If YOU have any information/news about what Zucchero's current or future plans are please email us and we'll put it on the site.
"ALL THE BEST"
For The Ask-Archives click here.
NEWSFLASH:
New single: Amen
January 25, 2008
It looks as though "Amen", one of the new tracks on All the Best, will become the new (radio)single in Italy. Of the four new tracks, Amen is the most up tempo, with 1980s synthesizers and some of the early Zucchero female-backing vocals. It's unlikely the single will be available in stores, but it will be played on Italian radiostations, and most likely will be available for download. No news yet on a videoclip.
All the Best in the US
January 16, 2008
Yesterday saw the release of All the Best in the United States by Verve Forecast. The cd contains 15 tracks, including the four new songs, as well as hits such as Diamante, Il Volo, Diavolo in Me, Dune Mosse, Un Kilo, and Ali D'Oro. The cd can be bought online through Amazon.
The tracklist for the US edition of All the Best is:
Wonderful Life
I won't let you down
Senza una Donna (without a woman) - with Paul Young
Baila (sexy thing)
Everybody's got to learn sometime - with Vanessa Carlton & Haylie Ecker
Nel Cosi Blu
Bacco Perbacco
Un Kilo
Dune Mosse - with Miles Davis
Ali D'Oro - with John Lee Hooker
Il Volo
Diavolo in me
Amen
Miserere - with Luciano Pavarotti
You are so beautiful
All the Best Tour
January 10, 2008
Zucchero's official site has put the first dates for the 2008 All the Best tour online. Although we already had some listed, there are also some interesting aditions; after 18 years, Zucchero will return to play at the Kremlin, while a bunch of new dates are also announced for Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Eastern-European countries.
MARCH
29 SWITZERLAND, Little Scheidegg - SnowOpenAir 08
APRIL
02 SPAIN, Barcelona - Apolo
04 CANARY ISLANDS, Gran Canaria - ?
05 CANARY ISLANDS, Tenerife - ?
07 GERMANY, Frankfurt - Alte Oper
09 GERMANY, München - Olympiahalle
10 GERMANY, Stuttgart - Liederhalle
11 GERMANY, Düsseldorf - Philipshalle
13 GERMANY, Kiel - Ostseehalle
15 GERMANY, Berlin - Max Scheling Halle
17 GERMANY, Nürnberg - Frankenhalle
19 BELGIUM, Antwerp - Lotto Arena
20 THE NETHERLANDS, Rotterdam - Ahoy
25 AUSTRIA, Linz - Intersport Arena
26 AUSTRIA, Klagenfurt - Messeplatz Eurofanzone
27 AUSTRIA, Innsbruck - Olympiahalle
29 SWITZERLAND, Zurich - Hallenstadion
30 SWITZERLAND, Zurich - Hallenstadion
MAY
01 SWITZERLAND, Zurich - Hallenstadion
03 ROMANIA, Bucharest - Fratelli
04 BULGARIA, Sofia - NPC
05 SERBIA, Belgrade - ?
07 SLOVAKIA, Bratislava - ?
10 LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Rockhal
11 GERMANY, Halle/ Westfalen - Gerry Weber Stadion
13 GERMANY, Hamburg - Laeiszhalle
14 GERMANY, Hamburg - Laeiszhalle
16 IRELAND, Dublin - National Stadium
18 UNITED KINGDOM, London - Royal Albert Hall
22 RUSSIA, Moscow - Kremlin
23 RUSSIA, St. Petersburg - Palace of Dvorez Kultury
27 FRANCE, Paris - Palais des Sports
28 FRANCE, Paris - Palais des Sports
All the Best at 1
January 7, 2008
Good things come for those who wait: after wandering around the top 10 of best selling albums in Italy since its release, All The Best has reached the nr. 1 spot. The competition has been particularly fierce in Italy with the top 10 throughout December dominated by all Italian albums. All The Best also made the top 10 in Austria and Switzerland, and entered the charts in Belgium. Next week the U.S. edition (featuring 15 songs) will go on sale, and at the end of January the Dutch edition will be released.
Tomorrow on RAI 2: Arena Blues
December 17, 2007
Tomorrow night RAI 2 will broadcast a television special on Zucchero, featuring material recorded during the September shows in Verona. The show will also include interviews with Zucchero, and clips from the 2004 RAH show and the 2007 Carnegie Hall show. The broadcast will begin at 23:45 (or PM 11:45).
YouTube
December 17, 2007
Some classic Zucch clips have found their way to YouTube yet again. Enjoy Zucchero and B.B. King performing Hey Man during the 1999 Pavarotti & Friends gala, as well as Zucchero and Noa singing a beautiful version of Your Song during the French television show Taratata.
... And That Was 110
December 9, 2007
Yesterday evening in Padova, Zucchero and his band played their last show of the FLY tour. In just seven months they played exactly 110 shows (a little more if we include that roaring succes at Cala di Volpe) in 30 countries, performing for over 900.000 people. Although past tours may have gone on for a longer period, all this makes the FLY tour the biggest tour Zucchero has done to date. And although the Zucchero circus will be on the road again next spring, the amazing FLY band (David Sanscious on keyboards! Mario Schiliro and Kat Dyson on guitar! Polo Jones on bass! Adriano Molinari on drums! Sarah Grimaldi on backing vocals and poorly playbacked flute!) celebrated the occasion by replacing Zucchero's lyric sheet by what appears to be a photo copied picture of somebody's ass. It's rock 'n roll people :).
