Jovanotti — Live on KEXP (SXSW), 2013

A full performance by Jovanotti recorded live by KEXP from Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin, Texas, during the SXSW festival, on 15 March 2013. A huge star in Italy, Lorenzo Cherubini, aka Jovanotti, presents his cross-bred repertoire blending pop, funk, hip-hop and Italian song before the festival’s international audience. The set runs through seven songs — “Piove,” “Attaccami La Spina,” “Bella,” “Penso Positivo,” “Penelope,” “L’elemento Umano” and “Sulla Frontiera” — driven by a generous energy and a sense of unifying chorus that built his popularity. The capture, with KEXP’s characteristic restraint, highlights the artist’s stage charisma and the vitality of his arrangements. A filmed live concert valuable for French- and Spanish-speaking audiences who still know Jovanotti little, this session offers an ideal entry point to one of the most influential Italian pop artists, caught outside his homeland in contact with the global music scene, in a rare full performance filmed for international audiences.