Frank Zappa was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter and composer who died in 1993 at the age of 53. His music was sometimes difficult to categorize, it was experimental and influenced by different styles, from rock to jazz. He worked with different bands and many notable musicians like Steve Vai.
He came to Italy for the first time in August 1973. Francesco Sanavio was the promoter of the 4 Italian dates he did in Milan, Bologna, Rome, Verona.
Then he came back in September 1974, always with Francesco Sanavio. That year he did 4 dates in Rome on the 6th, in Udine on the 7th, in Bologna on the 8th at the Stadio Comunale and in Milan on the 9th at the Vigorelli.
The most memorable Frank Zappa Italian tour was the one in 1982, at the peak of his success after the release of the album “Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch”, featuring his biggest selling ever single “Valley Girl”.
In 1982 Francesco Sanavio did the italian dates of his European Tour “Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch”. He started in Torino on July the 2nd and continued in Bolzano, Bologna, Genova, Milan, Pistoia, Roma, Napoli and for the first time in Palermo. Franz Zappa’s family came from Sicily and he was looking forward to this date with enthusiasm, but the concert was interrupted after just one hour because of some riots between the audience and the police who was trying to stop some people from rushing the stage.
In 2013 at the Venice Film Festival was presented a documentary regarding the 1982 italian tour “Summer 1982, When Zappa Came To Italy”.
FRANK ZAPPA – O’ SOLE MIO – LIVE IN NAPLES STADIO SAN PAOLO JULY 12TH 1982
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