All The Best Tour
December 5, 2007
With the FLY tour almost over (only Treviso and Padova are left on the agenda), we can start looking forward to Zucchero's All The Best tour next spring. Tour dates have began coming in in the past months, and many shows are already on sale. The following shows are official so far:
MARCH
29 SWITZERLAND, Little Scheidegg - SnowOpenAir 08
APRIL
07 GERMANY, Frankfurt - Alte Oper 09 GERMANY, München - Olympiahalle
10 GERMANY, Stuttgart - Liederhalle
11 GERMANY, Düsseldorf - Philipshalle
13 GERMANY, Kiel - Ostseehalle
15 GERMANY, Berlin - Max Scheling Halle
17 GERMANY, Nürnberg - Frankenhalle
19 BELGIUM, Antwerp - Lotto Arena
20 THE NETHERLANDS, Rotterdam - Ahoy
25 AUSTRIA, Linz - Intersport Arena
26 AUSTRIA, Klagenfurt - Messeplatz Eurofanzone
29 SWITZERLAND, Zurich - Hallenstadion
MAY
04 BULGARIA, Sofia - NPC
10 LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Rockhal
16 IRELAND, Dublin - National Stadium
18 UNITED KINGDOM, London - Royal Albert Hall
27 FRANCE, Paris - Palais des Sports
More shows are expected to be announced in the near future. Also, Friends & Partners, the tour agency that organized the FLY tour, has announced that special travel packages to foreign destinations will be made available to Italian fans.
If you're Dutch...
November 28, 2007
...and you are looking for All the Best, you're out of luck. Although the release date for the Dutch version of Zucchero's new compilation cd was scheduled for November 16, Universal Music has pushed it back to January 2008. And that seems to also go for the Italian version and the dvd. It's gonna be a cold cold Christmas...
All the Best: The New Songs
November 15, 2007
Today Zucchero's official website released the official tracklists for the different versions of All the Best, including some additional information on the new songs featured on the collection:
"Nel Cosi Blu", Zucchero's version of Procul Harum's "A Salty Dog", is technically not a completely new song: it was featured on the international version of Fly, but was left off the Italian version. To most Italians therefore its (as good as) new.
"Amen" is an up tempo song with full-on backing vocals, remeniscant of Zucchero's work in the mid 1980's. The song was produced by Don Was and recorded in Los Angeles, and therefore appears to be a left-over from the Fly sessions. The origins of the song are a bit unclear at this point; the Italian lyrics are by Zucchero and Pasquale Panella, but the music is credited to Lawley, Chinn, Chapman and Pennington, of which the latter was a member of the country band Exile.
"Wonderful Life" is, as previously reported, a cover of the UK band Black. The song is produced by Steve Welton, Jaimes and Tony Swain, and was recorded in London this past summer. "You are so beautiful", the classic Billy Preston song made famous by Joe Cocker, which has been Zucchero's closing song during the Fly tour, was recorded by the same team.
"Tutti i colori della mia vita" / "I won't let you down" is a cover of PhD. The Italian adaption was made by Zucchero and Pasquale Panella, and produced by Zuccher and Will Malone (who has worked previously with Zucchero on the Bluesugar album).
For more information on the album and short clips to the (new) tracks see Zucchero's official website or our All the Best section.
.
Radio 2 Top 2000
November 13, 2007
Like every year Dutch Radio 2 will hold it's Top 2000: five days of continious broadcasting of the best 2000 songs in pop music history. Zucchero generally scores well in the list, but last year he was slipping a bit, so vote!
- go to this website.
- click on "verder"
- select your 10 favorite songs from the list. The Zucchero options are: Cosi Celeste, Diamante, Hey Man, Il Volo & Senza Una Donna. Mind you, you are only allowed to pick 2 songs of the same artist.
- (if you make a mistake or want to change a song, double click on it in the selection list to the right)
- click on "verder"
- you can add an 11th choice that was not in the list (I for example chose Occhi by Zucchero)
- click "verder"
- in the next screen you can explain why you chose one of the songs (to the left), and fill in some mandatory information (first & last name, e-mail, postal code, country, sex (male - female), year of birth, receive the radio 2 newsletter (no, or yes))
- click on verder
- click on verder
and you're done.
All The Best release dates
November 13, 2007
In the next few weeks All the Best, Zucchero's new compilation CD, will be released all through Europe. The following release dates seem to be accurate:
November 16:
Dutch version (1 CD version, tracklist unknown)
November 23:
Italian version (2 CD version)
International version (1 CD version, available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
DVD version (1 DVD, 28 songs plus extra's)
Special Edition (2 CD plus DVD)
November 26:
French version (1 CD version)
January 2008:
US edition (1 CD version, 15 tracks)
All The Best DVD
November 01, 2007
After the tracklists for the different international versions of All The Best (a Dutch version is also in the making), as well as the 2cd Italian version could be found online, now also the tracklist for the DVD is in:
Rispetto
Dune Mosse - feat Miles Davis
Senza una Donna
Overdose d'Amore
Il Mare...
Diamante
Mama
Diavolo in me
Miserere - feat Luciano Pavarotti
Ridammi il Sole
X colpa di chi?
Il Volo
Cosi Celeste
Menta e Rosmarino
Va, Pensiero
Blu
Baila
Ahum
Indaco dagli occhi del cielo - feat Brian May, Roger Taylor & Sharon Corr
Bacco Perbacco
Un Kilo
Occhi
Wonderful Life
Bonus videos:
Il Pelo nell Uovo
Papa perché
Mama get real - feat Mousse T.
Cuba Libre
E Delicato
Extra's:
Making of Diamante
Making of Miserere
Making of Dunne Mosse
Occhi - desert version
Pronto - L.A. studio version
Let it shine - New Orleans version
Troppa Fedeltà - Zucchero version
Nel Cosi Blu - eagle version
The dvd will be available seperately as well as part of a box set with the 2cd Italian version.
