car accident, resulting in rescuers having to use the “jaws of life” to get her out, a compound broken leg, and nearly breaking her neck!  I had bought her the ticket for her birthday/Christmas present last year and she wasn’t able to attend.  We also didn’t have our usual front row orchestra pit seats, due to the crazy prices, so had to settle for 2^nd row behind orchestra pit.  They were ok seats, but it just wasn’t the same and they seemed so far away!

We also couldn’t afford meet/greets, so all that combined, I left the concert feeling that something was just missing from the whole evening.  Even though I had arranged a fun party bus to take us downtown, which worked out well, along with our pre-concert dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, it just wasn’t the same.

2026

It had been a hectic week at work, planning for several all-day meetings, with breakfast/lunch being delivered and an almost all-day meeting on Thursday the day before the concert.  Luckily, I did take Friday off.  But still had to coordinate driver pick-up timing and then deal with unexpected possible construction issues.  I planned as much as I could and there were still a few hiccups, but in the end, everything worked out.

Betty flew up from New Orleans and stayed with me, while Magdalena drove up from Toledo, also staying with me the night of the concert.  It was a full house with them, me, my mom, a new dog, and Topaz! 🙂 

So, on to the show…..

After we finally made it to our seats, needing to stop at will-call to have Betty’s ticket printed out, since she was not able to access it on her phone and we ended up printing everyone’s ticket, which really made it easier all around (I’ll have to remember that for next time instead of housing them all on my phone), I was finally settled and relaxed.  We sat right behind Rose Marie P., who had already attended 3 other concerts!  Even though not front row, the 2^nd row proved to be great!

They opened with “O Sole Mio” and then went into “Granada”. For once they didn’t have all the flashing and strobing lights, like the last few shows.  They had a few, but then it died down and had like these electric candles in alcoves on the stage.  Pretty low fanfare, as far as that goes.  The guys brought great maturity, but were still able to bring forth some of their old humor and camaraderie, as Ignazio did “my” favorite thing he does with Piero when he sings the one long note in Granada, where he acts like he is winding him up behind his back.  They hadn’t done that in many years/concerts!

The ”two thumbs up” must be a new thing with Ignazio – he did it several times during the show.  😊

After a few more songs, they chatted a bit, saying how wonderful it was to come back to the Fox, their home, and how they are celebrating 17 years together, as well as thanking some family-like friends that were in the audience.

The one bling that was almost brighter than the lights was Gianluca’s personal bling!  He had on his usual diamond tennis bracelet, but had added this diamond ring.  It looked like just one big diamond across the band, but we were able to enlarge a picture he posted from Instagram and it was a row of diamonds across.  But we could see it pretty clearly from the 2^nd row!  He is also sporting a tiny gold hoop earring now, maybe just for concerts?

Ignazio’s tie was pretty classy, kind of gray/black with a vertical row of crystals going down the front. Ignazio, a bit plumper than we’ve seen him in a while, wore a nice vest with his tuxedo.  Piero had on black with a pretty sparkly brooch on his lapel, as well as wearing a cummerbund.  Piero commented that Ignazio is now a new father and Ignazio parlayed back with “it is not new anymore?” and Piero and Gianluca saying that Gabrielle had the two best “uncles.”  Piero commented on Ignazio’s few extra pounds, with Ignazio trying to make light of it saying “what, since I am a new father, now I am fat?”  or something like that – I can’t remember it exactly…. 😉

Their voices – OMG!  We always seem to say they get better and better, but somehow, they really do!  For the first time in a while, the sound at the Fox was just superb.  Their voices magnificent.  Someone told me Ignazio was taking opera lessons now. They must have mentioned it at a prior concert, but they didn’t at Detroit.  However, you could really tell with his voice on the more operatic songs, in how he held his notes, the timbre of his voice and the technique in which he reached the higher notes.  His mouth seemed much more relaxed and open when reaching for those high notes, projecting clear into the balcony!  I swear, I don’t think they even needed mics, they sang everything with such power.

Another comedy scene, was when they had just finished singing “Ecstasy of Gold” and then Piero addressed the audience saying how the previous song and next song were written by the great Italian composer, etc., (of course most of us likely knew it was Ennio Morricone) and then Ignazio comes over and they have this discussion back and forth, with Ignazio asking Piero, “but who is this composer?  You didn’t tell them who wrote the last one.”  Of course Ignazio kept interrupting him each time he tried to tell us it was Morricone, and was trying to say “signore and signori”… and finally gave up and said “ladies and gentleman” “Se” from Cinema Paradiso…

Earlier, before they sang their solos, they told us how they chose Ignazio to sing his first, as they lightly bantered back and forth, finally leaving Ignazio on the stage to perform his new solo.  I was really hoping for one the many songs he sings in English all over Europe, but no, he actually sang something a little more special!  He commented on how he sang this for the first time at their concert from 2011, at the Detroit Opera House, actually about 15 years ago, “Ti Voglio Tanto Bene!!”  Oh, it was glorioso and magnifico!  It’s definitely not one we hear too often.

