Lacuna Coil Stood in Silence Delivering Message During Livestream

Throughout the pandemic, bands have lent their support for venues through livestream performances, but Lacuna Coil joined a wide array of Italian acts in showing support in a different way – by standing silent.

The group started teasing their involvement on their social media, stating, “Tomorrow night we are heading back HOME. We take the Alcatraz-Milano stage at 21.00 pm for what could possibly be L’Ultimo Concerto. Follow the FREE event at www.ultimoconcerto.it.” For those not up on their Italian, L’Ultimo Concerto translates to “The Last Concert.”

While some fans may have expected a performance, what they got was something different – a form of protest as part of an initiative pointing out the importance of these essential clubs for developing artists and contributing to the country’s art and economy.

Coinciding with the scheduled time, Lacuna Coil posted the following message to their social media accounts:

You were expecting to see a live show while we just stood in silence. It’s not a bad joke. This is the situation of live clubs in Italy, places where we got to meet many of you.

It is with this bitter taste in our mouths that we are asking for your support for them.

A live show with no music is not a live show. A silent live club is not a live club.

Thanks for being part of this, for your support and for being there in this very moment, which hopefully will be a turning point.

From now on, we just want to talk about the next live show.

Thank you!

Lacuna Coil were not the only band to take part, as other groups and venues gathered in the shared action. The L’Ultimo Concerto website spells out more of the reasoning for bringing the plight of Italian live music clubs to forefront.

“The Last Concert? is one of the most important initiatives that involved live clubs from all over Italy for the first time, as well as an incredible number of artists, who with their excruciating silence, one year after the first closures, underlined the importance essential of these spaces also in reference to their own professional training, as necessary and obligatory places of passage and departure for all those who make music their career,” starts the movement’s manifesto.

“We wonder if it will be possible to go back to organizing concerts, if the sector will hold out until then, or if we have already seen what could be The Last Concert for these places. Places that still are not able to plan the moment of the restart, and that in the meantime must continue to bear the costs for their maintenance.”

According to L’Ultimo Concerto, the Italian live club sector has losses exceeding €50,000,000, for an average of €332.491 per single reality. They also state that 49 percent of live clubs are unsure about the possibility of reopening once the pandemic concludes.

“There cannot be a Next Concert and a real restart, if it is not preceded and accompanied by sustainability and specific recognition for live clubs,” they add. In the manifesto, they are seeking a time horizon for a proposed restart and recognition as places of culture that are to be financially supported and promoted. They’re also seeking measures such as tax deductibility on tickets and concert promotion campaigns to help stimulate the return of live shows. A full rundown of the measures and requests they are asking to help the live club industry can be read here.