All The Best 2 CD Tracklist
October 24, 2007
The tracklist for the 2 CD version of All The Best, which apparently will only be sold in Italy and Switzerland, is out: the collection contains 35 songs, including two brand new songs ("Amen" and "Tutti i colori della mia vita") and two new covers (the new single "Wonderful Life" and "You Are So Beautiful"), as well as Zucchero's version of "A Salty Dog" - "Nel Cosi Blu", which was on the international version of FLY, but not on the Italian version. The tracklist will be as follows:
CD 1
Nel Cosi Blu
Tutti i colori della mia vita
Wonderful Life
Occhi
Indacco dagli occhi dal cielo - feat. Vanessa Carlton
Il Volo
Baila (sexy thing)
Bacco Perbacco
Diamante
Cosi Celeste
Un Kilo
Amen
Menta e Rosmarino
Blu
Con Le Mani
Solo una sana...
Diavolo In Me
You Are So Beautiful
CD 2
Overdose (d'amore)
Il Mare...
Dune Mosse - feat. Miles Davis
Senza una Donna
Donne
Ridammi il Sole
Rispetto
Pane e Sale
Ahum
Non ti sopporto piu
Hey Man
It's All Right
Va, Pensiero
Pippo
X colpa di chi?
Miserere - feat. Luciano Pavarotti
Madre Dolcissima - feat. Stevie Ray Vaughan
All The Best Tracklist? / Wonderful Life
October 22, 2007
Let the confusion over the different international versions of "All the Best" begin. The website of French online cd store FNAC and the Austrian Universal Music have both put online a tracklist for "All the Best", both of which only fill up one cd (compared to the 2cd version that apparently will be sold in Italy). The French tracklist supposedly will be:
1. Wonderful Life
2. I Won't Let You Down
3. Senza una Donna (Without a Woman) - feat. Paul Young
4. Baila (sexy thing)
5. Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - feat. Vanessa Carlton
6. Nel Cosi Blu
7. Il Volo
8. Bacco Perbacco
9. Occhi
10. Cosi Celeste
11. Blue
12. Diavolo in Me
13. Dunne Mosse - feat. Miles Davis
14. Diamante
15. Feels Like A Woman
16. Amen
17. Miserere - feat. Luciano Pavarotti
18. You Are So Beautiful
The Austrian version is almost the same, except that Feels Like A Woman, which was a hit in France, has been replaced with Va, Pensiero. This disc contains four new tracks: Wonderful Life (a cover of Black), You Are So Beautiful (the Billy Preston song made famous by Joe Cocker, which Zucchero has been closing his FLY concerts with this year), I Won't Let You Down (either new material or a cover of PhD) and Amen (most likely new material). The Italian version of the album should contain another 17 tracks, with possibly one more new song - so stay tuned in for more news.
Wonderful Life, meanwhile, has made its debut on Italian and French radiostations. A short clip of the song can be heard here.
All The Best
October 17, 2007
All The Best, Zucchero's new career spanning compilation album out November 23, will also come in a DVD version. According to rumors on the web All the Best will come in the following varieties: 2 cd (35 songs, with either 4 or 5 new tracks), DVD (either a videoclip retrospective, or the Live at Verona dvd), and a special edition which will feature both the cd and the dvd. Tracklists are not in yet, but, as reported below, "Wonderful Life" will be on the air in Italy from friday on.
"Wonderful Life"
October 16, 2007
"Wonderful Life", the first of the four new songs on "All the Best" - Zucchero's new best of album, will be released to radio stations in Italy on friday. The song is a cover of the classic 1980's Black song, and it looks as though it will be in English. "All the Best", meanwhile, will be released on November 23.
"All the Best" Out November 26 / First single: "Wonderful Life" / 2008 Tour
October 12, 2007
According to the website of Universal Music France, Zucchero's new 2-cd compilation "All the Best" will be released on November 26. For this album Zucchero has recorded four new songs, one of which is a cover of the 1987 Black song "Wonderful Life", which will be released as the first single. If earlier reports in Italian media were correct, a live dvd of the FLY concerts in Verona last month, should be released around the same time.
Meanwhile, two more tourdates for next year's "All the Best"-tour have been announced: on April 20, Zucchero will play the Ahoy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. On April 19, he will perform at the Lotto Arena, in Antwerp, Belgium. Tickets for the Antwerp show will go on sale today, the Rotterdam show will go on sale tomorrow.
US Tour, Columbus Day / 2008 Tourdates
October 09, 2007
The American leg of the FLY tour seems to be going along nicely; most venues that Zucchero and his band have played at seem to be (nearly) sold out and the reviews are excellent. The setlist (such as the Carnegie Hall one below) seems to have been scaled down a little, but it does include a beautiful version of "Miserere", featuring the voice of Luciano Pavarotti. On October 8 Zucchero returned to New York City to perform during the Columbus Day Parade, a performance which was broadcast live on WNBC affiliates and RAI International.
Meanwhile, European dates are coming in for 2008: in April Zucchero will perform at several German cities, while on May 18 he will perform once more in the Royal Albert Hall in London. Tickets for the RAH show are already on sale, and can be bought through www.royalalberthall.com.
Carnegie Hall setlist (September 28)
Dunne Mosse
Occhi
Quanti Anni Ho?
Bacco Perbacco
Un Kilo
Cuba Libre
Il Volo
Diamante
Cosi Celeste
Baila (sexy thing)
Overdose (d'amore)
Il Mare...
Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
Nell Cosi Blu
E'Delicato
Con le mani
Solo una sana...
Diavolo in me
--
Hey Man
Senza una Donna
Miserere
X colpa di chi?
--
You are so beautiful
Happy Birthday Zucchero! / Verona
September 25, 2007
Zucchero is celebrating his 52nd birthday today, so from all of us at the Un Po' site: Happy Birthday!
