Paolo BenvegnÙ

The usual refrains: Benvegnù is decent, but with Scisma he was more experimental… he's gotten too soft… he sounds like Tiromancino dabbling in indie-pop… he still hasn't unveiled his definitive record… and so on and so forth.

Enough chatter: Paolo Benvegnù and his band are Musicians with a capital M, playing a well-crafted, divinely arranged brand of alternative singer-songwriter pop, and he has a niche but extremely loyal following, one that allows him to pack out Rome's Circolo degli Artisti twice within just a few months.

The current tour serves to support the release of the live album "Dissolution", which hit the shelves after two critically acclaimed albums ("Piccoli fragilissimi film" and "Le labbra") and three EPs scattered along the way ("Cerchi nell'acqua", "14-19" and "500").

Opening the evening are Modì, a young duo armed with acoustic guitar and electric mandolin: keep an eye on them, because they have quite a bit to say, even if their formula inevitably risks becoming repetitive.

Then Paolo Benvegnù (for those who don't know, that's literally the band's name) take the stage and immediately set the powder alight, kicking off with a formidable opening run led by the much-loved "Il mio amore sacro e blasfemo".

The whole show comes across as fierce and tight, at times with no pause between one song and the next, and in just over an hour and a half there's certainly no room for boredom.

All of Paolo's most famous songs get rolled out, and the crowd is especially frenzied when he plays Scisma's biggest hit, "Rosemary Plexiglass", which, even without Sara Mazo's voice, once again proves itself one of the essential compositions of Italian independent music of the last twenty years.

Naturally, much of the show is centred on material from "Le labbra", among which "Il nemico", "La peste" (with its beautiful instrumental coda in fine form), and the enveloping "Interno notte" stand out.

But there's also room for songs dug up from the more distant past, such as "Il mare verticale" and "Suggestionabili".

Serious for most of the concert, towards the end Benvegnù loosens up with a few sharp quips, some with a political edge, and as the show closes the band launches into some amusing hard-rocker poses, wrapping up with a good-humoured impression of Lady Gaga, a clear jab at a certain kind of music built purely for mass consumption.

Those very masses who would deserve to discover an artist who, unfortunately, remains the preserve of far too few, despite his now well-established ability to craft wonderful pop miniatures worthy of reaching a far wider audience.

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