Palms, Pines & Pillars - Italy 2025 tour

It was wonderful to play in Italy again to such fantastically enthusiastic crowds, from Milan and Vicenza in the north, to the beautiful island of Sicily. The band were constantly on fire, the vibe was powerful at every show and all the venues were amazing...

When Jo and I arrived in Milan from our three night break in Venice, we joined pals Sol, Giorgio and Michaela to visit the Duomo... for the first time seeing the inside, which is as spectacular as its exterior. The high, vaulted pillars plus vibrant stained glass windows are beautiful.

From one wonderful place to another, the Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza where we performed was amazing, with its gorgeous old buildings designed by Palladio, with all those arches and pillars. Macerata was such a picturesque city to walk around with an equally beautiful show location, lined by a huge semi circle of exquisite pillars and filled with an extensive crowd.

We didn't have enough time to look around Rome, but the huge audience there was ecstatic in the space-age style location of Auditorium Parco della Musica. There was an equally brilliant reaction in Naples, and thanks to pal Giovanni, Jo and I were able to visit the Castel Sant' Elmo, from which we had breathtaking views of the whole of Naples, the sea and the imposing volcano Vesuvius.

We then flew to Palermo, Sicily... It felt great to return to that amazing city after all these years. Nad, Jo and I enjoyed a walk to see the wonderfully exotic Piazza Bellini with its combination of European and North African styles, as well as the stunning Palermo Cathedral.

Finally, we made our way down past the magical Valley of the Temples to our last show in Agrigento. It gave us a shiver of excitement to once again see those impressive Ancient Greek temple ruins perched high on a rocky outcrop along the Sacred Way. The gig was a great success, and a fabulous conclusion to the tour.

We look forward to returning to Italy as soon as possible!

With many thanks to Brian, Adrian, Sergio, Massimo, all at Solo plus Musical Box 2.0 and all the band and team...