The Piazza Angelio this evening was filled with the sound of the NoOne Beatles tribute band. Despite one or two technical problems they played a vigorous set to an enthusiastic audience some of which had even dressed for the occasion. And there really lies one of the problems of being a Beatles tribute band.
Just which particular era should you focus on because a band like the Beatles re-invented themselves a number of times. Moving from the mop topped rock ‘n’ roll of the post Hamburg days into Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper’s lifestyle, quickly sidestepping through the double white album and out of the more acid-based music into the final “Let it be” stage. So where should you focus?
The NoOne band decided to hop backwards and forwards through most of those stages leaving some of the audience a bit breathless at times along the musical journey.
NICOLA BARGHI – Voice and Electric Guitar – website here
DERSU POLETTI – Electric Guitar and Backing Vocals
MAURO LALLO – Electric Bass
MICHELE AMATO – Drums
Click on the link below to hear the band in action this evening.
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Critical observation is one thing, empty moaning another. A week ago, this close-by resident of the Centro Storico was unhappy about the decibel level in Piazza Angelio, and so too were many of his lifelong barghigiani neighbors. By last night, I was even more unhappy to see the festa come to an end.
Whatever else might be said about these past ten days, the quality of the event has seldom been in question. The sheer joy and enthusiasm of those enormous crowds in Piazza Angelio told the story. Alessandro Rizzardi’s far-flung network produced night after night of wonderful music – quite a bit of it from the likes of our own stunningly talented core group of performers. How lucky we are to have them among us, linked by a guy whose superb organizational skills match his knowledge of jazz, rock, soul, R&B and the people who can deliver it. To Alessandro (and his incredibly hard-working staff, Cinzia), Barga owes an enormous debt of gratitude.
Sadly, it is impossible to avoid comparison with the first stumbling days of the Opera Barga Festival. The least of its problems is that the schedules have all been inaccurate, and every program substantially changed at the last minute without explanation. Infinitely worse, a succession of brilliant musicians – many of world class – have played before unimaginably tiny audiences, often just a few dozen listeners, in the absence of anything that approaches adequate publicity. This has become a pitiful Barga tradition: accomplished artists traveling great distances to perform, backed by virtually no promotion and struggling in an informational void. There’s no excuse.
Un saluto al chitarrista Dersu