Hello Everyone,
It was my pleasure to fly out to Rome, Italy this past February to catch the Official LightDark Listening Party and gig (release party!!!).
My trip started from Tampa, Florida and across the Atlantic on my first ever European trip. Going by myself and not knowing any Italian, I was a little nervous. Giancarlo assured me that there would be English speaking residents and as long as I talked sloooooowly, I would be able to communicate and get around.
After arriving at the airport, I had to grab a train into town. Mind you, there is little public transportation where I come from, though I have been on the New York and D.C. subway systems on several occasions. I bought a ticket to the Rome terminal, that was easy as the cashier spoke English. Then I went to get a map... that was my first experience with a non-English speaking resident. There were several gestures and he spoke slow for me and I was able to pay and move on.
I got to the main terminal and got on the Metro. I bought a multi day pass to ride the metro and buses. My first mistake was getting off at the wrong station. After walking around a while with all of my luggage, I got back on the metro and got off on the correct station. Little did I know, my camera was stolen during the ride (which was thee only bad thing that happened during the trip). Luckily I had a spare, but of much lesser quality.
To make a long story short, I had to take a bus to the hotel I was staying, but the streets are marked a bit differently than I have seen before. I asked for directions at the station office and promptly got on the wrong bus. Realizing my mistake, I headed back to the starting point, asked again, and got on the right bus. Unfortunately no one knew where the address was for the hotel (not that I didn't ask A LOT of people) I spent a couple of hours walking around before I called Giancarlo to come rescue me. I was probably a mile or so off target. But he did a fine job of orientating me and I never got lost for the rest of the trip after that.
Later that evening Giancarlo and Paolo Martelacci (the keyboard player) and we went to dinner to a local resturant just down the street. Here's how it works... you go inside, sit down, and tell them you want dinner. They bring out whatever the cook decided to prepare for that meal. In this case it was a five course dinner. After the third course I thought we were done, but the food kept on coming... Both Giancarlo and Paolo (and all the band members for that matter) spoke very good English, so there was no communication barriers.
The next day I tooled around Rome for part of the day. Over the days that I was there I saw a large number of sights. I like architecture and wanted to see the Pantheon most of all. My trip is photo documented at
viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=32324652&albumId=1510758. There are photos of Nosound on page 6...
Anyways, I got back early so I could go with Giancarlo to Studio Uno to watch them setup and sound check. During that time I got to meet the rest of the guys in the band. After the soundcheck was done, we all went out to a local pizzaria. They have a special "pizza to go" which is oblong (long and skinny rather than round) and sold by weight. We all sat around talking about anything and everything. I cannot impress upon you how great all the guys are in the band. I felt like I was at home the whole time I was around them.
After food, we cut back over to the venue. I picked out a good seat and final preperations and adjustments were made. People slowly starting showing up. I tell you, if you did not know exactly where this venue was, you would never know it was there, nor would you be able to find it. I would have to say there were maybe 200 people there. It was very crowded.
I've attached a photo Giancarlo's setlist (that I kept) for the evening. To be frank, I didn't think that they would be able to pull off a show that sounded like their album. The sound was too complex and the music seemed too layered. Well, about 30 seconds into From Silence to Noise I realized that they could pull it off in spades! I was truely amazed that they could sound so full and have such a great presence.
Every song went off flawlessly and I know they didn't rehearse before the show. They played every song in it's entirety and didn't miss a beat.
Gigi plays percussion without a click-track and has perfect timing. He has been playing drums as a profession in a place where there is not a call for musicians - so he has spent a good part of his life struggling to keep things together.
Alessandro play a fretless bass like you might drive a car. He has been playing with Giancarlo for a long time and can be found on tracks when Nosound was just Giancarlo.
Paolo only had two keyboards for all of the music that he performs. I spend a good amount of time with him as he explained how everything worked. On a funny note, there is one passage in one song that he can't always remember, so he had a small scrap of paper with the music on it for that one part. lol
If I am not mistaken, Gabrele Savini was on acoustic guitar. He played very nicely and was very laid back. He was playing an Ibanez guitar that was autographed by Steven Wilson. He was the most quiet of the group, but he can play the guitar.
Most all of my photos of the show did not come out very well in the low light. I didn't want to use a flash and ruin the mood. This was one of the better ones.
All I can say is the setlist was fabulous and the music was far better than my expectations imagined. Every song was powerful and well played. I have my personal favorites; The Moment She Knew, Like The Elephant, Places Remained, and Kites. The crowd loved every minute of the gig and really showed their appreciation after each song.
The special treat was their rendition of Echos by Pink Floyd. The first album I ever owned was given to me by my cousin Cristine in 1971 - a copy of Meddle. I still own it and it is one of my favorite albums. Echos is one of my all time favorite tunes and Nosound does it justice. With that, the gig ended
. People milled around and talked to the band. I took the time to scarf Giancarlo's playlist and one of the few copies of the poster that promoted the gig.
I had brought my entire Nosound collection with me and the guys in the band signed not only all of my copies, but a couple of copies for one of my friends.
For me, the entire trip was memorable. But there was a special moment with I was talking to Gigi Zito. He asked me: "Did you come to Rome to see the sights and see the band, or did you come to Rome to see the band and the sights?". Honestly, I came to see the band so I told him "I came here to see the band and see the sights". I got the feeling that I maybe made all of his life's work worthwhile with that one sentence. I was the first American to travel to see them play (so I was told). It was a long flight, but I tell you, these guys are worth the trip. I've been to a lot of concerts and this one ranked right along with the best of them.