Like most European countries, Italy has a wonderful music scene welcoming international acts to cities such as Turin, Rome and Milan every week.
For the most part, quaint Italian music venues litter the aforementioned cities, hidden in the back streets of these bustling urban metropolises. Once bands have played Italy for the first time, they appreciate the intensity and passion of the music fans in Italy and always look to comeback whenever they get the chance.
The lure of performing at the likes of La Scala in Milan (main picture) or Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Villa Celimontana is often too much to resist, according to Guardian when they looked at the best music venues in Rome.
But it’s not just the big cities that attract some of the world’s most celebrated artists. Italy is known for its outdoor festivals and concerts – basically, the weather in Italy is a little more pleasant that in some neighboring European countries. Hence why so many European travelers who love music end up booking weekend getaways to Italy in order to attend a festival or concert. There is a ton of annual music festivals held in Italy including festivals such as Lucca Summer Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Puccini Festival and Verona Opera Festival among others that have been listed on Ciao Citalia.
Italy’s wealth of festivals welcomes thousands of tourists each year, but this year there will be a special event held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, just north of Bologna. On June 10, 2017 Guns N’ Roses will play their only Italy show of their world tour. The band that recently announced they were to reform have been playing a slew of North American dates recently in preparation for their huge world tour.
The concert goes to show the pulling power Italy has when it comes to attracting the biggest bands in the world. The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola is an outdoor concert space, which according to reports can accommodate up to 30,000 spectators. Aside from U2 announcing they will play Rome’s Olympic Stadium on June 15, the Guns N’ Roses show will be the biggest event in Italy’s music calendar in 2017. The Rock Blog were the first to announce the show and revealed that the presale tickets went on general sale on December 9.
To get fans excited about the concert, here is a video of the band’s recent Las Vegas show.
The upcoming Guns N’ Roses show is expected to sell out. The Imola racetrack is usually used for Formula One racing but has proved to be a great venue for outdoor concerts over the years, and will undoubtedly be the perfect setting for Axl and Slash to rattle through their back catalogue.
The reforming of one of rock music’s greatest ever bands hasn’t just captured the attention of Italian music fans – its put the band in front of a global audience once again. As news broke of the band getting back together, memorabilia started flooding online for fans to buy. Regardless of Axl’s past legal issues with video game company Activision, they are reports circulating that there could well be another Guitar Hero game on its way after the band release their new album. Additionally, a slew of awesome online games have started springing up online including the Guns N’ Roses Video Slots game released by renowned gaming portal Slingo. All of this is in anticipation of Guns N’ Roses upcoming concert at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola. The band are a cash cow, and with fans anticipating their return to European shores, the GNR band shirts, videogames and remastered albums are making the band huge sums of money in royalties.
So if you are a music fan and need an excuse to venture to Italy, why not either look up the venues we’ve mentioned in this article or book yourself a ticket to see Guns N’ Roses or U2 and witness how passionate Italian music fans really are.
About Paul Giltern: A music fan for over 30 years, Paul first fell in love with David Bowie’s music. Fast forward to the present day and Paul contributes to a slew of online publications. He loves going to concerts and collects vinyl. Away from music, Paul enjoys traveling and reading.
Note: Collaborative Post
