“Welcome to the National Basilica of Koekelberg". That's how we're greeted in this grandiose structure – "the world's largest Art Deco monument"! – for a truly exceptional concert by Roberto Alagna. During his brief Belgian concert series, he had performed the day before at another iconic location, the Abbey of Villers-la-Ville. The Frenchman with Sicilian roots is now 63 years old. But his name and reputation are far from faded. And that's evident from the many fans who showed up. Not a packed church, but enough people to immediately bring energy with thunderous applause as the orchestra quickly sets the tone and the star dances onto the stage. Everyone ready for a recital full of Sicilian and Neapolitan songs. The show is called "Boulevard des Italiens". The audience might have expected a series of opera arias, but they got their money's worth. The style and repertoire have apparently been adapted since his glory days. The tenor was given a free hand with the concert's content. It was full of popular canzoni that we heard. But that was apparently no problem in entertaining the fans. By the way, there was no information anywhere about a setlist or program notes. A shame, really. But plenty of sing-alongs: Santa Lucia, Sole Mio, Caruso, Bambino, Sicilian tarantellas, sung and orchestrated themes from The Godfather and pieces of film music by Ennio Morricone. Yet there was a flaw in this performance: the sound amplification!
Of course, the acoustics in such an enormous space aren't ideal, with a reverberation of 8 seconds I read somewhere. So challenging that you sometimes got the impression the singer and the Golden Pick Orchestra under conductor José Pick sounded out of sync. Actually, a travesty of what you should hear at a concert. How can you then judge the quality of his current mastery? He didn't always sound his best and not always at his purest, but always vocally powerful enough to convince his many supporters. But he's still a showman. And with a Funiculì-funiculà everyone sang along clapping their hands and the same of course with that popular Italian protest song Bella Ciao. An hour and a half of Roberto Alagna was for many an inspiring emotional performance, but should really be experienced under better acoustic conditions.
