The concert with the IA of nuclear tactical penguins in San Siro
The nuclear tactical penguins do not know each other from the first grade, like the two protagonists of “white pastel”. Lorenzo Pasini and Riccardo Zanotti know each other from high school, and the demented metal of the beginning still retain the light -heartedness and the desire to laugh. Not thinking about “all the caresses that perhaps were pushed”, but jumping and dancing on the stage of a San Siro stadium sold out for them.
The first of the two evenings Sold Out begins with “Hello World”, title track of the last album which also gives the name to an ambitious tour: started last Saturday in Campovolo, the Pinguini’s journey stops in Milan before Treviso, Turin, Ancona, Florence, Naples and Rome, for a total of six sold outs on nine dates. “We have already played in San Siro, but when you enter this temple of music you have always you” says Pasini, especially if you are about to stage a colossal show.
“The confetti are usually in the end, because they are the special effect, the one that makes you go away from the concert with the open mouth. We instead put them at the beginning, because then so many things happen that you will still remain speechless”. Thus begins, with 18 cannons shooting 350 kg of confetti – “In practice, a brown bear of confetti”, jokes Zanotti – Live al Meazza and already from these, not simple pieces of paper but imitations of small pixels, the thematic heart that inspired the band is captured: technology.
The reference to the eighty video game starts from the cover of “Hello World” and finds its ideal size on the 400 square meters of Ledwall that surround the stage, extended on two side arms with a central catwalk. Geometric forms that, together with the personalized tools for the occasion, recall the world of pixel art and, above all, the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence. “Technology is a tool and you have to learn to use it. We are confident for the future, the IA does not scare us. Of course, there will be accidents on the way, but to kill man it takes much more” supports the frontman.
At the top, a large suspended circular pod takes the appearance of a mandala, deliberately spiritual symbol. “Technology can be a faith. The idea of the mandala comes from ‘galactic guide for self -supporters’, that is, from the talking computer that everyone listens to as an oracle and that after years of reasoning simply says: 42. A response that humanity does not understand, just as we do not understand what artificial intelligence does above our heads”. A robotic voice that – not surprisingly after “Alieni” – enters the scene several times during the evening, presenting the songs or wondering about the meaning of existence, the impossibility and the consequent nostalgia of not being able to experience emotions. Technology thus becomes a character in all respects, as well as an instrument that produces lively and constantly evolving images in real time.
The faces of the musicians change and transform, for example. Opera del Face Morphing, also used by Salmo first and then by Jovanotti. But the penguins go further, letting the system change the whole scenario: in “vegetables” the entire background becomes “vegetable” (“after petalous, we plan the term vegetable”), in the “banality of the sea” the waves appear and so on. “Sometimes it is the same artificial intelligence that decides at will and we find it truly fascinating”.
The intellectual depth with which they face the complex relationship between consciousness and machine certifies the artistic and personal maturity of six boys who, at thirty, feel the need to rise beyond hits, with a wider look. “We penguins that by nature cannot fly, we make things fly,” says Riccardo, thinking about the mandala and the accordion suspended in the air before “Little Fox”. “This time we wanted to bring verticality to the show to make the audience raise our gaze, to say: we are not just us. There is also more up there” adds Elio Biffi.
It will be thanks to this awareness, to the inner and external growth that the cohesion between the six (on stage and not) is still very strong. “We have been together for many years and we have learned to understand the limits of our relationships. We have learned to laugh at the moments and each with its own characteristics is enhanced in the group. Being many for us is a strong point”. And in a concert there is nothing more beautiful than alchemy between musicians, the origin of everything, the element without which the scenographic system, however spectacular, would be only ornament. In certain moments it is particularly evident, as in the DJ set after “Iceland”, designed to have fun and entertain. The rest of the lineup instead reflects the ability to adapt to the requirements that an environment like the stadium imposes: arrangements suitable for the atmosphere, that is, made of dilated sounds, of reverberations. And of news: no “white pastel” in closing.
“Restructing the cards must be done, we liked to change. We don’t want to be fossilized already at 30 years old.” And when in the repertoire you have a piece called “tail titles”, you’re done. “‘Titles’ titles’ is done for those who really care about it, because those who are in a hurry to return to the parking lot (and do not blame him) have already heard them and can leave”. In this joke there is all the essence of the Calvinian approach to the music of these guys: take life lightly, without boulders on the heart.
Zanotti, Pasini, Biffi, Nicola Buttofuoco, Simone Pagani and Matteo Locati reconciles high themes and light -heartedness, games and solos, songs for Giulia Tramontano (victim of feminicide on May 27, 2023) and vodka shot, Palestine flags and live tattoos. Serious and facetious. It is the need for those who grew up without reference points, between wars and pandemics, without political belonging and without songwriters or intellectuals to whom to entrust doubts, hopes, fears. We “young Wannabe” we just have to build ourselves on their own, on the rubble of past ideals. Without feeling guilty if, for one evening, we laugh, dance and forget the ugliness of the world, together.
The concert ladder:
Hello World
Young Wannabe
Ringo Starr
Romantic but I die
Hold on
MEMORIES
Infinite history
BITTER
Empty bottles
Aliens
Bergamo
Write stupid
ANTARCTICA
Zero coca
Lake Washington Blvd
Small fox
ICELAND
Medley DJ Set
Dentist Croatia
VEGETABLES
The banality of the sea
Giulia
LAUGH
IMPROVE
Steal the night
White pastel
Tail titles
