Lucio Corsi at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Lucio Corsi takes the stage at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, packed with Italian fans, as a gentle rocker with a 70s aesthetic. The character – thin and elfin – immediately reveals himself to be rich in fascinating and unmissable contradictions. He embraces the electric guitar as a sacred object, something to protect and share at once, bowing to all four corners of the theatre. The multi-generational audience welcomes him warmly.

He kicks off with Freccia Bianca, one of his most celebrated songs, released in 2020 well before his rise to mainstream popularity. He sings exclusively in Italian, with occasional spoken English interjections that are slightly shaky, yet delivered with disarming sincerity. His stage presence is engaging without ever becoming irreverent, and he weaves together his best-known pieces with natural mastery. He maintains an oxymoronic dimension throughout the setlist. Frenetic songs like Magia Nera, Il Re del Rave and Francis Delacroix sit alongside more intimate numbers such as Situazione Complicata and Orme, closing with the splendid, dreamlike Nel Cuore della Notte. In La Bocca della Verità – another highly charged piece from 2023 – the Japanese vocal section present in the studio version is missing; a gap that, however, does not diminish the performance’s impact in the slightest.

Corsi’s frenetic movements carry through the entire show: the stage technician is caught in a constant dance among cables, hats and instruments scattered everywhere. This energy quickly spreads to the audience, as the singer throws himself into reckless gestures without ever losing track of the lyrics or the music. This solidity rests not only on Corsi’s versatility – moving effortlessly between piano, harmonica, electric and acoustic guitars – but also on the virtuosity of his tight-knit group of musicians: Tommaso Ottomano on lead guitar and backing vocals, Filippo Scandroglio on pedal steel and keyboards, Iacopo Nieri on piano, Giulio Grillo on organ, Michelangelo Scandroglio on bass, and Marco Tanesini on drums and percussion. The ensemble feels like a group of excitable friends finding genuine joy in playing together, yet this lightness masks a solid professionalism honed over time. During the Francis Delacroix solo, the lead guitarist – much like the singer – launches himself towards the crowd while maintaining an aggressive, incisive musical line.

The concert comes to an end after about an hour and a half of dignified chaos, with an authentic encore: La Bocca della Verità and Francis Delacroix are revisited with slightly different arrangements, maintaining freshness without losing cohesion. A show with a retro sensibility that revitalises classic songwriting through expressive vocal and physical performance, adding genuine sincerity to the entire experience.