During the three Verona shows, which have been recorded for a dvd release in November, the FLY tour band was backed by a horn section including such Zucchero-faithful as Eric Daniel. As reported below, during the Friday show, Zucchero dedicated Cosi Celeste to Luciano Pavarotti, but during the Saturday and Sunday shows, the late Maestro was 'present' himself; Zucchero sang Miserere with a recording of Pavarotti's voice for the chorus.
New Best Of/ Live DVD in November
September 23, 2007
After months of speculation two new releases have been announced: in November both a live registration of the three Verona shows (of which the last one will be held tonight), and a new best of compilation will be released. Although the details are sketchy, it looks as though both the CD and DVD will be double discs; the Best of cd will have 35 tracks, including 4 new songs, while the DVD will contain the live disc as well as a dvd with studio recordings. A specific tracklist has not been released yet, but concerning the new tracks Zucchero has said that they will include covers, as well as new material written with Pasquale Pannella (the author of tracks such as Rossa Mela Della Sera).
The Verona show of friday had the longest setlist yet this tour; Zucchero and his band went through 28 songs (with Cosi Celeste played in tribute to Luciano Pavarotti). The entire setlist was:
1 - Dune mosse
2 – Occhi
3 – Quanti anni ho
4 – Bacco perbacco
5 – Pronto
6 – Un kilo
7 – Cuba libre
8 - l’amore è nel’aria
9 – Il volo
10 – Diamante
11 – Così celeste
12 – Baila
13 – Overdose
14 – Il mare
15 – It’s all right
16 – Everybody’s got to learn sometimes
17 – Nel così blu (A salty dog)
18 – E’ delicato
19 – Wonderful world
20 – L’urlo
21 – Con le mani
22 – Solo una sana
23 – Diavolo in me
24 – Hey man
25 – Senza una donna
26 – Madre dolcissima
27 – Per colpa di chi
28 – You are so beautiful
After tonight's Verona show, the FLY tour will continue in the US, Canada and South-America, before returning to Italy in November.
Luciano Pavarotti (2) / FLY tour South America
September 9, 2007
Zucchero was present at the funeral of Luciano Pavarotti in Modena yesterday, and paid tribute to his friend on a special opening page of his official website. On the site, Zucchero wrote the following statement remembering Pavarotti:
Ciao... Champion
How many times you called me this when the real champion was you.
How many times you told me “Bravo!” when you were always the best.
How many times you said thanks when your generosity knew no bounds.
How many times you called me “ciccio baciccio”, and I burst out laughing looking at you while we played around like two children
making fun of each other in dialect in New York, London, Paris and Modena.
Now I feel empty and orphaned, what we did together in 15 years is worth more than a lifetime.
I hope that St. Peter welcomes you with a piece of Parmigiano cheese and a bottle of well-chilled Lambrusco, just as you like it, and that the chorus of Angels listens carefully to you and is in tune for the great recital of the Universe.
“The show goes on”
“At voi bein” Zucchero
After a break of one month, the FLY tour will begin its second leg at the end of this week in Prague. In the following week shows will follow in Austria and Germany, as well as the three shows in Verona, before the FLY tour moves on to the US, Canada and South America, of which all the dates have now been confirmed. All the Canadian and US tourdates were already in, but the South-American shows are all new:
OCTOBER
19 MEXICO - MONTERREY – TEATRO NATIONAL
20 MEXICO - MEXICO CITY – TEATRO METROPOLITAN
22 COSTA RICA - SAN JOSE –TEATRO MELICO SALAZAR
23 COSTA RICA - SAN JOSE – COUNTRY CLUB
25 PERU - LIMA – MARIA ANGOLA
27 CHILE - SANTIAGO – TEATRI TELETON
30 ARGENTINA – CORDOBA - SUPERDOMO ORFEO
31 ARGENTINA - BUENOS AIRES - TEATRO GRAN REX
NOVEMBER
2 URUGUAY - PUNTA DEL ESTE - CONRAD
3 BRAZIL - SAO PAULO – VIA FUNCHAI
After these dates, Zucchero will return to Europe for more dates in France and Italy
Luciano Pavarotti
September 6, 2007
Opera legend Luciano Pavarotti passed away today at the age of 71. 'Maestro' Pavarotti was opera's biggest star, drawing millions to both his performances in operas, and to his more popular based shows, such as his work with The Three Tenors and the Pavarotti and Friends shows. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2005 and most recently had spent two weeks in a Modena hospital for undisclosed reasons.
Zucchero and Pavarotti collaborated frequently throughout the past fifteen years, beginning in 1992 when Zucchero wrote the song "Miserere" after hearing Pavarotti perform. The maestro, however, was not sure he should venture into the territory of popular music and refused to record the duet, instead suggesting Zucchero should release the demo-version which featured a young Andrea Bocelli, then an unknown singer from Bologna. Zucchero insisted, and, somewhat dramitcally, threatened to burn the demo-tapes and Pavarotti grudgingly agreed.
Miserere - Zucchero & Luciano Pavarotti at Pavarotti and Friends 1992
After Miserere, and also in 1992, Pavarotti began the Pavarotti & Friends series, which saw the opera star perform duets with pop musicians to raise money and awareness for children in war torn countries. Zucchero guested at almost every show, missing only two of the nine editions, performing many duets with Pavarotti (aside from Miserere, Cosi Celeste and Va, Pensiero).
Va, Pensiero - Zucchero & Luciano Pavarotti at Pavarotti and Friends 1997
On May 6, 2004 at the ZU & Co Royal Albert Hall show in London, Zucchero and Pavarotti shared the stage for the last time. Ailing from flu, Pavarotti had considered cancelling his appearance but, after the setlist was altered and his performance pushed up, sang Miserere with Zucchero one more time.
