Roger Fingas
Apple on Friday announced a new "Apple Music Live" series of concerts, beginning with a program at the company's Piazza Liberty store in Milan, Italy.
The first Piazza concert will take place March 28 at 8 p.m. local time, headlined by Marco Mengoni. The event is free, but audience members must still sign up for tickets ahead of time.
More concerts are planned in the coming months, according to Rolling Stone. These will conclude in October with a performance by famous Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi.
Apple is also holding related Today at Apple sessions at the store, beginning with a Design Lab hosted by Mengoni on Apr. 4 at 6:30 p.m.
To the surprise of some, the company's annual London-based Apple Music Festival was canceled in 2017. The company subsequently switched to smaller-scale events, often focused on individual artists. Last fall for example it hosted a Christine and the Queens concert in Paris, which it used to mark the launch of a new album and making-of documentary.
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3 Comments
In Rome a few years ago, my partner & I heard Marco Mengoni’s “Esseri Umani” and fell in love with the song. Great video, too.
This concert is actually part of an obligation the city of Milan made to Apple. Apple got approval for the store in Piazza del Liberty on the condition that it:
- 8 public events of high social and cultural relevance each year, each one approved by the city council
- propose further 4 events annually Actually a smart move by the city, and a smart move for Apple too.
(source, in italian: http://www.comune.milano.it/wps/portal/ist/it/news/primopiano/tutte_notizie/urbanistica_verde_agricoltura/apple_piazza_liberty)
Especially because these events are being presented in a positive manner, I’m hoping the artists and their management teams who are working with Apple understand the contracts being signed so that future whining about compensation isn’t presented to the media as a negative against Apple.