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The Turin DJ and remixer Gigi D’Agostino celebrates his 58th birthday next Wednesday. Behind the decks he is considered an old hand who invented the very niche Italian genre Lento Violento (loosely translated: “slowly violent”) in the 1990s. A form of electronic music in which D’Agostino and his disco colleagues slowed down the BPM number of the tracks using pitch control on the record player. This later gave rise to a form of production that oscillated between trance and techno and was also popular in the mega clubs of Ibiza.
The best-known hit of the man who likes to perform in a white top hat with a decorative butterfly stuck to it is “L’Amour Toujours”. In short: a feel-good showman who has been traveling internationally for decades.
Gigi’s classics also include “Bla Bla Bla”, “The Riddle” and “In My Mind”. Songs that define a certain style of dance floor and represent nights of dancing between Milan and the beach clubs on the Adriatic coast.
Abuse on Sylt and elsewhere
In this context, it is all the more bitter that “L’Amour Toujours” has received special attention in recent years: The track was appropriated in May 2024 by champagne-drunk luxury people with right-wing extremist leanings at a party in the outdoor area of the Pony Bar in Kampen on Sylt. But not just there. The bluntly rewritten song was used at numerous summer and shooting festivals.
In interviews, the Italian veteran was astonished and even disgusted by this hostile takeover. He emphasized that his sound traditionally relies on openness, diversity and “positive, communal experiences”. A spirit that is completely opposite to the “foreigners out” cries.
The only Germany date in October
Now a D’Agostino mega experience has been announced for October 1, 2026. The Italian sound creator is coming to the Berlin multifunctional arena Velodrom with an “immersive” 360-degree show. The only appointment in Germany. Individual events have been announced for Austria, with stops in Graz (February), Vienna (May), Innsbruck (June) and Linz (June).
The organizer’s press release says: “For one night, it transforms the arena into a huge, vibrating sound laboratory. The show is less a concert than an immersive cosmos: surround sound, expansive projections and sophisticated lighting architecture merge into an experience that draws the audience and stage into the same electronic orbit.”
D’Agostino himself has repeatedly emphasized how much Berlin’s electronic scene inspires him. The city, he says, has something inexhaustible – a mix of freedom, chaos and creativity that has always given him energy. He has also never hidden his humorous weakness for Berlin currywurst.
Advance sales start on Friday
Advance sales for this major audiovisual event start tomorrow, Friday (December 12th). The vague question remains whether right-wing trolls are also infiltrating this rush of light and rhythm.
To a dance event where there is nothing “right” to be found. So far it is difficult to imagine that the Gigi shows in Prenzlauer Berg or Austria could be “turned around” in a bad way.