Ligabue: “De Gregori? I don’t share his opinion”

“Let’s start with one thing: Francesco De Gregori is a heritage of music and culture in this country, and is among the freest of thinkers, and this is a characteristic that I like. Having said that, I don’t share that thought too much.” Ligabue said this yesterday, before going on stage at the Olympic Stadium in Rome and inaugurating the “The night of certain nights Stadiums 2026” tour, commenting on the recent statements made by Francesco De Gregori regarding artists who launch slogans and political messages.

Ligabue and De Gregori collaborated in 2014, the year in which the Prince recorded a new version of his “Alice” in duet with the Correggio rocker for the album “Vivavoce”. Now, twelve years after that meeting, Ligabue says: “Francesco is one of the most free-thinking of all songwriters. He never lets himself be found where anyone thinks they can find him and I like that. He spoke for him, I don’t share that thought. There is one thing that I believe De Gregori wanted to demonstrate and that is that we are not forced. Too many times we say music ‘must’: no, music can and sometimes decides. I have always tried to do it through songs”.

In concert, then, Ligabue “dusted off” that “My name is never again” that he recorded in 1999 together with Piero Pelù and Jovanotti in response to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, with a thought on Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and “the other 59 massacres underway in the world”.