Behind The first summerahead of the record edition of Lucca summer festival. It’s a 2024 worth framing Mimmo D’Alessandroowner of D’Alessandro & Galli, who having archived the ‘rock musical holiday’ in Versilia with around 26 thousand attendees, is preparing to inaugurate the stage in Piazza Napoleone with the record sum of 200 thousand tickets already sold and 16 million euros in proceeds.
A billboard that has seen it go sold out eight concerts already in December and hosted on the battlements of the Walls Eric Clapton and the two dates of Ed Sheeranand which will now move to the historic center where the Swedish House MafiaTedua (July 3), Geolier (July 5), The Smashing Pumpkins (July 6), Rod Stewart (July 7), Calcutta (July 11), Lenny Kravitz (July 12), Diana Krall (July 15), John Fogerty (July 16), Salmo and Noyz Narcos (July 18), Mika (July 19), Sam Smith (July 20), Duran Duran (July 21 and 23), Toto and Marcus Miller (July 24) and Gazzelle (July 26) .
But before ‘dismantling’ the stage at the former Balilla field, the appointment is on June 28th with the concert Puccini according to Muti, included in the calendar of Puccini celebrations and in that of “sterile controversies”. With these words, in fact, Mimmo d’Alessandro put aside the rumors about an alleged flop of the event which will be broadcast worldwide on Rai 3.
“There is no flop – he clarified -. We are at more than 6 thousand tickets sold and it’s more than we anticipated. In Lucca we are in fact used to listening to classical music for free, and this concert certainly doesn’t cost little, even if it is obviously proportionate to the skill of Riccardo Muti, called to conduct over 120 members of the Cherubini Orchestra on stage. An event that attracted participation and enthusiasm from all over the world.”
But it is not the first time that ticket costs have been called into question when it comes to music in Lucca. Even though, the owner of Summer is keen to point out, in Italy we have “the lowest prices in Europe”.
“Listening to the same artists on other stages of European tours is much more expensive – specifies D’Alessandro -. For this reason, fans from neighboring countries very often arrive in Lucca and Versilia, because even if you add the cost of flight and accommodation, you pay less here than elsewhere. Music, unfortunately, is very expensive. Not just for the artists’ fees. On the one hand due to the heavy bureaucracy, on the other due to the labor which is now increasingly difficult to find. Just think that this year alone, around Summer Festival, 4 thousand people work. Numbers that were unimaginable until a few years ago.”
Despite the record-breaking 2024 edition in the pocket, ambitions remain increasingly high for music in the province. “The numbers of Summer festival they have positively revolutionized us and show a brand in constant development – commented D’Alessandro -. But also the ‘gamble’ of First Summer is giving the desired results. The first edition actually started out slowly, but in the second and third years it grew a lot. Our goal was to reach 2025 with a consolidated event on the model of best European festivalsand the conditions are all there”.
