The magic of Sting closes 'Collisioni' in Barolo - Over 100,000 spectators in 4 days on the UNESCO hills...
The eclecticism of Sting, one of the few artists in the world capable of blending rock, pop, and jazz in a single concert, concluded the Collisioni Festival in Barolo before 10,000 people. The singer-songwriter - a multi-instrumentalist with a passion for the bass - showed off his entire 40-year career, from his early albums with the Police to his latest solo album, 'The Last Ship,' two years ago.
For the 'agrirock' festival, which this year was subtitled 'Messages in a Bottle,' named after a song written by Sting, it was a resounding finale, drawing 110,000 spectators to the 50 meetings and 70 concerts in the performance area set up in Piazza Rossa, among the Langhe vineyards, which are celebrating their first anniversary as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sting himself certainly enjoys these landscapes, approaching 64 years old, though his voice remains the same as ever. He loves the Italian countryside so much that a couple of decades ago, together with his wife, he opened a farm and winery in Tuscany, which he occasionally uses as a recording studio. Tonight, the former Police member was practically playing at home, so much so that he addressed the crowd several times in Italian. And the audience, arriving in the square in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, responded in the best possible way. Among the audience were many long-time fans, but there were also plenty of younger ones, those who had only recently discovered the maestro's music.
In a setlist peppered with great hits, Sting alternated between songs from his early days with the Police, including "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "So Lonely," and his solo releases, such as "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," which opened the concert, and "Englishman in New York." All revisited with a funky twist.
There couldn't have been a better conclusion to a festival that brought Italian artists and international stars to the Barolo stage: from Vinicio Capossela to Mark Knopfler, including Fedez and J-Ax. All were applauded enthusiastically by the enthusiastic audience, who once again appreciated this year's formula that combines great music with literature, bringing together culture and territory in the magnificent landscape of the Piedmontese Langhe.
(c) ANSA by Davide Petrizzelli
Sting, Barolo Collisioni Festival...
One of the dishes for which the Langhe is famous is boiled meat. Tasty, varied, seemingly simple to prepare, but in reality tricky, precisely because it's so popular. Many people love it, many think they have the perfect recipe, yet there are always those who criticize it: too tasty, too bland, too much salsa verde, too many or too few meats.
Collisioni, the Langhe festival held in Barolo, which broke all records this year (over 110,000 attendees, 50 meetings, 70 concerts, 500 guests, 10,000 photos uploaded to Facebook, and 143,300 likes on its Facebook page in five days), presented a top-notch selection of boiled meats, both popular and refined, making crossover its hallmark.
And no other artist could have closed this year's festival better than Sting: popular and refined, seemingly simple, yet sophisticated and challenging, for those who know how to follow his path. For Collisioni, the artist, with his hipster beard on a receding hairline, visible wrinkles on an athletic body, a stainless voice and a masterful bass touch, put together a multifaceted, vibrant, energetic, and at times unsettling concert.
Suffice it to say that, of the 20 songs played in the nearly two-hour show, exactly half belong to the Police era, and include rare gems like "When the World Is Running Down," "You Make the Best of What's Still Around," embellished with a phenomenal, funky-inspired piano solo, or the penultimate surprise, "Next to You," from that Outlandos d'amour that made them known way back in 1978, and which also included "So Lonely" and "Roxanne," both performed in Barolo, the latter featuring the Bill Withers hit "Ain't No Sunshine."
Great energy from the entire band, echoed by a cheering, diverse audience, from fathers in their fifties with a reggae-punk background, to gentle ladies enchanted by Mr. Sumner's physical prowess, to very young people rediscovering the London avant-garde years, but also curious listeners familiar with the more commercial songs from commercials. A wide range of genres, for a large audience, with whom Sting communicates in Italian, and whom he tries to please, smiling complacently at the applause, or leading them in the tribal choruses of "Walking on the Moon," just as a sliver of moon appears over Piazza Colbert, smiling at our dream.
The audience is dismissed to the tune of "Fragile"; an unusual final encore, not at all muscular, in diminuendo, a sweet and emotional goodnight, a viaticum for the road home, which, as we know, is always a bit bumpy in Barolo. But as they walk away, many continue to sing. And the road back becomes lighter.
(c) Mescalina.it by Laura Bianchi