Miserere - Zucchero & Luciano Pavarotti at the Royal Albert Hall 2004
More North-American Tourdates
August 21, 2007
A few more North-American tourdates have been announced, including shows in Ottowa, St Charles, Illinois and one more California date. The complete tourschedule for North America at this point in time is the following:
SEPTEMBER
27 UNITED STATES, Somerville (MA) - Somerville Theatre - Tickets on sale
28 UNITED STATES, New York (NY) - Carnegie Hall - Tickets on sale
29 CANADA, Ottowa - Gatineau Casino - Tickets not yet on sale
OCTOBER
03 CANADA, St. Catharines - Sean O'Sullivan Theatre - Tickets on sale
04 CANADA, Toronto - Massey Hall - Tickets on sale
07 UNITED STATES, Glenside (PA) - Keswick Theatre - Tickets on sale
10 UNITED STATES, St. Charles (ILL) - Arcade Theatre - Tickets on sale
14 UNITED STATES, Fremont (CA) - The Saddlerack - Tickets on sale
15 UNITED STATES, Los Angeles (CA) - House of Blues - Tickets on sale
16 UNITED STATES, San Diego (CA) - House of Blues - Tickets on sale
17 UNITED STATES, Anaheim (CA) - Grove of Anaheim - Tickets on sale
For links to the sites that sell tickets for these shows, check our tour section.
US/Canada Tour Dates (so far)
August 13, 2007
There have been two new additions to Zucchero's North American tour; on September 27 Zucchero and his band will play Carnegie Hall in New York, and on October 3 they will play the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre in St. Catharines (Canada). Tickets for both performances are on sale. So far these are all the North-American tourdates that are on sale:
SEPTEMBER
27 USA, Somerville (MA) - Somerville Theatre
28 USA, New York (NY) - Carnegie Hall
OCTOBER
03 CANADA, St Catharines - Sean O'Sullivan Theatre
04 CANADA, Toronto - Massey Hall
15 USA, Los Angeles (CA) - House of Blues
16 USA, San Diego (CA) - House of Blues
Italian Dates on Sale/ Madrid Pictures
August 03, 2007
Many of the Italian FLY shows that will be held in November and December of this year have gone on sale. Tickets for the two Rome shows (November 13 and 14), Caserta (November 16), Bari (November 17), Turin (November 23), Genova (November 26), Ancona (November 30), Caselecchio di Reno (Dcember 1) and Bolzano (December 4) are now available through Ticketone (for direct links, see our tour section). A new French date is in too: on November 24 Zucchero will perform in Nice, tickets for this date are also on sale.
Our friend Roberto (who is a great contributor on our Un po di' Zucchero forum) has made a bunch of pictures during Zucchero's recent Madrid show and they can be seen right here.
New Tour Dates
July 30, 2007
A bunch of new tour dates are in and on sale:
September 15: AUSTRIA, St. Pölten - Veranstaltungszentrum
September 27: UNITED STATES, Somerville (MA) - Somerville Theatre
November 10: FRANCE, Marseille - Le Dome
November 23: ITALY, Torino - Mazda Palace
November 26: ITALY, Genova - Vaillant Palace
December 01: ITALY, Casalecchio di Reno - Palamalaguti
December 04: ITALY, Bolzano - Palaonda
For links to websites selling tickets for these shows, check our tour section. More US/Canadian shows are expected to come in soon.
First U.S. Dates
July 20, 2007
The first American tourdates for Zucchero's FLY tour are in. It was already known that on October 4 Zucchero and his band will perform in Toronto, now two new dates have come in; on October 15 Zucchero will play the House of Blues in Los Angeles (CA), and on October 16 he will play the House of Blues in San Diego (CA). The LA gig is already on sale, the San Diego show will go on sale this saturday. More dates are expected, but not in yet.
Radio
July 09, 2007
It's a big radio week for Zucchero lovers: Dutch Radio 2 is having its annual "Zomerfestival", which has all it's shows paying particular attention to one artist each day, and this wednesday it's Zucch. Festivities include one Zucchero song each hour, a quiz, a spoken column on his music and a rebroadcast of the showcase Zucchero gave in March. Radio 2 can be listened to through this website (click on the big yellow banner that says "Klik hier om te luisteren).
On saturday Zucchero will perform in Agrigento and Italian radiostation RTL 102.5 will broadcast the show live. RTL's website is unclear about what time the broadcast will begin, but our guess is somewhere between 20;00 and 21;30. It is possible to listen to the radiostation online here (click on the red RTL logo in the middle of the site).
Shopping / Tour
June 27, 2007
The online store on Zucchero's official website now offers two new books with chords; one for the most recent album FLY and one anthology., which includes the music of all of Zucchero's best known songs. Irene Fornaciari's solo album Vertigini in Fiore can also be bought online, amongst others here.
Three more tourdates have come in; on September 14 Zucchero will play in Prague, while on September 19 he will perform in Ravensburg (Germany). In October Zucchero and his band will tour North (and possibly South) America, and the first date in is for October 4 in Toronto, the tickets are on sale already.
New Italian Tourdates
June 17, 2007
Though they are not yet confirmed by Zucchero's official site, and the tickets are not on sale yet, the following November tour dates are floating around on the Internet:
NOVEMBER
13 ITALY, Roma - Palalottomatica
14 ITALY, Roma - Palalottomatica
16 ITALY, Caserta - Palamaggio
17 ITALY, Andria - Pala Andria
20 ITALY, Firenze - Nelson Mandela Forum
23 ITALY, Torino - Mazda Palace
26 ITALY, Genova - Vaillant Palace
29 ITALY, Perugia - Pala Evangelisti
30 ITALY, Ancona - Palarossini
It was 20 years ago today...
