It ended with a delirious crowd to the notes of "Gimme some lovin' the first of two concerts in Italy by Steve Winwood, back in the limelight after the release of the live show at Madison Square Garden in the company of former partner Eric Clapton.
The setting provided by Villa Solaria in Sesto Fiorentino is wonderful, surrounded by greenery and ideal for welcoming an audience thirsty for great music. The concert starts five minutes late to respect the minutes of silence of national mourning for the victims of Viareggio.
First on stage the band, the same one we admired at the Milan Conservatory last November with Jose Neto (guitar), Richard Bailey (drums), Karl Vanden Bossche (percussion) and Paul Booth (saxophone/flute/organ), and it is not easy to be casual after remembering the tragedy that happened a few kilometres away from that stage.
Music then becomes a time to think and unite, as promoter Gianni Pini says into the microphone before giving way to Steve Winwood. The setlist gives way in its first few minutes to historical pieces such as "Can't find my way back home" e "Hungry Man'.where Steve sits down on the hammond. With 'Dirty City', however, he takes up his Stratocaster and thus also begins the blues improvisations typical of the former Traffic, which reach their climax in the concluding 'Higher Love'. No Steve Winwood concert is complete without the two tracks that best represent him: we are talking about Dear Mr Fantasy' and 'Gimme some lovin'during which the audience leaves their seats to dance and acclaim the great protagonist of the evening, which ends in triumph.
Steve Winwood will take the stage at 9 p.m. this evening in Udine as part of the Folkest festivalfor its second and last Italian leg of 2009.
SETLIST 1. Different Light
2. I'm a Man
3. Hungry Man
4. Secrets
5. Can't Find My Way Back Home
6. Dirty City
7. Fly
8. Pearly Queen
9. Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
10. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
11. Empty Pages
12. Higher Love
13. Dear Mr. Fantasy
14. Gimme Some Lovin'