Piero sang a new solo as well, from some opera set in the United States, forgive me, I can’t remember what opera it was, but I’d never heard of it. 😉

Gianluca’s solo, was a haunting medley of a few Elvis songs.  It started out with the lights on the stage very low, where you could barely detect the profile outline of his face with the lights glowing behind it.  It got a little lighter as the songs went on, but was mostly sung in the shadows (see below).  In the beginning, before he sang the songs, he spoke this beautiful intro about the legacy of Elvis and what he left us with and then when on to sing Love Me Tender, then Dixie, then went into the Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, ……

They also did what they called a medley of “showtune” songs and did this cute little intro with Ignazio saying how they went to see the “Lion’s King” in New York many years ago and how much he liked it.  They then joked with him that there was just “one” Lion, and Igna pointed out the he was really the “king” of the “lions?” therefore “Lion’s” King.  I think he had a point?  Lol!  Much to my surprise, they didn’t sing “Can You Feel the Love?” from the Lion King, but Igna went on to sing one of my most favorite solos of his, “Tonight,” from West Side Story.  Oh, I so love that song and it was gorgeous!  Piero sang “Where do I Begin?” from Love Story, and Gianluca sang his awesome solo of “Music of the Night,” from Phantom of the Opera.  Then at the end, they all sang the big chorus of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” from Evita! – a huge surprise on that one!  You’d think they would have sang Maria, as well?

One really special moment of the concert, when they were singing Caruso (I think), they let a “grandmother” come up to the stage and give Piero a bouquet of flowers.  He was on the left side of the stage, near the piano.  He was really surprised and of course, gracious, while singing.  After he sang his part, they changed places and he went to center stage and he was just grinning from ear to ear, maybe even a little blushing, I wish I could have caught a picture, but I didn’t.  If anyone remembers the scene from White Christmas, where Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby help out the “sisters” and lip sync to “Sister” and at the end, Bing Crosby has this really big grin on his face, that is what Piero reminded me of!  😊

A nice touch this time, they prompted the audience to sing along on a few songs, like Funiculi, Funicula; Il Mondo, Hallelujah, and Grand Amore on the choruses.  It was really nice!  And of course, most know by now that Giampiero Grani is their new conductor!  They also introduced each other, but none of the orchestra?  Maybe they were all DSO folks?  At the end, they did a little encore and came back to sing “Nessun Dorma,” and then it was over.

A big thank you to Rose Marie, who provided me with the setlist from Detroit!  It comes with a misterioso footprint on it!  As well as refreshed my memory on songs that were not listed!!  😊

I would have taken more pictures, but I had lost half my battery trying to resolve an issue.  ☹

I literally got goosebumps, so many times during the show!  I have to say I truly enjoyed this one so much, more than I thought I would.  It was just like the perfect mix of songs, talking, jokes, interaction, etc.  Even the Fox Gestapo wasn’t trying to stop us from taking pictures or videos for once!  At the end, they also allowed some of the folks to approach the stage, with no security from where I sat, and the guys smiled, laughed, and shook hands.  I don’t know, it’s like the whole concert just had a different feel to it for some reason?

Now, for a little morning side trip story….

Sharon, bless her heart, wanted to do something big for the guys again, celebrating their 17 years together!  However, most things didn’t quite work out, except for this one thing.  I live in Farmington Hills, MI and Farmington, MI (technically our sister city) just recently became a sister city to Vacri, a city in the Abruzzo region.  Being that Gianluca was “Man of the Year” for Abruzzo, I thought it was a really cool connection to Gianluca and Il Volo. So, Sharon did her best and was able to get the Mayor of Farmington, Joseph LaRussa (very active in the local Italian community and strongly promoted this concert), wrote a beautiful letter to give to the guys.  See photo…hope you can read it.  If you click on the picture, it will make it bigger. Sharon was able to snag a last-minute meet/greet and gave it to the guys.  They were so touched and thrilled and they actually asked Sharon, “Can we keep this?”  😊  Like, no, we’re taking it back.  Lol!

Oh yeah, I had to go to the mayor’s office that morning and pick it up! 😊  No, didn’t get to meet the mayor, but the City Manager, a very nice lady, had it all ready and she said, he had “just signed it!”  We had gotten there about 11a or so.  On Saturday, I messaged the mayor on FaceBook and told him the letter was a success and thanked him for doing it.  He said, “I’m so glad!”

Most of the pictures here are mine, but a few are from Rose Marie and Magdalena, and the OMGVIP pic with Sharon and the certificate.  Thank you, ladies!  No videos…. I noticed there didn’t seem to be a lot of videos surfacing from the Detroit concert…?  Maybe the Gestapo was sneakier than I thought?! 😉

Til we meet again!