Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – His audience shows a photo that transforms him into Massimo Decimo Meridio, and he ironically comments: "The only smiling gladiator in the history of Rome." L'Arca di Lore' arrives at the Circus Maximus for the double finale of the Jova Summer Party, and for the occasion, Jovanotti really pushes his musical circus to the max, bringing to the stage a new party full of guests, colors, jam sessions, and musical flavors that intertwine genres, geographies, and generations.
For the first of two evenings in his native Rome, the city where he was born and raised until his twenties, Lorenzo confirms his status as a master juggler and host. "All roads start in Rome and return to Rome; this has always been the city of encounter," he says from the stage.
Backstage, between jam sessions, he tells journalists about the special atmosphere of these days: “It's beautiful.
"When the sun goes down, it becomes magical: the concert format is broken. It becomes an almost family celebration. The experiment was a success: they have a lot of fun. I have a lot of fun too, especially I have a lot of fun," he says, laughing.
The musical acrobatics of his open-air tent, of the traveling city that the artist accompanied on his bicycle for 2000 kilometers, also involve Alfa in his Roman debut, with whom he regales the over 45 spectators at the Roman arena with "Buon vento," the single that saw them collaborate for the first time under the banner of good vibes and which has become one of the catchy hits of this summer's music.
“There is a luxury I cannot afford,” he says before performing the song, “and it is pessimism.” Shortly after, Jova pays homage to Emma Bonino, showing a video in which the radical leader underlines the importance of “living free.”
World-famous DJ Benny Benassi introduces the main set, entrusting Lorenzo with the final warm-up for the audience before the fireworks of his evening show, where he performs all his greatest hits: from 'Tanto' to 'Gimme Five', from 'Positivo' to 'Le canzoni', from 'Mi fido di te' to 'Come musica', from 'Bella' to 'I love you baby', from 'Ti porto via con me' to 'La Notte dei desideri', 'Ciao mamma' to 'Il più grande spettacolo dopo il Big Bang', from 'Immortali' to 'L'ombelico del mondo', from 'Ragazzo fortuna' to the most romantic finale entrusted to 'A te'.
A choice that Lorenzo, backstage, anticipates when asked which song best represents his journey today: "In the end, romantic songs are the ones that have the longest lifespan, probably because that's a feeling that, thankfully, continues to have a place in people's lives. And so, in the long run, if you give me a guitar and say, 'Sing me one of your songs,' I'll sing you 'Bella,'" he confesses.
Lorenzo sings and dances with the inexhaustible positive energy that defines his live performances and fuels his diverse audience. Making the event special is his return to his hometown, which he says he found, on Friday's 60-kilometer bike ride that took him to the places of his childhood and adolescence, "much better than it's portrayed."
Joining Jovanotti again this evening is the band he's shared with throughout this great traveling festival: the inseparable Saturnino, bass player and close friend of Lorenzo's for over 35 years; Adriano Viterbini on guitar; Christian "Noochie" Rigano on electronic keyboards and synths; Franco Santarnecchi on piano and analog keyboards; Carmine "B-Dog" Landolfi on drums; Moris Pradella on second guitar and backing vocals; Micol Touadi and Jennifer Vargas on backing vocals; Leo Di Angilla on rhythm; Kalifa Kone on traditional African instruments, from the djembe to the balafon, from the tama to the ngonì; Gianluca Petrella on trombone and conducting the wind section, which also includes Camilla Rolando on trumpet and Sophia Tomelleri on saxophone.
The party, as with the other dates on this tour (Rome comes after Olbia, Montesilvano, Catanzaro, Palermo, Naples, and Bari), begins in mid-afternoon. And Jovanotti, who arrives at the Roman date two weeks shy of his sixtieth birthday (he'll celebrate it on September 27th, "with my girls, we'll go for pizza. I throw parties for a living, I'm not used to celebrating birthdays; I only celebrated with my father, who was born the day after mine"), has punctuated it with collaborations and guests from different generations, the same generations that make up his joyful audience, made up of his peers but also his children, grandchildren, and families: his "dancing tribe."
Starting at 16 pm, the stage at the Circo Massimo will feature DJ-producers Fresco & Ali Selecta, singer-songwriter Matteo Alieno, Palestinian singer-songwriter Tära, Egyptian artist and multi-instrumentalist Bal Qeis, a specialist on the oud and live looping, blending Middle Eastern tradition with electronic music, the multicultural band Ayom, which blends Atlantic and Mediterranean sounds, the Roman hip hop crew Cor Veleno (with whom Jova also performs a freestyle), and the committed rapper Frankie hi-nrg.
Jova takes the secondary stage, in the center of the Roman arena, for an unplugged first set shortly after 5:30 PM, treating the Circus Maximus audience to some songs less frequently performed in his live shows (from 'Ricordati di vivere' to 'Pieno di vita' to 'Quando sarà vecchio'), opening for the occasion with a personalized version of Roman taverns. He plays with his guests. Then, around 6:30 PM, he joins indie singer-songwriter Mobrici on the main stage for a duet on the song 'Border Jam,' a song about borders that Lorenzo sings live for the first time, modifying the ending with a pacifist twist: "no more borders, no more wars." Backstage, he then explains: "It's a song about erasing borders, it's about a utopia. Songs can afford that: in real life, we'd avoid certain rhetoric, but in songs, we can afford the dream, the utopia. Thank goodness."
The journey, which concludes in the heart of ancient Rome, after a start on the other side of the world, in Australia, and stops in Europe, is also a journey of discovery and rediscovery of the beauties of central and southern Italy, which Jovanotti traveled by bicycle and recounted on social media. However, he clarifies that this journey will not be included in the documentary film about his life, "Lorenzo – L'incredibile avventura di Jovanotti," directed by Dario Zonta and Carlo Zoratti, which opens in theaters from November 26th to December 2nd.
“The film is finished,” he says. “For the first time in my life, I had no control: they followed me for seven years, but I asked never to see them. I didn't want to feel the presence of the cameras. I didn't want to make a documentary about my story, also because if I do it myself, it would come out badly, because I'm doing it all looking to the future. But I gave them all the material. And the beautiful thing is that we found a box of Super 8s my father had made: it's a documentary about a child, the child I carry inside me. It's very moving, a little heartbreaking. When I saw it for the first time, I was shocked for a week, then I said: Great, it's fine with me.”
Industry insiders are already rumouring that the film is in the running for a premiere at the Rome Film Fest, scheduled for October 13th to 25th. This event would ideally close the circle of Lorenzo's "parties," which span from the Jova Summer Party to the red carpet at the Auditorium, via his sixtieth birthday.
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