Vinicio Capossela’s overwhelming party
There are two coincidences that come together in the first of four concerts in Milan Vinicio Capossela: it is December 13th, the magical evening of Saint Lucia, a figure that anticipates Christmas and it is the eve of the protagonist’s 59th birthday. Those in Milan are special evenings also because the show takes place in a chapiteau, as if it were a real circus, located inside a very bright Christmas village. And then we get closer, 12 days to go, to Christmas, the object of the celebrations of this concert, which is part of the “Dressed for the holidays” tour. And to celebrate it worthily, Vinicio Capossela stages an incredible show that he defines as a “fake Christmas concert”, a Christmas that is neither secular nor religious but magical and popular.
His idea of ”celebration” is brilliant, bordering on healthy madness, a show where you expect anything to happen and where in reality a lot happens, both from a musical and formal point of view, spectacular, in a perfect concatenation between the two aspects.
It all starts from the last album “Sciusten festa n.1965” (Read here) an album that collects the songs that according to Capossela are the perfect soundtrack for a joyful (but sometimes not) celebration of the queen of the holidays. It is a show that the singer-songwriter brings to the stage every year and where he manages to add vitality every time. The 15 songs on the album are a set of reinterpretations of classic Christmas-related songs plus others that bring celebration. This is the backbone of the concert, during which all the songs are performed, with the addition of a few others from the repertoire.
The beginning is extremely joyful, vibrant, fun, engaging and irrepressible. The central part of the concert instead presents a slightly more careful vision of Christmas and begins, like a hinge, with a blues, cover of Tom Waitsin which a sad story is told, while the rereading of “Santa Claus is coming to town” is a tribute to riders (Santa Claus in his bringing of gifts is compared to them) and a criticism against the consumerism that accompanies Christmas and ends with a tragic epilogue, with the saint committing suicide in the back of a hypermarket. The amusing monologue of Saint Nicholas (another giver of gifts) is also fiercely critical. It is truly a theatrical moment, almost cabaret-like with Capossela dressed as an unlikely saint who talks about prisoners, greed, Palestine, gender pay disparity and makes some critical references to the current political situation. It is the part of the show in which Capossela’s gaze does not forget the dramatic aspect that hides even behind the most unbridled joy.
But “Conciati per le festa” is a show full of joy, but at the same time popular, a moment in which high and low meet, where criticism becomes a mockery, but also where everything is reset, where the problems remain outside ( in this case from the circus tent) leaving room for absolute joy, for the enthralling fun that reaches the public train on the track, in front of the musicians who play.
In that area usually reserved for the circus, in addition to music, there is space for colors and many circus acts, with surprising stagings including jugglers, balancing acts, dances, fairy tales, human Christmas trees, chandelier women, flags, calaveras, entrusted to Nadia and Wonder. But the protagonist himself also participates in the “staging” by wearing hats of various shapes with candles on his head, disproportionate glasses, festive lights worn casually, monkey masks, Dias de los muertos skeletons.
It is a true explosion of creativity, which borders on festive and joyful moments, in a contagious fun that starts from him, from Capossela who is increasingly opening up to a broad and “dynamic” vision of entertainment. He is the first to have fun, he almost seems to be amazed at himself, at his ability to stage something like this, bordering on ordinary madness, capable of surprising and involving the public, whose participation he asks for, captures and captures vitality.
Times and methods are perfect, the rhythm of the concert is fast-paced, the music played by great professionals, who are also very “partial” as regards the entertainment aspect.
At the end of the concert it seems to you that everything has just begun, you don’t feel tired or that “full belly” effect, of satiety, on the contrary the hunger and desire tell you that everything should continue like this again and again and not end on the last joyful final note.
With this concert (but it is a reductive term) Capossela demonstrates what his idea and vision of shows is, he demonstrates that his limits can always be overcome and done in an intelligent, popular and entertaining but not vulgar way. And for an hour and a half your soul fills with joy, you feel good with yourself, with others and with the music and you inevitably find yourself singing, being part of the show itself, also fascinated by the closeness of the people.
Borrowing a certain communicative emphasis (sometimes superfluous, unbearable and over the top) one feels like saying: unmissable.
