What’s On in Lecce
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American/British Pop & Rock ┃ Folk ┃ Lecce (city only)┃ Free Entry Events
Staseera App
For daily events, you can also download the Staseera app (in Italian) (staseera means ‘tonight’ in Salento dialect)
Outdoor Sports
See the AICS site here for a list of sports events in the Lecce city marine area
Lecce in Scena
You can also find more events on the offical Lecce website here
Omaggio a Morricone (Tribute to Morricone)
Morricone won two Oscars, three Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatello, eleven Nastri d'Argento, two European Film Awards, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and a Polar Music Prize, as well as selling more than 70 million records worldwide.
The show contains reworkings of his most famous songs including from "Once Upon a Time in the West", "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", "Giù la testa"),"Mission", "Malena", "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso", as well as hit song "Se Telefonando" (performed by famous Italian singer Mina) and “Here's to you” (sung by Joan Baez)…
Festa di Sant’Oronzo (Lecce)
Festa di Sant’Oronzo - 3 day religious and cultural festival for the patron saint of Lecce.
CONCERTS Piazza Libertini (Lecce, 73100)
25th August: Enzo Petrachi & Folkorchestra
26th August: Giuliano Palma
THEATRE Villa Comunale (Lecce, 73100)
25th August 8.30 pm Theatrical review in Lecce dialect: The Lu Curtigghiu theater company presents "L'aria del Settentrione" by William Fiorentino.
26th August 8.30 pm Theatrical review in Lecce dialect: The Mario Perrotta senior theater company presents "Fane bene e pensanci" by Paolo Stanca
Black Eyed Peas
OVERSOUND MUSIC FESTIVAL
Large pop music festival spread over 5 cities in Puglia/Salento throughout July/August.
Noughties hip hop legends Will.i.am, Apl.de.ap and Taboo will be in town with the full Black Eyed Peas crew as headlining act for Lecce’s pala live stage on Aug 13th 9.30pm (but see official website for many more artists).
Classiche Forme (International Chamber Music Festival)
World famous classical musicians including Stephen Waarts, Ludovica Rana, Mario Brunello, Giovanni Sollima, Marmen String Quartet, The Teyber Trio, Emmanuel Pahud, Tim Crawford, Tim Posner, Timothy Ridout, Domenico Turi, Maja Avramovič, Chiara Osella, Massimo Spada, Rosa Feola, Giuseppe Russo Rossi, Giorgio Magistroni, Francesco Muraca, I virtuosi di Sansevero, Piccotti-Ciampa duo, Tharsos trio, Sabatini-Rugani duo perform at this prestigious festival curated by Beatrice Rana. Broadcast live nationally on Italian Classical Radio.
Festa di Sant’Oronzo
Festa di Sant’Oronzo - 3 day religious and cultural festival for the patron saint of Lecce.
Religious Stuff
24 August 7pm Piazza del Duomo - Prayer led by Archbishop Seccia followed by the main procession (that will kick off the three days of celebrations) through the streets of the centre of Lecce. Archbishop Seccia will also deliver a message to the city at the end.
25th August - Mass in the cathedral at 7pm
26th August - Mass in the cathedral at 7pm
Other Stuff
The festival lights will be on for all 3 days and throughout the centre of Lecce you’ll find lots of stall holders selling their goods, as well as fireworks mostly likely on the evening of the 26th.
Litfiba
Tickets available here
Litfiba - Italian 80’s rock, for the GnR / Smashing Pumpkins fans out there. More on wikipedia here
MadMan and Rancore
tickets available here
Madman - Italian rapper from Grottaglie (just outside Tartanto, very close to Lecce)
Rancore - Italian/Croatian/Egyptian rapper from Rome
Pixies CANCELLED
tickets available here
below from wikipedia
The Pixies are an American alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts. Until 2013, the band comprised Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, backing vocals) and David Lovering (drums). The band disbanded acrimoniously in 1993 but reunited in 2004. After Deal left in 2013, the Pixies hired Kim Shattuck as a touring bassist; she was replaced that year by Paz Lenchantin, who became a permanent member in 2016.
The Pixies are associated with the 1990s alternative rock boom, and draw on elements including punk rock and surf rock. Their music is known for its dynamic "loud-quiet-loud" shifts and song structures. Francis is the Pixies' primary songwriter; his often surreal lyrics cover offbeat subjects such as extraterrestrials, incest, and biblical violence. They achieved modest popularity in the US but were more successful in Europe. Their jarring pop sound influenced acts such as Nirvana, Radiohead, the Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer. Their popularity grew in the years after their breakup, leading to a 2004 reunion, sold-out world tours and four further albums: Indie Cindy (2014), Head Carrier (2016), Beneath the Eyrie (2019) and Doggerel (2022).