June 15, 2007
The videoclip for the original version of Senza una Donna
Today exactly twenty years ago saw the release of Zucchero's third (that is if you, like Zucchero himself, do not count "Un po' di Zucchero" - but we digress) studio album "Blue's". While Zucchero's star had been rising in Italy after the 1985 hit Donne from "Zucchero & the Randy Jackson band", and the highly succesful follow up album "Rispetto" in 1986, "Blue's" brought Zucchero to the absolute top of the Italian music scene. Selling over 1 million copies in Italy alone, "Blue's" became the best selling Italian album of all time (to be replaced by another Zucchero album, "Oro, Incenso e Birra" two years later).
Con Le Mani at the 1987 Festivalbar
Artistically, "Blue's" is one of Zucchero's most important albums: it is the link between the more Italian pop of "Z & R Jackson Band"/"Rispetto" and the American soul sound of "Oro Incenso e Birra". Many of the "Blue's" songs, such as the singles Con Le Mani, Solo una sana..., Dunne Mosse, and (of course!) the original version of Senza una Donna, have become classics, while other album tracks such as Hey Man, Hai scelto me and Pippo remain fan favorites. Produced by Corrado Rustici, and featuring band members such as Clarence Clemmons, David Sanscious, Polo Jones and James Thompson, and showing Zucchero reaching the first high points in the early phases of his career, "Blue's" remains a classic, and utterly brilliant, album.
The videoclip for "Non Ti Sopporto Piú"
FLY Tour / Corriera Della Sera interview session
June 13, 2007
Last weekend Zucchero played his first three stadium gigs in Italy during this years FLY tour. In Milan on thursday, friday and saturday, Zucchero (with Irene Fornaciari and her band as his support act) played for well over two hours. The FLY setlist so far has seen little changes, but in Milan "L'Amore e Nell Aria" was added to the main setlist, while the encore included Hey Man and Wonderful World. In other Italian tour news: with the September 21 and 22 dates (almost) sold out, September 23 has been added as another Verona tourdate.
Before thursday's Milan concert, Zucchero sat down with fans for an hour long Q&A session at the Italian newspaper Corriera Della Sera. Our friend Serena was at the interview and send us the pic above. The entire session can be seen on video here.
FLY Tour / WIND Awards/ Lisa Hunt tourdates
June 05, 2007
The FLY tour continues it's track across Europe. Tonight Zucchero and his band will perform in Zagreb - Croatia, before kicking off the first (official) Italian shows on thursday in Milan. The setlist seems to be pretty stable; except that both Amsterdam shows saw a solo accoustic version of Va, Pensiero in the encore instead of Madre Dolcissima. Also, during the last Amsterdam show, Zucchero told the crowd he'd be back next year (so finger's crossed).
On June 6th, Zucchero will be present during the WIND Awards in Rome. The music awards ceremony, based on the UK Brit Awards, will be broadcast on Italia 1 on June 14. It is unclear if Zucchero is going to perform and if he is nominated for an award.
Lisa Hunt, Zucchero's sidekick in previous tours, is not a member of the FLY tour band, but she is continuing her own tour throughout Australia. With her "Summer of Soul" (seeing that in Australia it'll be winter soon she might change the name) tour exists of Lisa and her band playing soul classics. The tourdates are, so far:
June
8: New South Wales - Lismore, Lismore Workers Club
9: Queensland - Brisbane, Treasury Casino
10: Queensland - Goldcoast, Fishermans Wharf
15: New South Wales - Ballina, Ballina RSL
22: Queensland - Brisbane, Treasury Casino
23: Queensland - Hillcrest, Greenbank RsL
24: New South Wales - Byron Bay, Beach Hotel
Un Kilo/ RAH in NY
May 24, 2007
As the FLY tour continues throughout Europe (yesterday Belgium, this weekend Amsterdam), Zucchero has released a new radio single; Un Kilo. The second song on FLY caused some controversy shortly after the release of the album, when it was claimed Zucchero wrote it about fellow Italian rocker Vasco Rossi (the details remain unclear), but the song is also one of the most rocking songs on FLY and features Amir Questlove of The Roots on drums. No news in yet on a video clip though.
A tv version of "ZU & Co - live at the RAH" will be broadcast on New York's public television station WLIW21 on Sunday, June 3. This will be the first time the show will be shown on an American tv channel. The show will be also be repeated on Thursday, June 5. For more info check the website of WLIW21.
"BONNE NUIT, PARIGI"
May 06, 2007
The FLY tour has begun! Last thursday and friday Zucchero and his band played the Olympia hall in Paris. In short: the reviews are excellent, those lucky fans that were there are wildly enthusiastic and the setlist looks amazing. The FLY tour will pass through Europe in the coming months, and then will make the jump to Canada, North-America, South-America and Australia.
Thursday's setlist
Dunne Mosse
Occhi
Quanti Anni Ho
Bacco Perbacco
Pronto
Un Kilo
Cuba Libre
Il Volo
Diamante
Cosi Celeste
Baila (sexy thing)
Overdose (D'Amore)
Il Mare...
It's All Right
Everybody's got to learn sometime
Nel Cosi Blu (A Salty Dog)
E' Delicato
L'Urlo
Con Le Mani
Solo una sana...
Diavolo in me
Madre Dolcissima
Senza una Donna (Without a Woman)
X Colpa di Chi?
You are so beautiful
The FLY Tour
May 02, 2007
Tomorrow night, Zucchero and his band will begin their year long FLY tour with the first of their two shows at the Olympia in Paris. Last monday the band already played a warm-up show in Morbegna, IT but no information concerning the setlist, the band members and the show in general has come up so far. Still, rumors (and for now, they are just that) are that Zucchero played two old Miserere songs, L'Urlo and It's All Right, which both have not been played live since 1994. If these rumors prove to be true, the FLY tour could prove to be a very interesting affair indeed.
