An opportunity to announce the concerts of the summer tour in Italy with The Gentlemen Barbers
It’s a great and highly anticipated return Russell Crowe on the stage of the Ariston a Sanremo 2024. After his last performance way back in 2001 with Raffaella Carràfresh from the success of Gladiator, the Oscar-winning actor returns to the festival spotlight, this time as a special guest of Amadeus. An exhausting wait, especially after the controversy that erupted with John Travolta’s performance. Crowe entertained the audience by singing the tunes of Let the light shine with his band and Marcia Hines; a taste of what’s to come with the actor’s Italian tour next summer.
THE PERFORMANCE IN SANREMO 2024
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“A Hollywood legend, an Oscar, two Golden Globes, he played some of the most famous films in cinema” says Amadeus. Crowe emerged center stage. “Good evening, thank you very much” he said, and then the band left with Let the light shine. At the end of the performance, Amadeus returns to the stage. “They love you,” he says. “We’re happy you’re here. For us you are a legend” and off we go with the audience’s applause. “You have played mythical characters. When you get into Gladiator, how do you manage, is it easy for you or do you carry a little bit of the characters within you?” In fact, says the actor, “when I was younger it was more difficult get out of character. If we are passionate about work, it comes home with us; when we get older, we try to protect ourselves, and we manage to sever the cord.” Then, Crowe says, in Italian, the famous phrase from the film “On my signal raise hell” and the standing ovation begins.
“In the 1980s, Russell Crowe called himself Rus the Rock.” “I started with theatre, with musicals, first Grease, then Rocky Horror Show and little by little some more important characters arrived and I understood that I wanted to get to making films.” Teresa Mannino then enters and introduces herself. “But who was supposed to tell me?”. Then the reference to the tour, which begins at Colosseum archaeological park. Then Mannino’s question: “Often the big stars have an Italian relative. Russell Crowe, unlike Coppola, De Niro, Di Caprio” -Travolta, adds Amadeus amid laughter-. And yes, Crowe confirms that he has origins in Ascoli Piceno or Parma. “Luigi Ghezzi, his name was, and his father was Augusto Ghezzi”, this is the name of the ancient Italian relative. “What an adventurous journey he had.” From Ascoli he left for Argentina, where he was supposed to embark for India. But then the shipwreck, and so he arrives in Cape Town, South Africa. There he marries a woman with whom he travels to New Zealand. “This shows us how great Italy’s influence is in the world. You should be proud of this.” “If this is the result…” says Mannino, pointing to Crowe. And the applause starts again.
Russell Crowe’s tour
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From the suggestive setting of Rome up to the historical Pompeii, Russell Crowe and his band -The Gentlemen Barbers- will then stop in Ascoli Piceno, Piacenza, Varese and Bologna. The idea for this tour dates back to 2009, in a pub, and establishes Crowe’s “blood tie” with Italy. “The idea was born in 2009 in a pub outside London and has been going on ever since. We revisit numerous successes in the history of music, bringing back to life iconic songsthrough new arrangements to give the public a truly extraordinary experience” he explained just a few hours ago.
the “Madness” of Sanremo
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“Music has always been in my life,” Crowe had explained just a few hours earlier in the press room. “I grew up in a family where music was fundamental. While I was in high school I started making music and my goal was to create music. After my studies, I went around with my band doing shows in small theaters at 16. My first solo album I recorded it when I was 17, so I was in the field well before I was involved in the world of cinema. And if someone asked me what I did for a living, I replied: the musician“. But then life took another turn. “Then I made many films and it’s a profession that I love. I’ve been making films for 35 years now and I’ve been making music for 43 years.” Finally, the memory of that Sanremo with Carrà. “What I remember about Sanremo 2001, when I came, is the madness of this place and I was a little crazy at the time. I had made a film in Italy, I arrived here destroyed and dead tired. They gave me sunglasses with orange lenses that look like Bono from U2 but I was so tired and exhausted that I wore them all day,” he commented.
the connection with Italy
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“When I started on my journey to discover my origins, I tried to understand family ties and I discovered that I had ancestors who they came from Italy and it was a revelation,” Crowe said. “I started from my mother’s mother. And we retraced the Italian ties and origins, but I don’t know why my ancestor wrote in the New Zealand documents that he was from Ascoli Piceno and not Fidenza. In any case, the connection I have with this country it’s incredible”.
the new movie
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Not just music for Russell Crowe. The actor is in fact at the cinema with a role in the new film Land of badthe action thriller directed by William Eubank coming out these days. “A beautiful, fantastic film” he defined it. The plot revolves around the special mission of a Delta Force team in the Philippines. Due to an oversight, however, the operation turns into one rescue operation against time.
Gazzetta dello Sport
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