‘Overdose d’Amore’ is the title of Zucchero‘s 2024 Tour, and in these troubled times, you certainly can’t have too much love for sure. Just to be safe on this point the support slot is taken by Jack Savoretti who is himself no stranger to romantic lyrics and hit records. 4,500 fans were ready to share the love on Thursday evening at Kunst!Rasen.
Jack Savoretti first caught my attention in 2012 when, armed with just a battered Martin acoustic and raw velvet voice, he captured the rapt attention of an entire audience at the Harmonie who were there to see Madison Violet. Since then his star has very much been in the ascendancy, with 2019’s album ‘Singing to Strangers’ reaching number one in the UK pop charts and sold out concert halls as a headliner. The fame has come at a musical price, to my ears anyway, with more recent releases being heavily orchestrated and ultra-slickly produced. For that reason, I’m rather pleased to see that this evening there is only pianist Nikolaj Torp accompanying Jack and his guitar. There is an Italian connection here – Jack himself is London-born and lived in Switzerland for some time, but remains very much Italian and has reason to do so – his Grandfather led the Italian Partisan movement against Germany in Genoa during WW2.
Jack’s last release was his first solely in Italian, and there are two tracks from it played tonight: ‘Non Ho Capito Niente’ and ‘Ultime Parole’ (the latter originally recorded as a duet with Natalie Imbruglia). ‘Candlelight’ from 2019’s ‘Singing to Strangers’ gives a taster of those raw strengths that caught my ear in 2012 with a minimalistic backing. On the other hand, ‘Home’ from the ‘Scars’ disc actually looses a bit without the punchy drum backing on the album to push it along. It’s on the last two numbers that the Savoretti magic really takes off. I can feel the hairs on my neck stand up during the goosebump-laden vocal that opens ‘Catapult’, Savoretti’s hit from 2015. Torp’s sparse piano is a perfect backdrop musically. The closing ‘Knock Knock’ is tonight’s only up-tempo number in Jack’s set, the audience, keenly joining in on the chorus, clapping and singing the catchy line: “Bad news, bad news”, has been won over as effortlessly as that Harmonie audience in 2012 was, but… that was it. Only a half hour. Far too short! Is Jack Savoretti now too big for headlining The Harmonie where I first saw him supporting? I hope someone in Bonn/Cologne made contact with him regarding a return gig of his own here.
At 7:45 pm the PA music fades out and Oma Jali takes the stage with a Gospel-fired ‘Doctor Jesus’ to fire us up for tonight’s star who steps into the spotlight sporting a yellow jacket and an even bigger hat than at his last visit here – the feather in it is, of course, de rigueur. Zucchero’s last appearance in Bonn was in 2017 so Oma Jali who joined the band after that, is a welcome surprise to my ears. Can this girl sing? You better believe it. She also provides the perfect foil in a duet with Zucchero on ‘Facile’. Something of a Meatloaf-style musical/theatrical affair. We’ll come back to that later but it also needs saying that, at 68, Zucchero’s voice is as powerful as ever and, dare I say it, the years have matured it to perfection.
Guests on previous albums have included Mark Knopfler. He’s shared stages with the likes of Eric Clapton and Luciano Pavarotti. Zucchero is very much an International superstar, despite 99% of his material being in Italian. After one of those rare English songs – the Korgi’s hit ‘Everybody’s got to learn sometime’ – He picks up an acoustic guitar, and, taking a seat at the front of the stage to sing ‘Un Soffio Caldo’, seems to feel the need to explain the Italian/English lyrical dilemma. “I sing mostly in Italian, not to appear sophisticated, but because, for me, singing in Italian, it’s real. Senza Una Donna worked because the English lyrics (by Bono) stayed true to the sentiment of the song. Sometimes it don’t work. So, sorry if I sing in Italian. But I WANT to sing in Italian!”
The marvelous duet with Oma Jali on ‘Facile’ mentioned already was a new partnership to Bonn, but there’s another duet too that has become something of a long-standing tradition at Zucchero shows – one with Luciano Pavarotti on the song Zucchero wrote for him, ‘Miserere’. Pavarotti died in 2007 but the superstar tenor still steals the show from Zucchero when his huge video presence and even larger voice appear on the huge stage-side video screens. ‘Kitsch’ is described in the dictionary as “Art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way” So is Pavarotti’s appearance kitsch? Who cares. it’s still a moving testimony to how much love the Man invokes, and this is after all the ‘Overdose d’Amore Tour.
No one of course wants to see the star take a break, but when Zucchero leaves the stage it’s that human dynamo Oma Jali who keeps the momentum going with a rocking ‘Nutbush City Limits’ tribute to Tina Turner. 110% effort from the Lady. Zucchero’s ten-piece Band itself is no slouch either and proves it with a spirited ‘Honky tonk train Blues’ before the Man himself is back and refreshed to sing a spirited ‘Per Colpa Da Chi’ and ‘Diavolo in Me’.
We are heading rapidly towards the 10 pm musical watershed in Bonn when the first encore song, ‘Chocabeck’, rings around the Kunstrasen with 9,000 hands clapping and 9,000 feet stamping from 4,500 enraptured people who have just been soundly convinced by Zucchero, his band, and Jack Savoretti, that an overdose of love is not fatal but actually very healthy indeed.
If the show had ended there, would the audience have gone home even if all the lights went out and the amplifiers were unplugged? ‘Senza Una Donna (Without a Woman)‘ was still to be sung. Only then would it truly be the show’s end. I was half hoping that he would be joined by Jack Savoretti to duet this time around since the two recently released it as a single. It wasn’t to be. Probably for the best – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and audiences have been going home from Zucchero concerts with his voice alone singing this song floating in their heads for many a year now.
The evening started with an introduction to Doctor Jesus, but Doctor Zucchero’s shot of love was more than enough for the many smiling faces that were seen heading back to cars, trains, buses, and homes with an extra spring in their step. Love conquers all, Italian style!
