FANGIRL

In this photo: The Beatles "Red Album" 1962-1966. Mine is a vintage one

CHAPTER ONE

Almost exactly one month ago (on the 13th of June), I would have attended the concert of Paul McCartney, an event I had been waiting for the last, you know, 7 years. But, just because a global pandemic happened and it obviously had very different plans in mind, the concert was cancelled, leaving me with solid desperation and a vivid imagination of how I would have spent that unique day that I was yearning for so long.

In this photo: crown necklace & Other Stories (old), vintage earrings

In this photo: Beatles matryoshka is an old find from a fair; a detail of my ever growing collection of Beatles vinyls that I buy everywhere

CHAPTER TWO

F and I had planned to leave Milan early in the morning, tbh I wanted to arrive as soon as possible in Lucca (that would have been the amazing location), drop off my rucksack and literally run towards the concert venue to try gaining the front row, like any Beatles fanatic would do. And also because when you’re a fan you feel the need to be as near as possible to the exact place where music happens.

F would have left me there to have his own tranquil time exploring the beautiful Lucca, to reach for me in the evening (NEVER we would have found each other again among all people, of course).

I had the greatest expectations about the concert venue because I generally prefer live music played in small locations, and if the latter happen to be an historical place, that is a big win-win in my heart of music lover. Nonetheless the benchmark was pretty high because in 2013 Paul McCartney played in the Verona Arena!

In this photo: original and signed photography of Beatles from Magnum photographer David Hurn; vintage LP "The Beatles Red Album 1962-1966"; Magazines, photo books and a mug with Yellow Submarine artwork; with the blu spine my very first Beatles biography "Shout! La vera storia dei Beatles" by Philip Norman

CHAPTER THREE

From the very beginning of the concert I would have started crying and sobbing and singing: the purest form of freedom and happiness. While I totally understand the fact that the vast majority of people would not understand (and that’s okay), that’s the reaction of something so long awaited and hoped for, like a different way of saying: it’s happening!

Probably it’s a reaction generated by my obsessive personality but, honestly, I don’t care because if it’s brought by something that makes me feel so good then why should I stop it?

Lately I am feeling disenchanted and uninterested towards the universe of social media and mostly towards their general concept of sharing sharing sharing. The fakeness and rubbish of social media have very much to do with such attitude plus I am getting older – meaning that I would not have brought any cameras to film or take photos. Why should I renounce the beauty of experiencing live music…live only to be bothered to stay still to record, with my mind engaged in thinking about the camera settings? What’s the point in watching an important moment on the small screen of the mobile times and times again, if when you were there you weren’t present? But I digress.

In this photo: a plectrum I bought more than 10 years ago when I visited Liverpool and - obvsly - The Cavern Club!

In this photo: The Beatles socks from Happy Socks, limited edition

CHAPTER FOUR

The concert would have lasted way more than three hours – that’s the average when it comes to Paul McCartney, after all the man has a discography with a song or two to choose from! I would have hoped to listen to my favorite song of all of The Beatles discography (it’s “For no One” from the album Revolver).

Oh, it would had been a great journey, from the early Beatles of “Can’t buy me love” to the most sophisticated ones of “Penny Lane”. Not to mention the event into the event: the final and ad-lib na-na-na-na of “Hey Jude”, sung a cappella by us the audience, a majestic choir that would have sounded like the loudest “thank you we love you John Paul George Ringo” from us to them, the “four lads who shook the world”

But then the concert would have come to an end, and I still with tears and adrenaline, sweat in my yellow merch tee of the Wings era, trembling and wanting more music, confused by the extreme level of happiness, thirsty and without a breath of voice left.

But that’s all in the mind, you know… time to set a new countdown.

In this photo: (similar) Abbey Road mug as this particular design is not sold anymore; The Beatles Moleskine, a limited edition of few years ago; "Scouse English dictionary" is my gem from a shop in Liverpool on the amazing docks