Bergamo’s Creberg theatre sold out. The show was full of genuine musical
masterpieces: the first half promoted the singer’s new album with songs crammed
with Dylan’s metaphors and rhetorical figures, fully translated into Italian, and the
second half was devoted to his own verses, from “Rimmel” (Mascara) right up to
the naive immortal flight of “Donna Cannone” (the Lady Cannonball).

Francesco De Gregori, also known as Il Principe (the prince), immersed himself in
the audience’s applause in the middle of the stage, lit by two beam shapers on the
first batten, while a set of Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s was used as backlighting to
pay the audience back by illuminating them with slow moving criss-crossing beams
of soft light.

For the “Amore e Furto” (love and larceny) Tour 2016, De Gregori decided he
wanted a show with scenery created by light alone, with no physical elements.

The lighting designer Andrea Coppini chose to standardize the lighting rig by
exclusively using the Clay Paky Alpha 700 family of lights: the Wash, Spot HPE and
Beam.

The lighting design consisted of three straight battens, fitted with twelve Alpha wash
700s and fifteen Alpha spot HPE 700s, plus eight Par LEDs and six blinders. These
provided the backbone of the design.

There were six ladders hanging below the last batten, on which nine Alpha Beam
700s were hung, interspersed with 18 Sunstrips.

Ten Par LEDs completed the design, fitted as side lights about three metres (three
yards) from the ground (five on the right and five on the left), along with four other
Beam 700s placed on the ground on the stage. “Sidelighting is never missing in my
lighting designs for the theatre.’

In some cases, the ladder structure was lit from the side and could be seen behind
the musicians, as something that actively took part in the scenery, a backdrop in a
way. Sometimes, instead, it was beams that filled the stage, and other times it was
the dynamic effects of the Sunstrips, which were used as an array of warm lights.

Andrea explained a particular peculiarity: “The Alpha Beams placed on the ladders
are arranged asymmetrically to the stage, so that the lighting design is rational.
This choice however led to some extra programming difficulties: it is harder to find
the points where beams cross when the lights are mounted asymmetrically to each
other.’

Coppini had fun with the diagonals. The tracers reached the stalls with long beams,
thus creating more dynamic perspectives for the audience.

Moreover very often the stage was plunged into darkness and speckled with flashes
of gold, amber and shades of blue that let the audience just catch a glimpse of the
band, led by Guido Guglielminetti.

The show gradually built up to an exciting finale in which the audience was wrapped
in light and literally exploded calling De Gregori back onto the stage, where – as a
complete surprise – Fausto Leali’s voice suddenly rose up singing a timeless piece of
Italian music.