What dreams are under your hats?
“Dreams never sleep, I even wrote it in a song. There are many, but this year I think I’m 69 or so… the dream is to be able to make them all come true”
What stage of life are you in? How much sugar is melting inside Adelmo?
“I’m fluctuating, when you go on tours that are so long and under such pressure it’s obvious that I’m more Zucchero. Then, when I retire alone after concerts I’m Adelmo and the more I go on the deeper my roots become”
Adelmo Zucchero Fornaciari’s story is one of incessant travel. Of life and career that intertwine in comings and goings, to and from that Tuscan countryside that adopted him when he was just a little traveler from Reggio Emilia. The next destination? Messina, 30 June, Franco Scoglio stadium. The Overdose D’Amore World Tour (title chosen in honor of the 35 years since the publication of the single of the same name) will pass through the Strait after the debut at the Royal Albert Hall at the end of March, the American tour and the Casablanca stop. The choice to return to stadiums (“I’ve been missing for a long time“) instead, it is “a challenge, new and necessary“.
You’ve come a long way, is that where you feel at home?
“I’ve been on the road for more than 40 years, it’s difficult to stay at home except to write an album, to concentrate in my studio. Standing still makes me seem completely still. I love doing my job and at the same time enjoying myself and I love the possibility of traveling the world, meeting new people, seeing different cultures. For me it is much more interesting than spending a month in the Maldives. I like recording records, but live performances will be the most important part of my future. As long as I can handle it: on average 150 dates for each tour, sometimes even 6-7 in a row“
And the setlist? In stadiums it is different than in an ancient theatre.
“I remained one of the few to play everything live. It’s like when you record records: if you don’t have a human being at the instrument you don’t have dynamics, colors, it’s all very flat. I’m lucky enough to have this now historic band, some of them have been with me right from the beginning. This allows me to change as many times as I want, even immediately before going on stage. Because they know all the songs and, in addition to the pieces that you can’t not do, I have the possibility of including those that have never been extracted but are part of successful works. For me the setlist is functional like this: great energy, ballads, half-times and a more intimate acoustic part“
Oma Jali, an extraordinary new entry, also travels with you.
“Oma is now a constant in my concerts, I saw her on The Voice France singing a piece by Aretha Franklin, if I’m not mistaken. I liked her straight away, I didn’t even try it. She is remarkable“
I read somewhere that among the Italian artists you respect most there is Salmo, but also Marracash, Blanco. No women on the podium, is there a separate ranking?
“Women are welcome, I even wrote a song about it. There are women I like and I think we have freshness, international ways of presenting ourselves. Women who could very well appeal to an American or English audience like Elodie, Annalisa, Emma… It’s just not the music I prefer. I talked about them (Salmo, Marra, Blanco) because they have songs that I identify with, lyrics that take positions in which I see myself. There’s also Mahmood, I’ve already collaborated with him on Discover, he’s technically very gifted. Unfortunately rock is now watered down, it’s politically correct, it doesn’t go down too hard“
Is there a stage that you haven’t yet colonized and that you would like to tread?
“I played in South Africa, at the Cape Town stadium, when we did that big concert for Nelson Mandela’s birthday with Peter Gabriel, Bono, Beyoncè… I played in North Africa, but I’d like to go to the heart of the continent. Like when I decided to do Cuba still under embargo, because they are places where artists usually don’t go, there is no money or structures. The idea excites me, but I fear it is the most difficult goal to achieve“.
Meanwhile, any surprises for our date?
“The date in Messina is in the middle of summer, we will have fun, there will be improvisations and laughter that I won’t announce before, we will experience them live. I can’t wait to be there and spend a few days in your area. I’ll wait for you, if they don’t stop us first it will be a 3 hour concert!“
On a stage where the special effects will be music.
“We leave the fireworks at the patronal celebrations“.
To those who come to visit you on the shores of the Strait you want to say that…
“I love Sicily. It’s not a fiddle. I have many friends, Sicilian neighbors. They have a sense of hospitality… they are generous, ready to lend you a hand, with their irony very similar to mine. It drives me crazy when they speak in dialect. My band lives like this too, the guitarist bought a little house for us. My son Blu’s nanny, who is English, decided to put down roots there instead of returning to England. With all its problems, as every country in the world has, it is a place blessed by God“.
Ah, Zucchero, what if I stopped performing live?
“If I stop playing live, I stop and the next day you won’t see me anymore. I can’t bring myself to say that I’ll retire in a little while, it’s a commitment I don’t feel like making… and if I want to stop sooner or later, how do I look?“.