Pop X + bnkr44
Tickets available here
Pop X is an Italian musical group formed in Trento in 2004 with Davide Panizza as the only permanent member and founder. Davide stated that his musical influences include Michael Jackson, Franco Battiato, Marco Masini, Laura Pausini, Teo Usuelli, Marco Ferreri, Sébastien Tellier and Sergio Caputo.
The founder of the musical group I Cani, Niccolò Contessa, described the style of Pop X as follows:
"It seems clear to me that his music responds to a very deep and authentic thrust, it is not music made to satisfy any fashion, no ‘careerist’ goal, no desire to look in the mirror and say ‘I am an artist’ : it is simply what he has inside, what he wants to do. In this I see a form of purity that is very rare and very precious. [...] returns the very clear experience of not knowing what will be around the corner, whether a poignant love song or a crazy cover or a horror video or a belch or a brilliant parody of something ... "
above from wikipedia
Bnkr44 are an Italian musical group formed in Florence in 2019. The group was born in Villanova, a hamlet located between Empoli and Florence. Initially the 7 members (Fares, Erin, Caph, JxN, Faster, Piccolo, Ghera) get together to play at the Bnkr (or Bunker), a music center that welcomes several young people in search of musical inspiration. The group was officially born in 2019, just before the pandemic. At this point they begin to publish their first songs on SoundCloud, until they get a contract with the record label Bomba Dischi. With it they released their first album 44 deluxe, which is a collection all the songs published up to then on SoundCloud.
In 2021 they published their second project, entitled ‘Farsi mal a noi va bene’, released in 3 blocks in the form of an EP. Subsequently it was updated with the re-edition Farsi mal a noi va bene 2.0, containing new unreleased songs. The album features collaborations with Thirteen Peter and Aries. In May 2022 their first official tour started and in June they participated in Wom Festival in Lucca.
above from wikipedia
La Notte Della Taranta, Lecce
As far as I know, unticketed and a free entry event
EVENT 11 of 22
La Notte Della Taranta - is a household name to anyone in Puglia (and much of Italy). An unmissable celebration of classic salentini folk music and dance (the pizzica).
About
Although the old days of the big stage with massive festival lights and classic pizzica (youtube La Notte Della Taranta from 2018 or before) have given way to a modern era of overproduced, TV-orientated, crass-fusion-pop mush; La Notte Della Taranta is still an absolute mainstay of the summer calendar in Salento. If you’re staying in or around Lecce in August and you like music you should definitely go to one of these dates. Don’t miss judge this as some kind of oldy woldy boring folk event…if you have a few glasses of local wine and get in the crowd you’ll have a lot of fun.
This now 25 year old festival has grown organically into the biggest event in the Salento folk calendar. Much like Glastonbury in the UK its been through never ending meddlings/reincarnations (especially to cater to the TV audience), but the core backbone of local musicians and dancers who are there every year are so talented/enthusiastic that it always delivers a memorable night of music.
The main ‘Concertone’ (Big Concert) is on the 27th August in the village of Melpigano (also televised on Rai), but the show now tours a further 21 towns/vilages across Salento in the weeks prior.
Find out more here
Tananai
Tickets available here
below from wikipedia
Tananai, is an Italian singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in Milan and his music career began in 2017, when he obtained a recording contract with the label Universal Music Italia, with whom he released his debut studio album “To Discover and Forget” under the pseudonym ‘Not For Us’.
After the release of his first album, he began to perform under the pseudonym ‘Tananai’ and began to work mainly on the musical production of songs in Italian. In 2019, he released the singles "Volersi male", "Bear Grylls", "Ichnusa" and "Calcutta". In January 2020, he released "Giugno", a single which was then followed by the release of his debut EP entitled “Piccoli boati”, out on 21 February.
In March 2021, Tananai released the single "Baby Goddamn", which went viral on Spotify, followed by the single "Maleducazione" and the track "Le madri degli altri", included in the album “Disumano” by Italian rapper Fedez.
In November 2021, Tananai was one of 12 acts selected to compete in Sanremo Giovani, a televised competition aimed at selecting three newcomers as contestants of the 72nd Sanremo Music Festival. Tanani placed second during the show, with his entry "Esagerata", rightfully accessing the festival in the Campioni category. "Sesso occasionale" was later announced as his entry for the Sanremo Music Festival 2022.
Pizza Village
Pizza Village - For 5 nights in August, Piazza Mazzini is transformed into a vibrant pizza festival. Feast your eyes as thousands of world class pizze are turned out from huge wood fired ovens that have been brought in specially and set up around the square. You can find plenty of the world renowned pizza napoltana, as well as local pizza salentina + gluten/lactose free options.
Il Tre + Speranza
Tickets available here
From wikipedia
Il Tre is an Italian rapper. He is mostly known for his album ‘Ali - Per chi non ha un posto in questo mondo’ that debuted at the top of the FIMI leaderboards.
