TICKET SCAN TO GO HERE

Capacity: 7,000

Concert starts: 9pm

Address of venue: Piazza Brà 1, Verona 37121, Italy. MAP

Website: www.arena.it

COMMENTS

Having performed at the venue in 2015, David was obviously happy with the Arena di Verona, returning for another pair of shows. This is the first of the two performances to take place here in 2016.

The Arena was built in the 1st century, is still in use today and is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there.

Tickets for this concert go on sale on Friday, February 5th, at 10am CET. Tickets are restricted to 4 per person. You can order tickets through LiveNation.it.

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Do not read on if you don't want surprises to be spoilt, regarding what the band played!

From one historic Roman venue to another - David and his band have arrived in Verona to play the Arena. More slight changes to the set and running order, and from initial comments, we hear it was another great show!

We'd love to know in more detail how the concert went. Did you go? Let us know what YOU thought!

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Alberto

Sunday's concert was simply unbelievable. I went to Verona with a mix of feelings: enthusiasm and sense of closure. The first because for the 30 years I've been in love with PF I still feel the thrill of the first days, when in my teens I listened to Shine On from my Walkman looking at the stars in the open country. The second because David being 70, I thought that probably this would have been the last chance to hear him play. I also had heard some rumours that David was losing his musical shape lately. But this latter feeling was immediately dissolved when David went on stage playing "5 A.M.". How could those people think this man was in decay?

The concert was absolutely pristine, the acoustic of the Arena helping enjoy every single note and every change of dynamics the band delivered through the 3+ hours of the concert. All solos where stunning. I particularly enjoyed the one on "Faces of Stones" when he showed an incredible command of the instrument well beyond what I was used to appreciate from him in the late years (and perhaps also in his youth). It seems that David is continuing to study and to improve his technique over the years, refraining from the numb comfort of the established rock God who could send to heaven his audience by simply strumming a C major, and constantly researching for new ideas and explorations.

The mix between classics and new songs was very enjoyable, almost delivering a sense of "concept" which worked better than the other easy option to have the whole new album first and then the memories. Those old masterpieces expressed some new essence in the mix with the others and this was a surprise.

The other surprise was the substantial improvement that the band achieved with the new members (Kamen, Leavell and Phillinganes). Nothing against Carin, Manzanera and McAlea, but these three really made it to perfection. Particularly notable was the dialogue between Chuck Leavell's electric piano and David in "Today".

All songs were performed memorably. "Shine On" was rendered so close to the original, with David's intro at absolutely stellar levels. But something happened that alone was worth the entire night. When David was playing the outro of Sorrow there has been a moment (well, actually it lasted perhaps one minute) in which the entire Arena trembled. The metallic structure supporting the chairs of the parterre started to resonate. Absolute silence. We were thinking that from one moment to another we would have been projected as a starship into the crystal clear sky which was surrounding us. David seemed to realise that, and the impression was that he was having fun doing that on purpose. But this was not the end.

I don't know of it was a planned effect or if it was an unwanted consequence of the hell of energy that was beating the place in that moment, but Mr Screen started to display a diffracted image of David's right hand strumming the Black Strat. I bet that each and every soul among the 14 thousand in the Arena was thinking the same. Such a clear connection between what was happening there and the history of more than 40 years seemed to reveal its undeniable nature. We were witnessing something historical.

CONCERT PICTURES by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Dany

Our thanks to Dany for these wonderful pictures from the concert. As ever, click the thumbnails to see the pictures in more detail.

YOUR HELP NEEDED! We want to cover David's concerts the best we can, to share the experience with everyone, especially those who won't be able to attend the shows. We'd love to see ANY pictures, tickets scans, reviews, newspaper reports, and anything else you come across for this show - we look forward to hearing from you!