Very sad. I had the good fortune of seeing Banco twice, ProgFest and NEARFest. To me, Di Giacomo had lost nothing vocally from the 70s and was simply extraordinary. It's sad that he is gone, but he's left treasures for us to enjoy and many great memories. Ciao, Francesco.
I'm quoting greg walker here - "As most of you know, Francesco was the closest thing that prog had to Pavarotti. He fronted the greatest Italian 70's prog band and his amazing voice and stage presence was second to none. I still remember as a youngster (circa 1981 when I was 15 and just learning about progressive music) walking through the record aisles of an L.A. K-Mart trying to find a third album in the 3 for .99 cents record deal they were having (ah, those were the days!) when I came across the self-titled 1975 compilation release. Looking at it and chuckling over the cover of a fat guy throwing up a shoe and then turning it over to see the same fat guy on a scale I thought, well...I might as well buy it (as a joke). I then noticed the instrumentation and thought, holy crap, this thing might actually be good. I still remember taking it home and being blown away over the music, vocals and level of musicianship. I owned every Banco record soon after."
at the end, he was the main attraction, the rest of band have become automotons.....
Banco and Goblin were the best from Italy. Love Io sono, Di Terra and Primavera. 1973, 77 and 79. Great stuff
I just saw Greg Walker's email. Ahhh! So sad. Damn!
I am another one who was so lucky to see Banco at Progfest 2000. A great show. A great band. And that VOICE. Francesco was a joy to see live and will always be a joy through his recordings.
My best to his friends and family and of course the guys in the band in the midst of this tragedy. RIP Francesco.
Yeah I just saw Greg Walker's email also. That was a great story. I am tempted to post it here but I won't since I don't have Greg's permission.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
just watched: Banco playing at Prog Exhibition, Rome, Nov. 4-5, 2010.
one of the great regrets of my life is that I didn't fucking GO to that concert.
my mouse cursor was hovering over the Submit button to buy a plane ticket ...
DANG.
laura
Well now I regret not seeing Banco the second time they played Nearfest. I only did the pre show that year which was typical for me after 2003.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
RIP - sad.
MAJOR loss! A giant!
I don't even like Banco all that much--have tried many times but they never really clicked--but I am still really bummed out about this! RIP...
People have uploaded a few interesting looking things on Dimeadozen. Two are recordings the uploader made himself and he says are good quality. I'll try to report back - the number of seeders is going up pretty quickly, which is good.
He was truly among the greatest singers of the genre. This is really sad.
Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...m/bakers-dozen
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...-and-holland-3
colouratura.bandcamp.com
I wish I'd seen the NF performance in 2001, but the second one was still amazing to my ears/eyes. I recall Francesco giving a very moving speech in his broken English, expressing gratitude - I wish it was on video somewhere. He seemed like a very sweet and genuine guy.
<sig out of order>
Originally Posted by Plasmatopia
Rob and Chad surely have that in their vault somewhere. They'll surely put some of that here soon.
I hope. ;-)
Wow, sad news, gonna shed a tear or two on this. One of the Great.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
As did I last night...DVD 4 of the Prog Exhibition box set.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
I watched it last night as well. Do we have empathic "radar" when it comes to la musica Italiano?
How you doin', by the way? (PM)
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
I was glad Tom mentioned this tragic event last night on the Gagliarchives. He played a track from "Darwin" just before the end of his show. I hope maybe next time he does a block of Banco in tribute to him(just a suggestion in case he sees this).
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
What a loss. I've been playing everything of theirs I have this weekend.
I didn't see the first Nearfest show but I saw the second one and it was wonderful - but the FMPM show later that year was off the charts magical.
RIP Francesco and mille grazie. My musical world is a bit smaller without you here.
RIP
I was fortunate to have seen both NEARfest Performances as well as Progfest. Banco NF 01 I think was the only time we'd ever had 3 call back encores. (At last the only time I can remember)
An epic loss to the arts
My condolences to his loved ones.
Big loss, very sad news. I was pretty new to Banco when I saw them at Nearfest in 2001. The show just blew me away, and I now rank those first 3 albums as some of the very best in prog. Heck, the next couple albums after that are pretty great too.
Agreed, in fact I love all their albums straight through Canto Di Primavera. Wonderful music.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
yes, Tom said he had already put together the show when the news came in, so he had to wait till the show was over to play this.
he asked me what he should play from Darwin! so of course I said "750,000 anni fa ... l'amore?"
simply the most erotic prog song of all time.
I was simultyping the lyrics ... saying OH MY GOD ... *this* is one of the defining moments of prog.
*sigh* ... as Aldo said when I texted him my condolences, "una grande perdita per la musica" - a great loss for music.
<moment of silence>
laura
apparently so. and - whole topic. basically great. PM to followI watched it last night as well. Do we have empathic "radar" when it comes to la musica Italiano?
How you doin', by the way? (PM)
laura
one of my truly great prog stories:
I met Francesco di Giacomo in a hot tub.
yes, back when I was a foolish young lass of 42, I went to ProgFest in LA, and somehow (?!) found myself in a hot tub with a bunch of Italian hunks - including our late beloved Francesco (who gives a whole new meaning to the word "hunk"- I say lovingly of course
)
I was trying out my brand-new Italian, and proudly announced, "mi chiamo Laura." (my name is Laura.)
then I said to Franceso, attempting to compliment him on the *superlative* performance I had just seen the night before (
"il cantante e' bellissimo."
he smiled somewhat indulgently, perhaps amusedly ...
... because later, when I told my Italian teacher what I had said, she burst out laughing.
apparently what I had actually said was:
"the singer is (physically) beautiful."
(bet it had been a while since he heard that!
bittersweet ...
laura
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