Fromsugarmusic.com
Speranza (the stage name of Ugo Scicolone) is a French-Italian rapper. Born in 1986 to a French mother and Italian father, he was born and raised in France before moving to Caserta (Italy). The lyrics of his rap songs are in Neapolitan, French, Italian and Roma. He started with French rap before dedicating his time to a side project (“Ugo de la Napoli”), which was influenced by Rumanian and Spanish Roma music. When he turned to the Speranza project, he debuted with the video of the “Sparalo!” single, released in June 2017. The piece was later remixed by Crookers. He released the “Chiavt a Mammt” single and “Spall a Sott” on YouTube (divided into three parts). They were followed by other singles, “Givova”, “Pagnale”, “Sirene” and the latest single, “Manfredi”.
Achille Lauro
Tickets available here
From wikipedia
Achille Lauro is an Italian singer, rapper, and songwriter. He gained popularity in the Italian hip hop scene and he competed in at the Sanremo Music Festival 2019 with the song "Rolls Royce", at the 2020 edition with the song "Me ne frego", and at the 2022 edition with the song "Domenica".
On several occasions, Lauro has declared that he is not very close, in terms of tastes, to Italian rap, as he does not like to be homologated to the well-known stereotype of the street rapper. In fact, he has always deviated from the canonical look of hip hop artists, causing a scandal for his eccentric aesthetics in terms of clothing.
He said he was happy to follow his compatriot Ghali, but above all the Americans Travis Scott, 6lack and Young Thug. Lauro said he is a huge fan of Vasco Rossi, Kurt Cobain, Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Among his influences, he cites to have been inspired by singer-songwriters Lucio Battisti and Rino Gaetano in reference to his rock turning point. He considers himself "a believer in God."
Caparezza
Tickets available here
From Wikipedia
Caparezza (Italian pronunciation: [kapaˈrɛttsa] or [kapaˈrettsa]; meaning "Curly Head" in the Molfetta dialect) is the pseudonym of Michele Salvemini (born 9 October 1973), an Italian ‘rapper’. Born in Molfetta, in the southern region of Apulia, Caparezza debuted in 1997 at the Sanremo Festival under the name Mikimix.
According to Jason Birchmeier, Caparezza's music features "an uncanny style of beats that defy much of the precedent established by [American hip hop]". Mariano Prunes describes Caparezza as "[defying] classification with his fascinating cross-contamination of styles".Caparezza's music incorporates breakbeats and live instrumentation, encompassing influence from American West Coast and East Coast hip hop, europop, heavy metal and reggae. Birchmeier says that Caparezza's beats "draw their sounds from everywhere" and "it's [his] experimental approach to beat-making, [and] mastery of the Italian dialect, [which makes his music] so stunning." According to Prunes, Caparezza's sound is rooted in the music of Frank Zappa and Black Sabbath, rather than Tupac Shakur. Caparezza's music has been classified as hip hop, pop and rap metal, and by Caparezza himself as rap rock.
Caparezza's lyrics focus on subjects such as personal honesty and the hypocrisy of the music industry. Caparezza's live performances incorporate theatrical costumes, comedy sketches and monologues, projected videos, props, and actors. Caparezza is backed by a rock band, rather than a DJ.
Pizza Village
Pizza Village - For 5 nights in August, Piazza Mazzini is transformed into a vibrant pizza festival. Feast your eyes as thousands of world class pizze are turned out from huge wood fired ovens that have been brought in specially and set up around the square. You can find plenty of the world renowned pizza napoltana, as well as local pizza salentina + gluten/lactose free options.
Fabri Fibre
Tickets available here
From wikipedia
Fabrizio Tarducci (born 17 October 1976) , better known as Fabri Fibra, is an Italian ‘rapper’. In his career he has sold more than 2.3 millions of certified copies.
Elisa
Tickets available here
From wikipedia
Elisa Toffoli (born December 19, 1977), performing under the mononym Elisa, is an Italian singer-songwriter. She is one of few Italian musicians to write and record mainly in English. She draws inspiration from many genres such as pop, alternative rock, electronica and trip hop. In Europe she is perhaps most recognised for the single "Come Speak to Me", while American audiences may recognise the song "Dancing" as featured in both the 2006 and 2007 seasons of So You Think You Can Dance. On December 18, 2012, her collaboration with Ennio Morricone, "Ancora qui", was featured on Quentin Tarantino's film, Django Unchained and its soundtrack album, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
She has released nine studio albums, five compilations, two live albums, eight video album and 51 singles, selling over 5,5 million copies in Italy, certified by M&D and FIMI with a diamond disc, a multiplatinum disc, 25 platinum and four gold certifications.
She earned six awards at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2001, one Targa Tenco, two Lunezia Awards, 13 Italian, Wind & Music Awards, one award at the Festivalbar, one Nastro d'argento, and several other awards, including an MTV Europe Music Award.