Heading back up the hill in the warm evening sunshine to beautiful Cortona in a bright red open jeep wearing only shorts, shades and a Neil Young T shirt to my first live gig on Italian soil....does life get any better?
Cortona is holding a 'Mix Festival' this week so a stage has been erected in the Piazza Signorelli and a mixture of musicians from classical, folk, pop and rock, young and old will play on the stage in the main Piazza all through the week in the evenings.
I came up to the town on Tuesday to get me a hot ticket for tonight's band.......wait for it, 70's/80's rock/pop legends The Boomtown Rats with Live Aid officiano and miserable moaning Irish 🍀 frontman 'Sir Bob Geldof'!
The 'Bobster' was given the 'Chuiso Di La Citta' yesterday, or the key 🔑 of the city to all you non 🇮🇹 Italians, I suppose that means he can wander round being grumpy about humanitarian issues while stuffing his face with pasta while others around the world starve and then not paying a penny or a Euro for it....sounds like a recipe for a fight if u ask me?
Anyway, just time for a proper pre-gig pizza and a Birra Moretti at the 'Groce del Travoglio' trattoria on Via Dardano to get in the mood and then the medieval stage was set for 09.30.
As about 400 folk and a dog (no joke) waited patiently....Enter stage left, a lanky leopard skin suited old fella with long scruffy white hair that strutted and prowled Jagger-esque for 2 hours giving us an energetic rendition of the whole back
catalogue of hits including Modern Girl, Someone's always looking at you, Like Clockwork, Banana Republic, I don't like Mondays, Mary of the fourth form into a John Lee Hooker medley and ending with 'Looking after Number 1 and finally of course 'Rat Trap' before coming back for an encore with a psychedelic rave fest of a track, 'Boomtown' to end the whole performance......quite amazing!
It surprised me how many hits they had actually had!
I have to say the energy and the performance of the band great and still good guitarists too. The old fella still has it to put that much into a set.
I'm glad now that I gave you a quid back in 1984.....you're ok, Sir Bob!
At the end of the gig at about midnight I wandered back down the tiny streets while people sat quietly drinking coffee and 🍷, past open jewellery shops and designer footwear, art galleries and chocolate shops watching folk eating cake and gelato with a wry smile of realisation as I wondered to myself why I moved to this place?......Tonight, it's pretty obvious!
I can't bring myself to use the obvious 80's thought provoking child slaughter song as I am still sick to death of hearing it first time round, and I hated it then so Iv gone for a more Clash influenced alternative and first ever Boomtown Rats single from 1977 'Looking after Number One'.....described as 'breakneck sneering selfishness'.
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