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I write this post on August 16th.
These you see here are the happy images of Ferragosto, Italy’s main central summer party, in one of the “enchanted” places of this summer. In water parks such as the Aquafan in Riccione, chlorine and disinfectants in the swimming pools kill the virus.
As always, in addition to concerts and outdoor shows, I also played in clubs from the moment it was possible to do so, namely as of June, when they slowly began to reopen venues where live music is played, amid a thousand limitations and social distancing rules.
The situation in the clubs was this: thousands of kids tracked, monitored, very little dancing already from day one, quota entrances, masks on the dance floor and employees, including us artists, ready to reiterate the rules in places where regulation was taken very seriously.
Certainly, there were those who screwed up: we saw scenes of clubs where there were clearly evident and uncontrolled gatherings, and only those clubs should’ve been fined with temporary closure, as was done in many cases (and in other cases, the sanctions were given unjustly).
I ask you: is it better to allow the entertainment supply chain to work by regulating it, or, as has been decided, is it better to have millions of people in the squares, beaches and anywhere else without any control and organization, thus favoring completely unregulated gatherings and parties outside?
For those of you who are reading this post outside Italy, I’d like to know how these decisions are perceived where you are and have similar actions been taken in your countries.
In my posts I have always favored optimism and inspiration: music and the beauty of life at the center of all.
Today I’m forced to say that in Italy we are governed by individuals who are INCAPABLE of making a wise synthesis between attention to public health and safeguarding the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people. Summer in Italy means tourism, and although many international visitors were unable to come this year, we managed to save a part of the summer, all together, thanks to the sacrifices made during the lockdown in March, April and May.
Closing the clubs now does NOT promote prevention and is AGAINST everyone’s interest. Our leaders have preferred 4 newspaper headlines to reflection… and I will stop at this.
Now, after more cancellations, my team and I will get to work on a fall theater tour, hoping to find a sustainable average between spaced-out seats and costs, and find you all still hungry for live music.
See you all there
