Ezio – Lindenbrauerei, Unna; May 6th, 2023
After a solo show in Düsseldorf back in March, I saw Ezio reunited with Booga in Unna and it was wonderful. An evening of stories, happy fans and a great mix of songs. Surely a good night.
Unna is easy to reach and I got there way too early, so I was alone fora while. Luckily the venue had a rood that I could stand under when heavy rain set in. Eventually, some more people showed up and as we walked in, Ezio was greeting us by the merch stand. He had conveniently hung the women’s T-shirts by the sign for the women’s bathrooms and the men’s shirts by the sign for the men’s. 😀
The hall was quite big and did not fill completely, but there were tables around so it didn’t look too empty. Before the show, I got talking with I., who had notice my “Stone Pony” hoodie. It was a lovely chat to pass the time.
Shortly after 8, the guys stepped on stage, Booga sitting down on a barstool and Ezio standing up. They started out with ‘Girls’ – it sounded richer and more powerful with two guitars. I was happy to have Booga back. The show stayed in high gear with ’30 and confused’ – oh how I love this song! It brought a great sing-along too. He let us sing an entire chorus on our own. The sound was amazing and I was caught up in admiring their guitar skills. 🙂
Because he had a hair in his mouth that was bothering him, Ezio joked about us being a generation that remembered pubic hair. 😀 He’s not wrong. They played the vampire song again that we had already heard in Düsseldorf. I supposed it is called ‘Here comes the Night’. Whatever it is called, it is great fun to listen to, really interesting rhythm.
‘Accordion Girl’ was brilliant and yet another song I had almost forgotten about. I clearly need to listen to Ezio more. After that, he ran out of ideas and asked for request so I called for ‘An Immigrants Table’, but his reaction was “Fuck no” and he explained he hadn’t played it for years and would fuck it up. Fair enough. He tried a few riffs, went back and forth with Booga for a bit and joked that he had written many songs, but there were lots he could not remember. Since setlists make this feel like work, he had to live with the moments of not having any ideas. Finally they played ‘Thin Line’ – perfect choice.
We got to heard a funny story about a hotel pool, possibly naked swimming and social conditioning. I could relate. Then he decided we needed a hit song now and got ‘The further we stretch’ – hell yeah, that one always works. Booga may not act out the lines any mores, but everyone was singing along at the top of their lungs anyway. Did we want a slow or a fast song next? More voted for fast so we got ’59 yards’. It rocked! We sang along to that too and he really tested out our ability to sing high and low. 😀 The wonderful ‘Thousand years’ was the last song before the break .
After buying the latest best of CD and chatting with I. some more, the show continued. To my great surprised it was ‘Mermaid Song’ they played. This used to be a song that was often requested, but rarely played. It was great. The other Vampire song from Dusseldorf made an appearance. I enjoyed it, t’s really cool. Ezio mentioned that “a nice young man” had requested ‘Agony’ for his mum. It was fantastic, I’ve always liked that song. <3
A great version of ‘Everybody forgets sometimes’ followed and we learned that Ezio had written it for his son. Thus, his daughter was upset for years, because she didn’t get one, so he eventually wrote ‘You’re my girl’ for her. It was a sweet one.
Because Booga needed to change guitars, Ezio played us one verse of a Neapolitan folk song. Amazing. Booga even filmed him. 😀 The next song, ‘Wild Side’, he dedicated to I. Part two of the folk song followed, so Booga could switch guitars again. It’s not so easy while seated. I certainly didn’t mind, it was great to hear Ezio sing Italian.
He announced one more song and explained a little how it’s about not recognizing the country he live sin much any more. It was ‘Indian’ and rocked the house. After walking off and letting us cheer and clap for a bit, they came back and ended the show with ‘Saxon Street’ – of course they could not let us go without that one. Brilliant song to end a great show. 😀
Afterwards, I. and myself went for little chat and got our CDs signed, before walking to the train station together, because we both had to go to Dortmund. It had been an entertaining evening.
Setlist
Girls
30 and confused
Here comes the Night
Accordion Girl
Thin Line
The further we stretch
59 yards
Thousand years
Mermaid Song
“I wanna kiss you where the sun don’t shine”
Agony
Everybody forgets sometimes
You’re my girl
“Italian Intermezzo”
Wild Side
“Italian Intermezzo” – part 2
Indian
Saxon Street