(Hard Rock Live, Orlando FL) Matteo Bocelli, the younger of 2 sons of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, just kicked off his first headlining tour "A Night With Matteo", marking the 2nd of 10 stops slated to cover the Southeast US before concluding overseas.
Bocelli put on quite the performance in Orlando Friday evening. He was charming, engaging, likeable, and fun. Vocally, he closely mirrored his father's flawlessly famous vocal sound, but the 27 year old definitely adds his own flair and personality into his performance. So although he may sound just like his father, his show is uniquely different and able to stand totally alone and separate and does not need to rely his father's success to become successful by his own right.
The show ran just a few minutes short of 2 hours. There was no opening act, and no intermission. At the beginning of the show, Matteo's musicians took to their spots and Matteo emerged onto the stage once they were settled.
He opened with 'Solo' (2021), 'Close' (2022), 'Dimmi" (2022), and 'Piove' (2021) -- singles he had released prior to his debut album titled "Matteo" in September 2023. The songs were endearing, and a refreshing welcome to Matteo's warm and sincere tone.
After having made his introduction to the Orlando audience at Hard Rock Live, he then drew in the crowd by singing familiar covers of "Can't Help Falling in Love" (Elvis Presley), "She" (Charles Aznavour), "Quando, Quando, Quando" (Tony Remis), and "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" (Frankie Valli). He connected well with the audience and made himself very approachable when, after "She", he jested that he was a bad dancer, which encouraged random couples and soloists within the audience to spontaneously stand up and begin dancing in front of their seats while some even opted to move out into the aisles for additional dance space.
Matteo was charistmatic, and introduced a wilder side of himself through "Tempo", which prompted even more dancing as the beat was more driving in this song than its predecessors, with more assertive percussive backings.
He introduced each of his musicians, and went on to call them all 'family', then thanked them for their patience with him, and acknowledged them for the chemistry they had with one another. Another moment of connection emerged as he called out the gravity of having such a 'heavy' last name with lots of people being present because it was convenient, but not necessarily because of 'who you are.' Matteo was now very connected with the audience as he's now opened up about his own personal vulnerabilities and feelings.
He fondly described his affection toward Ed Sheeran, and the connection they had by having parents who were so surrounded by music which had then been passed down onto them, the children. During "Chasing Stars", the crowd was now so moved by the musician, that cell phones with lights turned on were now being waved from side to side to express solitude with Matteo.
Matteo treated us to his solo version of "Perfect Symphony", covering both the English and the Italian portions of the song. I actually preferred this live version to the studio recording of it. It felt genuine and sincere.
He did perform 2 encore songs, with the first one actually drawing both himself and his acoustic guitarist to the edge of the stage where they both serenaded an audience who had already fallen in love with the singer on this night.
On this night he covered every single show element that was found in other concerts. But wait: this was supposed to be just the beginning of his first headlining tour?
Matteo is well-poised to win over the ballad music-seeking population of the world. Those persons drawn toward the fusion of opera and pop, which a previous Bocelli had initially laid down a foundation, Matteo is about to bring about a new wave of heart-melting that much of today's generation has yet to be exposed. In my opinion, he follows the path of his father, Frank Sinatra, and even a more recent Michael Buble, but he's only just beginning. I have attended many concerts, but the number of random affectionate outbursts from the crowd this evening were many, which helped me formulate the conclusion that the audience was craving more and will be ready to purchase tickets the next time Matteo comes back into town.
I did have an opportunity to speak briefly with Matteo after the show. He was courteous and polite, excited to visit one of our Orlando theme parks the following day, genuinely curious about the story my wife and I shared with him of having 2 recent Italian students from Verona, which he excitedly stated wasn't too far from his home.
Many familiar with Matteo may associate him with his 2018 duet titled "Fall on Me". I would submit that the title could possibly be updated to "Follow Me" because this young musician's career is about to take off, and he's blazing his own path ahead... very well done, Matteo...
Photos and write-up by: Bailey Guinigundo
Bocelli put on quite the performance in Orlando Friday evening. He was charming, engaging, likeable, and fun. Vocally, he closely mirrored his father's flawlessly famous vocal sound, but the 27 year old definitely adds his own flair and personality into his performance. So although he may sound just like his father, his show is uniquely different and able to stand totally alone and separate and does not need to rely his father's success to become successful by his own right.
The show ran just a few minutes short of 2 hours. There was no opening act, and no intermission. At the beginning of the show, Matteo's musicians took to their spots and Matteo emerged onto the stage once they were settled.
He opened with 'Solo' (2021), 'Close' (2022), 'Dimmi" (2022), and 'Piove' (2021) -- singles he had released prior to his debut album titled "Matteo" in September 2023. The songs were endearing, and a refreshing welcome to Matteo's warm and sincere tone.
After having made his introduction to the Orlando audience at Hard Rock Live, he then drew in the crowd by singing familiar covers of "Can't Help Falling in Love" (Elvis Presley), "She" (Charles Aznavour), "Quando, Quando, Quando" (Tony Remis), and "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" (Frankie Valli). He connected well with the audience and made himself very approachable when, after "She", he jested that he was a bad dancer, which encouraged random couples and soloists within the audience to spontaneously stand up and begin dancing in front of their seats while some even opted to move out into the aisles for additional dance space.
Matteo was charistmatic, and introduced a wilder side of himself through "Tempo", which prompted even more dancing as the beat was more driving in this song than its predecessors, with more assertive percussive backings.
He introduced each of his musicians, and went on to call them all 'family', then thanked them for their patience with him, and acknowledged them for the chemistry they had with one another. Another moment of connection emerged as he called out the gravity of having such a 'heavy' last name with lots of people being present because it was convenient, but not necessarily because of 'who you are.' Matteo was now very connected with the audience as he's now opened up about his own personal vulnerabilities and feelings.
He fondly described his affection toward Ed Sheeran, and the connection they had by having parents who were so surrounded by music which had then been passed down onto them, the children. During "Chasing Stars", the crowd was now so moved by the musician, that cell phones with lights turned on were now being waved from side to side to express solitude with Matteo.
Matteo treated us to his solo version of "Perfect Symphony", covering both the English and the Italian portions of the song. I actually preferred this live version to the studio recording of it. It felt genuine and sincere.
He did perform 2 encore songs, with the first one actually drawing both himself and his acoustic guitarist to the edge of the stage where they both serenaded an audience who had already fallen in love with the singer on this night.
On this night he covered every single show element that was found in other concerts. But wait: this was supposed to be just the beginning of his first headlining tour?
Matteo is well-poised to win over the ballad music-seeking population of the world. Those persons drawn toward the fusion of opera and pop, which a previous Bocelli had initially laid down a foundation, Matteo is about to bring about a new wave of heart-melting that much of today's generation has yet to be exposed. In my opinion, he follows the path of his father, Frank Sinatra, and even a more recent Michael Buble, but he's only just beginning. I have attended many concerts, but the number of random affectionate outbursts from the crowd this evening were many, which helped me formulate the conclusion that the audience was craving more and will be ready to purchase tickets the next time Matteo comes back into town.
I did have an opportunity to speak briefly with Matteo after the show. He was courteous and polite, excited to visit one of our Orlando theme parks the following day, genuinely curious about the story my wife and I shared with him of having 2 recent Italian students from Verona, which he excitedly stated wasn't too far from his home.
Many familiar with Matteo may associate him with his 2018 duet titled "Fall on Me". I would submit that the title could possibly be updated to "Follow Me" because this young musician's career is about to take off, and he's blazing his own path ahead... very well done, Matteo...
Photos and write-up by: Bailey Guinigundo
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