Via del Corso and the Circus Maximus, in Rome, are separated by only a few hundred meters. From there, from the shopping street in front of hasty passers-by, the Maneskins began. Tonight, instead, 70 thousand arrived waiting for them in one of the most iconic places in the city that gave them their birth (challenging the covid infections, with the related controversies, and the black cloud for today’s fires). A few hundred meters run with the foot on the accelerator: in the middle there are – only in the last year or a little more – the victory at the Sanremo Festival, the one at the Eurovision Song Contest, the opening of a Rolling Stones concert, awards and acknowledgments all over the world, participation in the most important festivals, from Coachella to Rock in Rio.
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And those four guys who played on the street today are four international rock stars (there was also Angelina Jolie – in Rome for the shooting of her film Without blood – with her daughter to breathe the dust of the ancient Roman circus). Coachella, Rock in Rio, Lollapalooza, but this is perhaps the most expensive stage for the band tonight, and Rome has been able to respond with enthusiasm, with the Circus Maximus filling up since the afternoon. Two hours of show, created in collaboration with Rock in Roma, to retrace their fairy tale in music. The start could only give him the overwhelming energy, between tongues of flames on the stage, of Zitti and Buoni, between the song with which, after Sanremo, they took over the whole world. Then it was the turn of In the name of the father and Mammamia, to get to Chosen, the band’s first hit single of 2017, presented during X-Factor and to Womanizer, the tribute to Britney Spears. Intense and thrilling, as always, is the moment when Damiano sings Coraline, dedicated to his girlfriend Giorgia Soleri. We do not spare Damiano, Victoria, Ethan and Thomas (to listen to them, also parents, brothers, sisters and a plethora of friends mixed in the audience) who run up and down the main stage along the long walkway that takes them to the smaller stage in among their fans. There is space for the latest single Supermodel, for the cover Amandoti (which saw them sing at the festival with Manuel Agnelli, “We always think of you”), for I wanna be your slave and for the cover inserted in the film Elvis If I can dream. And then, true to themselves, from the Circus Maximus – on the notes of Gasoline – that liberating cry resounded again, which had already gone around the world at Coachella: “We continue to say it even if someone bothers: Fuck Putin, fuck the war, fuck the dictators. And who disagrees: Fuck “. It is the only break from the music that the four take, because they immediately start hitting hard on drums, bass and guitar.
The area around the ancient Roman remains has already been in turmoil for days, with the first closures already tonight (and with the high tension that winds among the traders who consider the prefect’s order that tomorrow prohibits the transport of bottles ‘unfair’ and glass containers and the sale of take-away and administration of alcoholic beverages). The return to Romaafter the extraordinary double performance at Coachella and the departure of the summer tour, was preceded – as well as by the controversy related to the request made by some doctors to postpone the show due to the peak of covid infections in recent days – by two other appointments Italians: at the Verona Arena and at the G. Theghil Stadium in Lignano Sabbiadoro.
The rock band led by Damiano has prepared an energetic two-hour show, during which the lineup will retrace every fundamental stage of the band: from the first songs that made them known to the public, such as “Chosen” (double platinum) and “Torna a casa” (five times platinum ), up to the latest great successes that have opened the doors of the world to them, with “Zitti e Buoni” (five platinum discs), “Coraline” (platinum discs) and “Mammamia” (gold discs), up to new single “Supermodel” (gold record). The summer sees the Maneskin protagonists of a tour that has already touched the Rock Am Ring & Rock Im Park, the Open’er Festival and will continue with the Reading & Leeds Festival, Lollapalooza (in Paris and Chicago), Rock Werchter, passing also for Rock in Rio in Brazil and Summer Sonic in Japan.
2022 will then mark the beginning of their first world tour: the Loud Kids Tour (56 concerts, in addition to the current summer dates) will take them, from the autumn, to the main clubs and sports halls of North America and Europe, as well as to the most important Italian buildings. Damiano, Victoria, Thomas and Ethan are veterans of the success in the United States, which began last fall with two live specials in New York and Los Angeles and the presence as a special guest at the Rolling Stones concert in Las Vegas. They have also been guests on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and popular talk shows Saturday Night Live and The Ellen DeGeneres Show and boast a 2021 American Music Awards nomination as “Favorite Trending Song” with “Beggin ‘”. Taking the # 1 position on the US Rock Airplay chart, the song marks the fastest rise for a new band to number one in US Alternative Airplay in the past 24 years, remaining at # 1 for 10 consecutive weeks. The song is certified platinum with 1 million copies sold, while “I Wanna be your slave” is gold with 500 thousand copies. They were awarded “Best New Alternative Artist” at the 2022 iHeart Music Awards in Los Angeles and after being nominated as Best New Artist of 2021, they recently received double nominations for “Rock Song” and “Rock Artist” at Billboard Music. Awards and were included in the Forbes 30 under 30 for Europe. With 245 global certifications including 11 diamond discs, 194 platinum discs and 40 gold discs and more than 5 billion streaming on all digital platforms, Maneskin are the most listened to Italians in the world on Spotify in 2021, the year they has seen them protagonists of numerous successes, from first place at the 71st Sanremo Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Zitti e buona” up to the “Best Rock” award at the MTV EMAs, the first victory of an Italian artist in an international category.
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