Gianmarco Mazzi: “On Saturday from the Verona Arena the restart of the great live”

“The Saturday concert of the Flight is undoubtedly the restart of the great live events in Italy. There will be at least 5,000 people, the concert will also go live on Rai1 and, very importantly, a special will be made from it that will be broadcast after a few day on Pbs, the US public network with 90 million spectators on an average day, and which will be a very important showcase for the Arena, for the city of Verona and for the whole of Italy “. Gianmarco Mazzi, CEO and artistic director of Arena di Verona Srl, the company that organizes the season of “live & TV” events at the Arena, does not hide the satisfaction for the path that brought the initial ceiling of a thousand presences to a capacity 6,000 people and the curfew to be moved to 2 am for Saturday event ticket holders. “Of course, now let’s look at the green pass and we hope it will lead to the cancellation of the distancing rules”, he stresses in an interview with Adnkronos. As a preamble to the restart, tomorrow, for the second consecutive year, on the day of the Republic Day, the performance of the national anthem will be broadcast from the Arena of Verona, after TG1 at 8 pm: ” Volo did it. Last year it was Vittorio Grigolo. I would like it to become a tradition “, Mazzi points out. But it is over the weekend that “a big step towards the much-desired normality will be taken: for the live on Saturday but also for those on Sunday and Monday of Emma we will finally find the Arena as we have always seen it, with the public both stalls and on the bleachers. Even if everyone will be spaced a meter apart, the effect will be very close to pre-Covid normality. In September, the events for the Week of Music had been made with a central stage and with about 4-4,500 people spaced all around around. Now there is a decisive step forward “. Also on the curfew: “We made it clear that proposing to organize a musical event in June with a curfew at 10pm was a sign of great inattention and incompetence, because the sun sets in June at 9pm and even beyond. Thanks to the determination of the mayor Sboarina and all ‘commitment of Undersecretary Borgonzoni we managed to obtain the order for the curfew at 2 am on Saturday and at 1 am for Emma’s concert on Sunday. Then from 7 June it will become normal “. Thanks also to the new less restrictive rules, the summer programming of the Verona Arena is very tight: “We plan to use all the dates that will not be occupied by the 42 performances of the Opera and the relative rehearsals. We will have about 35 pop concerts, live events filmed on TV, one man show” , announces Mazzi. Who underlines: “We never actually stopped. Last year we were the only venue in the world that did events with 4,500 people live. And thanks to a very accurate protocol, no contagion occurred in the Arena. Nobody”. And it is no coincidence that this year the Arena will also host one of the decisive tests for a true return to normality: “The Power Hits of Rtl 102.5 on 31 August will be carried out, in collaboration with scientific and health institutions, at full capacity, between 10 and 11 thousand people, with tests before and after, to see how to overcome the Covid era “. But before then, with a capacity of up to 6000 people, Francesco Gabbani, the Benji & Fede reunion, the Enrico Brignano show, the one for Carmen Consoli’s 25-year career, will also parade in the Arena after Il Volo and Emma Marrone, only for name a few. “And my dream – confesses Mazzi – is to bring Patti Smith to the Arena by September. She is an icon and would be a great sign for a return to international tours”. And speaking of international events, Mazzi does not forget the Eurovision Song Contest, which in 2022 will be hosted in Italy after the victory of the Maneskin: “I think I am one of the top experts of the Esc, because the agreement between Rai and Ebu reported Eurovision also on Italian TV dates back to 2011 when I was artistic director of Sanremo and Gianni Morandi conductor. The first year we sent the winner of the young people of the Festival, Raphael Gualazzi, who came second. Because we feared that, having the event lost appeal in previous years, some big winners could have refused. Then the event started again. But it is a very complex machine with very strict rules, it requires a year of preparation and months of pre-production “. Will Verona and the Arena stand as candidates? “Blocking the Arena for two months until May is not easy. And there would be the unknown bad weather. As the ESC fomat is conceived, it would be difficult to host it in the Arena. Let’s say it would be possible if, in the name of a location like this evocative and unique in the world, Ebu agreed to change the format. But never say never … “, concludes Mazzi with a smile. (by Antonella Nesi)