During the tour we'll try to keep everybody up to date on the shows themselves, so if anybody went to any of the FLY shows and wants to share setlists, pictures, full reviews or just random thoughts, feel free to mail us at askboris@unpodizucchero.net. For all the tourdates that have been confirmed so far, please visit our tour section.
FLY Tour: Morbegna / Vanity Fair / Tour Memoribilia
April 19, 2007
Although nothing has been put on Zucchero's official site on this, it looks like Zucchero will begin his FLY tour with a show in Morbegna, Italy on April 30. According to this site tickets are 27 euro, but they do not seem to be for sale online. A rumor has also been going on about a possible free open air concert in Austria, but this seems to be false.
The official Zucchero fanclub has put a link up to a site that has this pic of some of the merchandising that wwill be on sale during the FLy tour. This month's Italian edition of Vanity Fair has a big interview with Zucchero, in which he announces the release of Irene Fornaciari's debut album (and some more depressing matters).
FLY Tour
April 3, 2007
A few more tour dates have been added to Zucchero's 2007 european tour: on June 23, Zucchero will perform at the Burg Clam festival in Klam - Austria, while on July 9, he will play at the Moon & Stars festival in Locarno - Switzerland. Polo Jones, who has been Zucchero's bassist since 1987 (with a few interruptions), has announced on his website that he will be part of the FLY tour. Zucchero himself has already announced that the American singer Kat Dyson will also be part of the band, and the rumors concerning the pressence of Max Marcolini (who played guitar on FLY and did most of the pre-production for the album) and Zucchero's daughter Irene in the band are quite consistent too. The FLY tour will begin on May 3d in Paris.
Zucchero live
April 1, 2007
As reported below, last week Zucchero played a one hour gig in the Netherlands to an audience of Radio 2 listeners. On friday the concert was broadcast and it can now also be listened to online right here . Zucchero performed Occhi, Rossa mela della sera, Baila (sexy thing), Everybody's got to learn sometime, Il Volo, Bacco Perbacco, E Delicato, Senza una Donna (Without a Woman), Diamante, Diavolo in me and You are so beautiful.
Radio 2 Concert / Mooi Weer De Leeuw
March 27, 2007
Last saturday Zucchero was in the Netherlands to perform a small showcase for Dutch Radio 2. With only a small crowd present, Zucchero played 12 songs - three from the FLY album and several classics from previous lp's. The concert will be transmitted on radio 2 this friday from 23:00 - 0:00. Radio 2 can be listened to online through this website (click on the big yellow banner). After friday, the concert will remain available online.
This weekend, Zucchero was also a guest at the Dutch TV-show Mooi Weer De Leeuw where he performed Occhi live. The show can be rewatched online through this link, Zucchero appears in the last 10 minutes of the show.
Stars for Europe
March 26, 2007
This past saturday, Zucchero performed at the "Stars for Europe" concert in Belgium to celebrate the 50th birthday of the European Union. Zucchero opened the show by lipsynching Baila (sexy thing), and later on did Occhi. Some footage of the show from a Belgian newsnetwork, which also featured Kim Wilde, the Scorpions and many other European acts, can be seen here).
Storytellers
March 16, 2007
Italian MTV will broadcast an episode of Storytellers with Zucchero on March 21. In Storytellers artists play some of their songs and explain where these songs came from, usually in a theatre setting with a small audience. Zucchero's session will take place at a theatre in Catania, and the show will be live on MTV Italia from 21:30.
E Delicato video
March 12, 2007
It's a bit of a slow news month, but the new E Delicato video is beautiful and can be found on You Tube. It's directed by Karl Karman and apparently shot in Kenya (possibly Nairobi).
Auditorium
February 21, 2007
Last monday Zucchero appeared at the Auditorium in Rome as part of the Incontro d'autore series. For over two and a halve hours Zucchero was interviewed and performed several songs together with Mario Schiliro. The tracks Zucchero played were: Occhi, Hey Man, Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime, Everybody's Talking and You Are So Beautiful. (pictures by Federico from Livecity).
Tour: Verona/Milan on sale
February 20, 2007
A few more of the Italian shows have gone on sale: tickets are now available for the third night in Milan and for the first two shows in Verona (on September 21 and 22). According to the press release a few weeks ago, Zucchero is planning on performing three nights in Milan, Verona and Agrigento.
Another clip of the Brunico show can be found online, a wonderful version of Il Volo:
More classic live vids
February 08, 2007
YouTube is the gift that keeps on giving; after last weeks classic live clips from the 1989 Rome gig, now videos have been placed of the December 1996 show Zucchero gave in Brunico. The show was spectacular because it was broadcast live on TV, but even more so because it took place 2.0000 meters. The clips that have been put online so far are Voodoo Voodoo, Datemi una Pompa and Cosi Celeste;
Auditorium sold out
February 06, 2007
The interview session Zucchero will take part in on February 19 in the Auditorium in Rome is sold out. Tickets went on sale today, but all tickets have gone already. Recently the decision not to perform in Rome during the FLY tour caused quite a stir among Roman Zucchero fans. (Picture made by our friend Federico from LiveCity).
E Delicato new single/ Rome
February 04, 2007
E Delicato will be the third single taken from Fly in Italy. Earlier Bacco Perbacco and Occhi were released, but only as "radiosingles", not actually in the stores. It is unclear if E Delicato will be on sale, but the song will be sent to Italian radiostations. E Delicato is one of the tracks on Zucchero's latest studioalbum FLY, it was written by Zucchero and Italian singer Ivano Fossati.
Although there will be no FLY tour gig in Rome, Romans will get a chance to see Zucchero in the Auditorium on monday, February 19. Zucchero will be interviewed about his songwriting and tickets are only 5 euro. It's not clear if Zucchero will perform any songs.
