Rockets: a live album and a return to the stage

“Some Other Space, Some Other Live!”, out November 20, 2025, comes in a numbered edition available on triple vinyl and double CD, and was recorded during the Final Frontier Tour dates last spring.

The album will be available in two collector’s versions, in a limited and numbered edition, on triple vinyl – 200 numbered copies in transparent crystal vinyl and 500 in transparent blue vinyl – and in 1,000 numbered double CD copies, enriched with exclusive photos compared to the vinyl edition. The tracklist is at the end of the article.

“We wanted to capture the intensity of the concerts and the connection with the audience: that vibrant part that no studio record can restore. It’s our way of sharing this musical journey, now as then”, says Fabrice Quagliotti, leader and spokesperson of the Rockets.

The album is also a tribute to two members of the band’s original lineup, Alain Maratrat and Christian Le Bartz, both of whom passed away recently; the Rockets today are The Rockets are Fabrice Quagliotti (keyboards), Rosaire Riccobono (bass), Gianluca Martino (guitar), Dan Quarto (drums) and Fabri Kiarelli (vocals).

The Rockets will return live soon (first dates set: 20 February at the Phenomenon in Fontaneto d’Agogna (NO), 22 February at the Palmariva Live Club in Portogruaro (VE) and 22 March at the Live Music Club in Trezzo sull’Adda (MI).

The Rockets, for those too young to remember them, are those crazy people who performed with their skin covered in silver paint; at the time I was working for their record company, and their success was entirely due, it is fair to remember, to an Italian record producer, Maurizio Cannici, who died very prematurely in 2009.
I remember very well the complicated preparation of their live performances: the silver paint was applied to their skin, and it had to be removed within a few hours otherwise it would have had deleterious effects on the musicians’ health (those were artisanal times…).
Considered by critics as little more than a gimmick, in fact the Rockets entered into (and indeed in some ways anticipated) a certain danceable electronic music which then spread widely throughout Europe; given the necessary proportions, the use of the vocoder and synthesizers can be compared to Kraftwerk, even without the composure and seriousness of the duo from Dusseldorf (in other words, the Rockets were decidedly more of a sideshow).
Born in 1976, the Rockets have gone through numerous changes in their lineup and name, and today they have recovered their original name (while the “oldest” member of the band is Fabrice Quagliotti, who joined in 1977).
Below I present some of the Rockets’ greatest successes.

“Future woman” (1976)