On Sunday 21 April 2024 I finally went to my first CLAB meeting.
Needless to say, the anxiety was already making itself felt from the day before since it would have been a totally new experience for me and we know that the unknown is always a little scary. I feared that, being alone and young, I would have difficulty finding someone to get to know and share the hours in line and then the hours in the auditorium. I was scared but at the same time I was elated to finally be able to participate in the great event that I have always read about but which I had never been able to go to as I was too small and could not be accompanied.
Against all my expectations, shortly after getting in line I made friends with two ladies and a girl from Genoa with whom I spoke for the entire waiting time, exchanging anecdotes, memories and opinions on the great magician and his music.
Once the gates opened and I took my seat in the room I began to breathe a different air, there was already something magical and it still had to begin. It’s 3.07pm and Claudio enters with a guitar in his hand and, singing “side by side”, welcomes us or welcomes us back with his smile full of joy. From then on, unexpected songs followed, alternating with moments of pure irony thanks to his hilarious anecdotes which for a few moments made us think we were at a comedy show.
After all, Claudio is like this, the man who manages to enchant everyone with his amazing singing skills and as an author of sublime pieces but also the man who likes to laugh and make people laugh. In both cases he always does it without ever sparing himself, giving the best he is allowed, including some mistakes which are appreciated even more because they remind us that no one, not even him, is infallible.
During those 5 hours I sometimes lost myself thinking about how lucky I am to follow an artist like that, someone who, after 60 years of career, knows and wants, above all, to still amaze her audience despite only having a piano and a keyboard to accompany her his voice. In those hours I was amazed once again at the artist and man that he is. An artist who manages to convey all his passion and a man who, albeit with difficulty, occasionally manages to express his emotions in words (not in songs) in front of so many people who can’t wait to applaud him.
On Sunday I once again had the opportunity to answer the question that I have been asked for almost 9 years now: “But why do you follow Baglioni?” I follow Baglioni (Claudio for friends!) for the emotions that he manages to convey in everything he does; for the precision and passion that never fail; for the ability that a shy and introverted person like him has to communicate while standing alone on a stage; for the simplicity with which he relates to the public and finally for the joy that can be seen in his eyes at the end of each concert and which is worth more than a thousand words.
Thank you Claudio for the passion and energy that you never leave at home, when we have an ‘appointment’ with you we also do everything to bring them with us.
We hope to have repaid you in the same way, always “at ALL HEART”.
Margherita Di Baldo
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