Rome 1989
February 02, 2007
On September 28, 1989 Zucchero gave a big concert in Rome as part of his Oro Incenso e Birra tour. On stage he was joined by Eric Clapton, Paul Young (for their very first rendition of Senza una Donna together), Clarence Clemmons and Dee Dee Bridgewater. The show was shown on Italian TV, but footage of it has been quite rare. That is, until a certain fellow called "andrea19890" started putting clips of it on You Tube. He so far has nine clips of the show online and you can click here . Our favorites so far are Solo una sana..., Senza una Donna, Con le Mani and Wonderful World
We are the Future DVD
January 29, 2007
In 2004 Zucchero participated in a one off benefit show in Rome organized by Quincy Jones, and a dvd of the show, named after a line from the USA for Africa hit "We are the World", has recently been released. The plan is to use proceeds from that show and from the sales of the dvd to create child centres across the world. During the show Zucchero performed Everybody's got to learn sometime, Baila with Mana's Fher and Wonderful World, of which only the last track has not made it to the dvd release. The complete tracklist is the following:
Angelique Kidjo with Soundz of South Afrika Choir-"Afrika"
Stomp- "Poles and Bins"
Kazem Al Sahir with Karina Pasian-"Oh Allah, Let It Be"
Josh Groban-"You Raise Me Up"
Patti Austin-"How High The Moon"
Riffat Sultana and Richard Michos-"Mast Qalander"
Ennio Morricone-"Deborah's Theme (from Once Upon A Time In America)"
Noa with Mira Awad-"Shalom Shalom"
Take 6-"Fly Away"
Carmen Consoli-"L'Ultimo Bacio"
Herbie Hancock with Carlos Santana-"Watermelon Man"
Juanes-"I Ask God"
John Stoddart with Sherry McGhee- "The Prayer"
Andrea Bocelli & Karina Pasian-"The Prayer"
Khaled with Don Was-"Didi"
Caiphus Semenya with the Soundz of South Afrika Choir-"Encome"
Norah Jones-"Peace"
Zucchero-"Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime"
Fher with Zucchero-"Baila Morena"
Carlos Santana with Angelique Kidjo-"Adouma"
Carlos Santana with Fher-"Corazon Espinado"
Carlos Santana with Fher- "Medley: Oye Como Va/ El Pito/ Sunshine Of Your Love"
Un Po' Di Zucchero Forum
January 25, 2007
Since the official forum remains closed we have decided to open the Un Po' Di Zucchero forum. Feel free to visit and talk about Zucchero matters close to your heart :).
(Since previous forums on unofficial Zucchero sites have gotten little attentions in the past, so if nobody visits we might kick it off again in a month)
Forum closed / Spain
January 23, 2007
Zucchero's official website has today decided to close the forum section of the site. In recent days the forum had been flooded by negative comments by the (mostly) Italian visitors who felt that there were not enough Italian tourdates and that Zucchero was out of line when he publicly insulted Pippo Baudo, the head of the Sanremo festival, for not having Zucchero's daughter competing again this year. There's no information on if or when the forum will be opened again.
Meanwhile, Zucchero seems to be doing very well in Spain. Venus y Baco the Spanish version of Bacco Perbaco is currently at the nr. 21 spot in the Los 40 chart and gets frequent airplay on Spanish radiostations. The Spanish version of the album is now available. Zucchero also performed the song during a few Spanish tv shows, and youtube has one of the vids (thanks to Roberto for keeping us up to date!)
FLY TOUR OFFICIAL: 27 dates so far
January 17, 2007
Today all the tourdates for Zucchero's European FLY tour have been released by the official fanclub. Most dates were already on sale and on this website, but there are some new ones and surprises. Among the more surprising aspects of the dates are the Italian gigs: so far 6 dates have been scheduled for Italy, each 2 three night runs, one in Milan in June and one in Agrigento in July. In september Zucchero will perform three nights in Verona but no dates are official yet. Italian dates will go on sale this friday.
So far the planning seems to be that the FLY tour will only take one year: after Europe in the spring/summer, North- and South-America will follow in the autumn and Australia in the summer. Obviously that last part is completely up in the air until concerts are announced.
No Sanremo Part 387 / Tour Update / Dolores O'Riordan
January 11, 2007
Like last year, and the year before that, again rumors that Zucchero would appear at this years Sanremo Festival are not true. Irene Fornaciari, one of Zucchero's daughters and working hard on her own (father-sponsored) singing career, will be one of the contestants this year and stories had been going around in the press that she and Zucchero would appear together. This is not true; like every year Zucchero will be doing something else during Sanremo week.
A few new tour dates have been added to the list and can be found on our tour page. Please do not forget that the Paris dates (that were first scheduled for February) have been replaced to May also. Whether or not tickets are valid for these new dates and if you can still return them, please contact the ticketsellers.
Our friends from the Cranberries website Zombieguide have tracked Zucchero down in Capri, where he celebrated New Years Eve and visited the film festival, and asked him some questions about his collaboration with Dolores O'Riordan on "Pure Love" for the ZU & Co album. Check it out here !.
Tour update/ Fan meeting
December 16, 2006
Three more dates have gone on sale for Zucchero's 2007 european tour; the already announced, but not yet on sale, concert in Salzburg (Austria), a second show in Zurich (the first one is sold out) and a show in Stuttgart (Germany). For more information and links to ticketsites, check our tour page.
On January 28 the official Zucchero fanclub will have its annual fanmeeting. Usually Zucchero himself is present, and in past editions there were performances by Zucchero tribute bands. More information on where the meeting will be held and what can be expected should come in within the next few weeks.
askboris@unpodizucchero.net