Roberto Vecchioni at the Brancaccio Theater: "Perhaps the last time I sing"

"Stay close to me. A thousand here and a thousand here, because I'm very emotional after months and months of not singing. And this will perhaps be the last time because I won't be able to sing for as many months." During his last performance at the Teatro Brancaccio in Rome, Roberto Vecchioni, 83 years old, addressed words full of emotion to the audience: "For me this is a beautiful evening, I wouldn't have given it up for anything in the world because when I should have come here some time ago I was in hospital, with a tube down my throat. And today, while I'm still convalescent but also quickly, I made up for my fault by coming back to you."

In any case, during the evening the singer-songwriter expressed his opinions on the most recent current events, from the joke at the Campidoglio "which awarded a culture prize to Vanna Marchi and Stefania Nobile, because there is no limit to evil", to the consideration that "we live in an era in which there are Trump and Putin at the same time?", up to the dedication to his friend Francesco Guccini, who passed away on 6 August 2026 at the age of 86. “I believe I am the only author whose song Francesco has sung that was not written by him”.

HEALTH PROBLEMS

In March 2025, Roberto Vecchioni's concert at the Teatro Brancaccio in Rome was canceled due to health problems. "I was in terrible shape. One day I asked a nurse: 'Am I going to die?' instead he thought I could do it. And I followed him because he was the nicest and because I am convinced that what counts is the intention, the content and not the form." After four months of absence on the program In other words by Massimo Gramellini, he explained that he had been ill without realizing it, to the point of no longer moving. The intervention of the heart surgeons had been saving, but the convalescence had been long and not at all simple. "It takes a lot of time to recover. I started the album and left it halfway through. Up until the age of 82 everything went well, with two small tumors. I have a strong character, now it's more difficult", he said. Then, on 25 September 2026, on the occasion of the Charlot Prize, the singer had to cancel the date at the Teatro Verdi in Salerno. "At my age it happens that my body requires a break, I hope it's as short as possible", he explained.