Ultimo continues its long tour in the Italian stadiums (15 dates around Italy). Yesterday, Wednesday 22 June, he performed at the Grande Torino Olympic Stadium. And we could see with our own eyes because he has become a symbol of his generation.
“On the side of the last to feel first”
With a very fast pace, Ultimo (che recently collaborated with Ed Sheeran on the single 2step) proposes successes upon successes. He opens the concert with the enthusiasm of good morning Lifecontinues with The dance of uncertaintiesa piece with which he triumphed among the New Proposals from Sanremo in 2018, and other pieces that have in fact transformed the Olympic Stadium in Turin into a great united people.
Also noteworthy is the live effect of the last single Come into my heart: an explosion of sounds and colors. And it was not lacking either a fan raidrunning to hug him on stage while he sang I dedicate silence to you. After a couple of seconds of freezing cold, the singer-songwriter hugs her and, once she is removed from safety, she continues to sing as if nothing had happened.
Fateme sanga request to return to the essential
After an intimate medley (made even more intimate by the presence of a nice glass of red wine on stagesipping between one song and another), Niccolò Moriconi – this is his real name – he proposes Blame the fairy tales, Swallows on a leash. And Fateme sang.
Song that matches the precise moment in which we understand the causes and explanations of the incredible success of Ultimo, which has become the youngest artist ever to perform in stadiums in an almost entirely sold-out tour (produced by Vivo Concerti). A song that is a request. A lament so that the music will go back to being what it has always been for him: need and passion. The attempt, in short, to put aside all sides of the popularity that have little to do with art and who, instead, often transform artists into icons to be idolized. In mysterious and inanimate “objects” to steal selfies and autographs.
Fateme sang reports the work of Ultimo (16 gold records and 52 platinum records) to the essentials. While in the center of an imposing stage (it would also be for an artist with a 30-year career, let alone one born in 1996) and while celebrating the confirmation of his incredible success, Ultimo continually feels the need to remember why it all started: the desire not to feel alone, to feel fulfilled, to communicate everything he felt. And the hope that all this could one day belong to others as well.
While the choir of the Olimpico of Turin accompanies this performance (in Roman dialect), the three big screens behind the artist alternate the live images of the public with others, already recorded, with some of the subjects that today we would define the “invisibles”: from kids in the park to lonely elderly people, sitting on the side of the road.
«Fateme cantà pe ‘quer guy who has no more name er, is pe’ street, begs a heart», he sings. And the reflection is only one: the alternation of the images of the public with those, in black and white, of the “invisibles” is by no means forced. On the contrary. There is no difference between the two different types of subjects.
Last at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino. (Getty Images)
Because the Last became the Last
Perhaps from this moment of the live one can perceive why the Last has become the Last. Because its slogan “On the side of the last to feel first” (adapted from Dreams hangingwith which the artist concluded his two-hour live) it is not rhetorical in any way. On the contrary.
At a time when many are looking for ever greater legitimacy, fishing here and there purely pop slogans and anthems, it is not obvious that an audience will embrace an artist’s message. Between Ultimo and his people there is a pact, declared and manifest: there is no difference between us and those out there on the streets. Each of us can have a thousand reasons and / or paranoia for which to feel last. At the same time each of us has the opportunity to redeem himself.
Last is Last especially for this reason: because his story of redemption brings him closer to his people. It makes it credible and an example. During the concert he says it himself: “Passion is the only thing that carries life forward. Today I go back to playing songs that I wrote when I was 15. I started this journey when I was that age in my bedroom. Look at how beautiful this little room has become tonight“.
Last at the Palapartenope during the “Guilt of Fables, 2019” tour (Getty Images)
Its incredible success is, perhaps, all here. In the respectful and mutually in love pact between him and his audience. At the basis of which there are not only slogans, but human events – full of difficulties and also limitations (not hidden) – that end up bringing each other closer. In a single song that has all the flavor of a big party.
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