19.10.2025 at Conservatorio, Milan

I found out about the concert the way one discovers most good things in adulthood, that is by accident, while reading the newspaper I never have time to read. There it was, a small headline in the Corriere della Sera for Vinicio Capossela to celebrate 25 years of “Canzoni a Manovella” at the Conservatorio. Two days before the show. Naturally, I bought tickets immediately.

Capossela is one of the few artists I’ve followed faithfully over the decades — which, at this point, says a lote about my age. He’s anachronistic in the best possible way: a man who drags the past into the present, polishes it with a velvet sleeve, and makes it shine brighter than anything so-called “modern.”

That evening, the Conservatorio was glowing in that austere, almost intimidating Milanese way and with people who look like they’ve known each other since the last jazz festival. F and I arrived with a vague sense of accomplishment for having managed to exist in two decades at once: 2000, when Canzoni a Manovella first came out, and now, twenty-five years later, when we’re all pretending not to count the years.

The lights dimmed, and then he appeared in his unmistakable, theatrical, slightly surreal way that only Capossela owns. Every song from Canzoni a Manovella unfolded like a forgotten tale of sailors, circus performers, melancholic ghosts. I’d forgotten how strange and perfect that album was with its very peculiar mix of poetry, machinery, nostalgia.

Between songs, he spoke in riddles and jokes, as if tuning not just the instruments but the whole audience. You could tell he was enjoying himself, playing with time, like a magician revisiting his best tricks.

Setlist:

• Bardamù
• Polka di Warsava
• Decervellamento
• Marajà
• Canzone a manovella
• I pagliacci
• Marcia del camposanto
• I pianoforti di Lubecca
• Suona Rosamunda
• Contratto per Karelias
• Intermezzo
• Solo mia
• Corre il soldato
• Signora luna
• Con una rosa
• Nella pioggia
• Resto qua

Encore:

• L’absent (Gilbert Bécau)
• Il tempo dei regali