La Sesion Cubana Tour 2013 – First Dates In

Looks like Zucchero will be hitting the road to promote his new album La Sesion Cubana next year. From the dates that are available so far it looks like Zucchero will start in Australia and then move to Europe with dates in Germany, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom rumoured or confirmed. The itinerary looks as follows thus far:

APRIL

12 AUSTRALIA, Melbourne – Palais Theatre
13 AUSTRALIA, Sydney – State Theatre
17 AUSTRALIA, Perth – Regal Theatre
18 AUSTRALIA, Adelaide – The Barton Theatre

MAY

13 GERMANY, Graz – Freiluftarena B
16 FRANCE, Paris – Palais des Sports
20 IRELAND, Dublin – Olympia Theatre
22 UNITED KINGDOM, London – Royal Albert Hall
24 GERMANY, Munchen – Olympiahalle
25 GERMANY, Stuttgart – Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle
29 GERMANY, Dusseldorf – Mitsubishi Electric Halle
31 GERMANY, Berlin – o2 World Berlin

La Sesion Cubana

Zucchero’s new album “La Sesion Cubana” will be released on November 20. The album was recorded with Don Was and a selection of Cuban musicians in Havana and includes re-recordings of six of Zucchero’s hits (Baila, Un Kilo, Cuba Libre, Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime, Cosi Celeste, and L’Urlo) as well as three brand new songs (Guantanamera (Guajira), Love Is All Around and Sabor a ti) as well as four covers (Never is a moment, Nena, Pana, Ave Maria no morro). Pana is a duet with the singer Bebe while Ave Marria No Morro is sung in Portuguese with the Brazilian singer Djavan. The first single of the album is Gunatanamera (Guajira) and will be out this week.

Happy Birthday Zucchero / Italia Loves Emilia

Today’s Zucchero’s birthday! To celebrate, Radio 105 web TV has a non-stop rotation of Zucchero’s music videos available today here.

Last Saturday Zucchero was one of the performers during the benefit concert Italia Loves Emilia. Opening the show, Zucchero performed Un Soffio Caldo, Baila, Chocabeck and Madre Dolcissima with Jeff Beck, Fiorella Mannoia, and Elisa. During Ligabue’s closing set Zucchero performed Non E Tempo Per Noi together.

New Album: November 20, 2012

Surprising news today: Zucchero’s new album will be in stores November 20. As of yet without a title, the new album has an equally surprising theme. Recorded in Havana with producer Don Was (who also produced FLY and parts of Zucchero’s most recent studio album Chocabeck), the new album will feature a combination of old and new material recorded with Cuban musicians. Seven songs on the new album will be re-recordings of Zucchero’s older material while six songs will be new or cover songs. 

Zucchero “Back Home” / 2012 tour

With a handful of European dates left, Zucchero will end this year’s leg of the Chocabeck tour with three concerts in Reggio Emilia, his home area: on December 19, 20 and 21 Zucchero will give a special performance at the Teatro Romolo Valli – backed not just by his band but also by a 40 member gospel choir and soul legend Eddie Floyd  – perhaps best known for such classics as Knock On Wood and Raise Your Hand (Pati LaBelle has also been mentioned by Zucchero as a guest performer but is not confirmed as far as we can tell). Tickets are on sale through TicketOne.

While it looks like these shows will be the last European Chocabeck concerts, Zucchero has said in several interviews that he will play South-America, Australia and Japan in the spring of 2012.

“Il Suono Della Domenica” – Zucchero Autobio Out Nov 10

 

As if a full-on box set re-release of Chocabeck and the Patrick Fiori duet for the French market wasn’t enough for the upcoming Christmas shopping season, it seems like November 10 will see the release of “Il Suono della Domenica – Il Romanza Della Mia Vita” – Zucchero’s autobiography. Details are still a little sketchy so we don’t know how much of Zucchero’s life this covers and whether it was co-written with an additional author. More information as it comes in.

Chocabeck Christmas / Deluxe / French Editions

Chocabeck will be released in several new editions in Europe for the Christmas season: in Italy, a deluxe edition – featuring the original album, a second disc with the English songs released on Zucchero Who? in the UK and the US, and a DVD with videoclips for all songs – will be released next month. A special Christmas box set version will also include the album on vinyl, a poster, and a set of pictures of Zucchero. In France, meanwhile, a new edition of Chocabeck will feature a duet Patrick Fiori on Il Suono Della Domenica – translated into French as L’écho Des Dimanches.

