Litfiba

“A fucking rock concert!”. That's the phrase Piero Pelù uttered during the final farewells, after two and a half hours of flawless performance, wearing his 64 years in a truly enviable way. The triumphant tour with which Litfiba are taking one of their manifesto albums, “17 Re”, around the country is exactly that, and there couldn't be a more fitting way to sum it up: a fucking rock concert! A concert of guitars and energy, a deeply antifascist concert dense with meaning, both musical and extra-musical. And anything but nostalgic, because Litfiba's vision – one we fully embrace – is indeed to perform “17 Re” – originally released in 1986 – in its entirety, with great respect (while shuffling the song order, to leave at least a hint of surprise as to what will happen in the next five minutes), but dressing the tracks in a contemporary guitar sound, updating work done forty years ago. The operation can be called a complete success, because it feels like listening to the presentation of an album that just came out, so fresh and current does it sound, both musically and, unfortunately, thematically. The names of the targets have changed (today they're called Netanyahu, Trump, Musk, Vannacci, Putin, La Russa), but the dire socio-geopolitical situations haven't. Piero Pelù waves the Palestinian flag, demanding attention to the many wars that humanity keeps generating, and later the Italian tricolor, loudly asking that this glorious banner continue to represent a nation free from any form of fascism.

Before each song, Pelù introduces a theme, a topic, with an even more prophetic air than in the past, talking about algorithms, the environment, nuclear power, popes, everything that changes without ever really changing. But then there's above all the music, and that album, “17 Re”, which today shines again with a renewed light of its own, with songs (many of which haven't been played live in decades) that never managed to become part of the national pop consciousness (unlike what happened with the tamarrock Litfiba of the Nineties) but which, forty years on, sound more integrated within their overall trajectory. Today, after more than a few forgettable works, Litfiba seem determined to reclaim their central place in the Italian rock-wave scene; they clearly want to be perceived as an unshakeable pillar of Italian rock, well aware of having spawned so many bands that blossomed after the trilogy of their debut years. Just think of the extraordinary work done over the years by Gianni Maroccolo as a hired hand, helping launch numerous alt-rock outfits, who today still holds the reins of Litfiba's rhythm section, alongside drummer Luca Martelli, the only member not part of the original line-up (Ringo De Palma left us prematurely in 1990, and is rightly remembered tonight). Rounding out the quintet on stage are also Antonio Aiazzi on keyboards and accordion, and of course Ghigo Renzulli on guitars, the lost-and-found friend: without him, no possible reincarnation of Litfiba could exist.

More than a few people in the sweltering (in every sense) crowd at the Ippodromo delle Capannelle arena (the event is part of the Rock In Roma 2026 lineup) were expecting to hear at least a few more popular songs, and the encores arrive to satisfy that desire, though still confined to the first three albums, plus a couple of tracks from the immediately following “Pirata”. And so, one after another, come “Il vento”, “Istanbul”, “Santiago”, “Eroi nel vento”, “La preda”, “Tex” and “Cangaceiro”, each more triumphant than the last, finally cementing a blood bond with the audience of the early years, who felt deeply betrayed by the overly commercial turn Litfiba later took. Today Pelù and Renzulli feel they want to be remembered not so much for “Regina di Cuori” and “Elettromacumba”, but for far more artistically ambitious projects, which they proudly reclaim. Let's hope they don't soon slip back into yet another money-driven misstep. Although by now they no longer need to sell themselves short: they can very well cash in even while going back to being truly themselves, playing their real signature songs with passion and sincerity.
A final mention goes to Spleen, a very young Florentine band who opened the evening presenting some songs with a distinctly grungy edge, taken from their recent debut “Gush”. At times they reminded us of early Verdena, a sensation that certainly bodes well.

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