Litfiba: new editions of “17 Re” and the live album “12/05/87 (Aprite i vostri occhi)”

Nearly forty years after their original release, Litfiba have announced reissues of “17 Re” and the live album “12/05/87 (Aprite i vostri occhi)”, two pivotal releases from the era of the so-called “Trilogia del potere”. Pre-orders for the new editions are already available.

“12/05/87 (Aprite i vostri occhi) Live”, recorded at the Tenax in Florence during the final date of the “17 re” tour, will return on June 19 as a double vinyl, in both black and colored pressings. The record captures one of the most representative phases of the line-up featuring Piero Pelù, Ghigo Renzulli, Antonio Aiazzi, Gianni Maroccolo and Ringo De Palma.

For the first time in around forty years, the concert is being reissued as a double LP with a new sound remaster. Among the new additions is the inclusion of “Ballata”, previously available only on the CD edition.

From May 22, “17 Re” will also be available again, originally released in 1986 and considered one of the most significant works of 1980s Italian rock. Following the colored, autographed edition released for Record Store Day, the album will arrive as a black double vinyl and as a CD digisleeve with a twenty-page booklet containing the lyrics.

Among the tracks featured on the record are “Resta”, “Re del silenzio” and “Cafè, Mexcal e Rosita”.

The new editions bring back into print two key releases from Litfiba's discography, tied to the most influential phase of the Florentine band's career.

After 40 years, the title track of “17 Re“ has also been released — one of Litfiba's masterpieces and the second chapter of their “trilogia del potere”. Recorded at the time but left off the 1986 album's tracklist for being deemed out of step with the record's overall balance, it has now been officially released, accompanying the celebrations of one of the most influential works in Italian rock.

This is not a strictly archival operation. As Piero Pelù makes clear, the track has been thoroughly reworked: a few melodic lines and fragments of the original lyrics remain, but the rhythmic structure, sound and intent have all been rethought to speak to the present day. The result is a composition that keeps its roots in the 1980s while moving with an updated language, in keeping with the political and social tension that has always run through the Florentine band's writing.

Listen to "17 Re" below.

The whole point of Pelù and co.'s project stems precisely from this desire to bring those works up to date. “17 Re” becomes an explicit reflection on contemporary power dynamics, amid technocracy, global conflicts and democracies under threat. “This isn't a nostalgia trip,” explains Piero Pelù. “That much is proven by the fact that the song rises from the ashes of the old track left off the album. The melodies survived, along with parts of the lyrics and the harmony, which stayed fairly intact, but really everything else has changed: rhythm, beat, groove and spirit.” The idea for the release took shape around the celebrations for the album's fortieth anniversary — it came out in 1986 — on the occasion of which the band will return to the stage starting June 27th for 20 dates in the original line-up (Piero Pelù, Ghigo Renzulli, Antonio Aiazzi, Gianni Maroccolo), something that hasn't happened since 2014. Discussing the track, Piero Pelù stressed how it's “still incredibly relevant — shelved back then, it now comes out updated to describe what we're living through, namely a historical period incredibly focused on abuses of power by a murderous technocracy, see Netanyahu, Trump, Putin, the ayatollahs, North Korea, the disaster in Sudan and all the other wars. We've found out that even Thailand is bombing Cambodia. It's a period in which the powerful are trying to sweep everything clean. As artists we count for nothing, but we do have a voice, and the courage to stand on the side of the victims too. Even those few Israelis who stand up for peace, because the criticism is aimed at that pro-fascist fringe of this distorted Zionism, not at Jewish people in general. Netanyahu is considered a war criminal, and finally, belatedly, our government has taken a stand.”

The release of the single also introduces the celebratory tour “Quarant'anni di 17 Re”, marking the return of the historic line-up made up of Pelù, Ghigo Renzulli, Antonio Aiazzi and Gianni Maroccolo, joined by Luca “Mitraglia” Martelli on drums. A significant reunion, considering the last full show dates back to 2014. The tour will criss-cross Italy between late June and mid-August. The full schedule follows below:

• June 27 Perugia – Umbria Che Spacca Festival
• June 30 Padua – Sherwood Festival
• July 2 Bari – Fiera del Levante
• July 4 Pescara – Terrasound Festival, Porto Turistico
• July 7 Milan – Kozel Carroponte
• July 9 Villafranca (VR) – Villafranca Festival 2026, Castello Scaligero
• July 11 Asti – AstiMusica, Piazza Alfieri
• July 14 Genoa – Altraonda Festival
• July 16 Rome – Rock in Roma, Ippodromo delle Capannelle
• July 18 Servigliano (FM) – NoSound Fest, Parco della Pace
• July 21 Bologna – Sequoie Music Park
• July 23 Florence – Prato delle Cornacchie
• July 25 Cosenza – Rendano Arena, Piazza XV Marzo
• July 28 Naples – Arena Flegrea
• August 1 Alghero – Alguer Summer Festival, Anfiteatro Ivan Graziani
• August 4 Catania – Villa Bellini
• August 7 Melpignano (LE) – Sei Festival, Piazza Avantaggiato
• August 11 Palmanova (UD) – Estate di Stelle, Piazza Grande
• August 13 Forte dei Marmi (LU) – Villa Bertelli Live
• August 15 Bellaria Igea Marina (RN) – Beky Bay

Before the official kick-off, the Florentine band also took to the stage at the May Day Concert in Rome, giving a live preview of the project.

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