Chemical Brothers Stage Set at Italia Wave 200826 July 2008 Just over a week has passed since the four-day Italia Wave music festival came to an end in Livorno. To all account s the event was a huge success, with a sell-out concert at Livorno’s Armando Picchi stadium on 19th July when the British Chemical Brothers topped the bill.

60,000 people attended 200 different events over the four days. The festival boasted some big names, but also gave ample space to Italian and local emerging bands at its side-events Elettrowave (in Fortezza Vecchia) and Psycho Stage at the Rotonda in Ardenza. And many other cultural events were on offer.

Of course, an event of this scale needs careful planning and organisation, by both the event organisers and the local authorities. Safety is of prime concern. From what I have learnt over the past few days, there were few cases where intervention was needed by the local first aid teams, and the venues were all attended peacefully and cheerfully.

Clearly, there will always be people who oppose this kind of large-scale music event. I am sure that Lucca’s Summer Festival and Pistoia Blues both have their critics. In my opinion, though, the pros outweigh the cons by far, and for Livorno the Italia Wave festival might be the summer music event that the city needs to draw in visitors and put the city on the map as a great place to be when the sun is out.
The Festival needed a new image, and was moved from inland Arezzo to seaside Livorno for this reason. I sincerely hope that we can count on hosting Italia Wave for a second year in 2009. If Lucca and Pistoia can do it, then so can Livorno. Those who disagree are kindly invited to take their annual holidays elsewhere during the designated period!