May Day Concert in Rome: Rock and Rain, Politics and Performers

Piero Pelù arrives almost at the end of Concertone in Rome and brings the flag of peace to the stage. The “bad boy” brings a touch of rock with his Gigante and then with El Diablo. “We don’t want to become migrants, we don’t want to become brain drain”, he shouts to the public who still resists in the square before introducing his colleague Alborosie with whom he sings Musica libera.

“Since you’ve been under the water all day, I’m now taking the water with you. And let’s sing together.” Lazza, after having performed on the notes of Panico and Uscito di galeraprotected from the stage, chose to reach the public to sing Cenere the success that gave him second place at the Sanremo festival.

The concert in Rome remembers Barbara Capovani, the psychiatrist killed in recent days in Pisa by one of her patients. Her photo appeared on the big screens just before Mr. Rain’s performance with Chernobyl Flowers.

“Ten years ago I wrote a piece on the effects of the world’s oldest drug. The oldest drug in the world is not chemical, it is mental and it is the lust for power. In general, those who have the most want the most and often, like almost any drug addict, are capable of anything in order not to go into withdrawal symptoms». Ligabue returns to the May Day concert in Rome after 17 years and does it surprisingly by anticipating his performance – Il sale della Terra and Screaming against the sky – with a brief introduction against the thirst for power. “Faced with the overdoses of a certain power, the abuses of which it is capable, another power is needed – continued the rocker -, that of making your voice heard and not allowing anyone, for example, to try to cancel your history and rewrite it as they please, not to allow anyone to try to take away your right to love, of course, always in a consensual way, but to love whoever you like, however you like, as much as you like and start whatever family you like and maybe be able to support it with a decent salary. This is a piece on the toxicity of that power that wears even those who have it».

“I ask the government to implement the discontinuity allowance for music workers”. The appeal is launched strongly by Levante, from the stage of the May Day concert, from Piazza San Giovanni in Rome. “We are here to talk about rights. Give a round of applause to the technicians who are working here».

«Lawyer, engineer, architect. All these vowels at the bottom of the words are, will they be weapons of mass distraction? They make us lose sight of the facts and the facts are that one in five women doesn’t work after having a child, who earns a fifth less than a man in the same position. Didn’t the Constitution already say it in 1949 that women should have the same rights as men in art. 36?». Ambra, from the stage of the May Day concert in Rome, where the rain has returned to fall incessantly, points the finger at gender inequalities. “What do we do with words? – the presenter urges – I want to propose an exchange: take back the vowels at the end of the words, but give us back the 20% salary. Pay and enable women to work. Equal means to be equal, and ends with an e».

At 5pm, Piazza San Giovanni is already sold out: 300,000 people in the square despite the bad weather. “Attendance is an extraordinary figure, but we didn’t think we’d reach 300,000 spectators already in the afternoon”, the organizers say. But it is controversial: security has closed the turnstiles, preventing latecomers from entering. All accesses are barred.

A carpet of colored umbrellas, pink, light blue, green capes. The rain has not discouraged the thousands of young people who have already reached Piazza San Giovanni in Rome and will continue to reach it in the next few hours for the traditional May Day concert, promoted by the trade unions and dedicated this year to the Constitution, which celebrates its 75th birthday. Hosts Ambra, for the sixth consecutive year, and Fabrizio Biggio. Among the most awaited artists there are Ligabue, Emma, ​​Lazza, Francesco Gabbani, the Baustelle, Matteo Paolillo fresh from the success of Mare Fuori, Levante, Ariete, Mr. Rain, Tananai, Coma_Cose, Piero Pelù with Alborosie, Mara Sattei, Rocco Hunt .

It is L’Orchestraccia that officially kicks off the live broadcast of the Concertone on May 1st from Piazza San Giovanni in Rome with a revised version of the Italian anthem first and then with the ever-present Bella Ciao. The band of artists, led by Marco Conidi, was the first to take up the initiative launched shortly before from the stage by Ambra Angiolini to the kids in the square to help update the constitution, to which the trade unions have chosen to dedicate this edition of the event , with the hashtag #ildirittochemimanca. The Orchestraccia asks that the artists are considered to be involved in culture and not involved in entertainment.

The May Day concert in Rome kicks off with the memory of Lorenzo Parelli, the 18-year-old who died in January 2022 during the school-work alternation. A moved Ambra remembers him, quoting article 4 of the Italian Constitution. «Lorenzo dies in the first syllable of the word future, because he will never get a job, he died during school hours and not even the constitution could foresee this. He pays with his life, without yet having been paid by anyone. We are on this stage to deliver something important to you: Lorenzo’s paper, take care of it».

Ambra inaugurates the live video of the Concertone with the memory of Lorenzo Parelli, who died during the school-work alternation project: his parents on stage.

The first to take the stage at 2 pm were Leo Gassmann, Iside, Savana Funk, Camilla Magli and Wepro, before the start of the live video.