Van de Sfroos’s triumphant first concert

Enthusiasm was sky-high at the “Palaexpo Fevi” Convention Centre in Locarno. Four thousand people came to hear and to greet the first concert in Davide Van de Sfroos’s tour. It was a sell-out, and it even put the impeccable Swiss organisation in some difficulty.

The concert was two hours of music, with plenty of space given to the new album, “Yanez”, which is also the name of the tour.

On stage with Davide was a delightful Roberta Carreri, who accompanied him in duets in a number of songs. And with them, there were the same musicians that have accompanied Davide on tour over the years: Davide “Billa” Brambilla (accordion, keyboard and trumpet), Angapiemage Galliano Persico (violin), Maurizio “Gnola” Glielmo (guitar), Paolo Legramandi (bass) and Marcello “Bread” Schena (drums).

The audience was moved by the new song “Dove non basta il mare”, a mixture of ethnic musical influences, in Friulan, Calabrian, Sicilian, Greek and the dialect of the lakes, Ghée.

Davide Van de Sfroos has become somewhat more than a minstrel, singing “with the flight of a swallow from the mountains to the sea, in the course of a season, … from town to town”. A bit like this spring tour of his, which takes him from Switzerland to Sicily, with stops in Sardinia and many other towns.

Apart from this new piece, there were many other stories, like “Maria”, “a counterpart to Fabrizio De André’s song ‘Bocca di Rosa’, the prostitute accepted by the village”; “Camionista Ghost Rider”; and the woman in “Ciamel amour”, who offers herself to her enemy to save a fleeing man.

With irony, he produces entertaining poetry, telling stories of everyday life, like that of “La machina del Ziu Toni” and “Setembra”, remembering the death of Pope Paul VI, and the village priest given the name “Don Luri” because of his love of playing the bass and of getting people to dance.

The audience burst into applause when Van de Sfroos played the beginning notes of Yanez. He and Roberta were backed by a choir of about a hundred voices.

Locarno also responded enthusiastically to the many new songs, which were being sung live for the first time. With this Yanez tour, Davide Van de Sfroos has gone beyond his “natural” geographical borders. It is another step forward for the lovers of the sounds of different dialects, bringing the singer from Como around the whole country, including the islands.

We can bet he will be a success wherever he goes.

The tour dates:

26/03/2011 LOCARNO (Switzerland), Palaexpo Fevi

27/03/2011 MILAN, Teatro Smeraldo

28/03/2011 BERGAMO, Teatro Donizetti

31/03/2011 BOLOGNA, Teatro delle Celebrazioni

03/04/2011 PERUGIA, Auditorium Vanni

04/04/2011 ROME, Teatro Ambra Jovinelli

07/04/2011 FLORENCE, Teatro Saschall

08/04/2011 LEVICO TERME, (Trento) Palalevico

09/04/2011 BELLUNO, Teatro Comunale

10/04/2011 SPILIMBERGO (Pordenone), Teatro Miotto

15-16/04/2011 VARESE, Teatro Apollonio

19/04/2011 VERONA, Teatro Filarmonico

20/04/2011 CREMONA, Teatro Ponchielli

28-29/04/2011 COMO, Teatro Sociale

30/04/2011 SAINT-VINCENT (Aosta), Palais di Saint-Vincent

03/05/2011 GENOA, Politeama Genovese

06/05/2011 RIMINI, Teatro Novelli

07/05/2011 ASCOLI, Teatro Ventidio Basso

12/05/2011 SASSARI, Palazzo di Città “Festival Abbabula”

13/05/2011 PALERMO, Teatro Dante

14/05/2011 CATANIA, Teatro ABC

16/05/2011 RENDE (Cosenza), Teatro Garden