The tracklist for the deluxe edition is as follows:

CD 1 – Italian Version
1. Un soffio caldo 2. Il suono della domenica 3. Soldati nella mia città 4. È un peccato morir 5. Vedo nero 6. Oltre le rive 7. Un uovo sodo 8. Chocabeck 9. Alla fine 10. Spicinfrin boy
11. God bless the child

CD 2 – English Version
1. Life 2. Someone else’s tears 3. Glory 4. Devil in my mirror 5. Gotta feeling
6. Spirit together 7. Too late 8. In the sky

DVD – The videos
1. Un soffio caldo 2. Il suono della domenica 3. Soldati nella mia città 4. È un peccato morir 5. Vedo nero 6. Oltre le rive 7. Un uovo sodo 8. Chocabeck 9. Alla fine 10. Spicinfrin boy
11. God bless the child 12. Someone else’s tears 13. Glory 14. Devil in my mirror
15. Gotta feeling 16. Spirit together 17. Too late 18. In the sky

Clarence Clemons, 1942-2011

 

 

Clarence “Big Man” Clemons, the saxophone player of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band passed away last night from complications related to the stroke he suffered one week earlier. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of Clemons in Springsteen’s music and career – from the iconic sax solo’s in songs like Jungleland, to his immense stage presence, Clemons (the king of the universe, the biggest man you’ll ever meet, you want to be like him but you just can’t) from the 1970’s until the most recent E Street Band tour of 2009 was a continuous presence. Throughout the years, Clemons also worked frequently with Zucchero. All the big sax solo’s that occur on Zucchero’s albums throughout the years come almost without exception from Clarence Clemons; from Con Le Mani, on Blue’s, to Il Mare on Oro Incenso E Birra to O.L.S.M.M.  Clemons was 69 years old.

 

Chocabeck Tour; New Dates

A bunch of new dates for this year’s Chocabeck tour have come in, including several shows in Italy in November and the first U.S. tourdates. The begin with the former; Zucchero will perform in New York City on October 25 at the Beacon Theatre (where he performed last in 1996) and in Collingswood, NJ (just outside Philadelphia) on October 28. The show at the Beacon has already gone on sale, the Collingswood show will go on sale next week. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Meanwhile, in November Zucchero will be performing in Italy on the following dates:

7 novembre: MILANO – MEDIOLANUM FORUM
9 novembre: BRESCIA – FIERA
11 novembre: PERUGIA – PALA EVANGELISTI
12 novembre: ANCONA – PALA ROSSINI
17 novembre: EBOLI (SA)– PALA SELE
19 novembre: BOLOGNA – FUTUR SHOW STATION
23 novembre: BOLZANO – PALA ONDA
26 novembre: TORINO – PALA OLIMPICO
29 novembre: GENOVA – 105 STADIUM
1 dicembre:    RIMINI – 105 STADIUM

Tickets for these shows will go on sale next Tuesday. For more info see the website of F&P Group.

Chocabeck Tour / “Dal Missisippi al Po” / Radio Monte Carlo

The Chocabeck tour is well under way, with Zucchero and his band heading towards the outdoor European festivals. So far the tour has included some memorable performances, including of course the 5 sold out nights at the Arena in Verona. The concerts so far are divided into two blocks: the show starts with a full performance of the Chocabeck album, followed by a good helping of classic Zucchero hits. The setlist doesn’t feature any particular surprises – like the FLY and All The Best tours did – but it has seen some changes over the last few weeks, with tracks like Hi-De-Ho, Cosi Celeste, Hey Man, Un Kilo, Occhi and even Eccetera Eccetera (a song that has only been performed once – during a TV performance for Taratata prior to the Bluesugar tour) thrown in as surprises. The setlist below was the one performed during the second night in Verona:

01 Un Soffio Caldo
02 Il Suono Della Domenica
03 Soldati Nella Mia Citta
04 E Un Peccato Morir
05 Vedo Nero
06 Oltre Le Rive
07 Un Uovo Sodo
08 Chocabeck
09 Alla Fine
10 Spicinfrin Boy
11 God Bless The Child
12 Bacco Perbacco
13 Baila
14 Overdose d’Amore
15 Il Mare
16 Dune Mosse
17 Diamante
18 Il Volo
19 Occhi
20 Con le Mani
21 Solo una Sana
22 Diavolo in Me

—
23 Hi-Di-Ho
24 Un Kilo
25 Cosi Celeste
26 Miserere
27 X Colpa Di Chi?

The tour will roll on throughout the summer and beyond. In September, Zucchero will once again return to the Arena in Verona for 2 or 3 nights. In November, Zucchero will perform in Amsterdam (November 2, tickets on sale now) and later that month throughout Italy. More information concerning a possible US and Canadian tour in October should come in soon. Stay tuned!

Tomorrow, June 16 at 9 pm, RAI 5 will broadcast a documentary on Zucchero entitled  “Dal Mississippi al Po”. From the description it sounds like it will feature a lot of material that was included in last December’s Christmas special, though supposedly this new show will also include video shot during the concerts in Verona earlier this month.

Finally, good news for those people that have always felt that what the world was lacking was an all-Zucchero-music-all-of-the-time radiostation: starting this week Radio Monte Carlo is hosting an online 24/7 Zucchero webcast through Zucchero’s official website. Just head over to Zucchero’s site and click on the webradio play button in the right column.