With Ben Harper and Mannarino at the No Borders Festival: a precious intimacy

In the summer of 2018, minutes before he began to singblack clouds suddenly gathered above the stageand began to pouring rain. “If you stay, I assure you we will enjoy ourselves.” No one moved an inch. Ben Harper returned to No Borders Music Festival, five years later, and this time he has found the sun. Above the millenary forest of Tarvisioon the Friulian border with Austria and Sloveniathe sky remained clear throughout the weekend, giving reflections and plays of light on Fusine Lakes, mirrors of crystal clear water that – together with the impressive Julian Alps – form one amazing fifth natural.

«It’s wonderful to play in a place like this», began the American artist born in 69′, with a blue t-shirt and the inseparable cap, three Grammys on the shelf and one coolness total. “And even more beautiful is being able to do it with them,” he added as he introduced The Innocent Criminalsthe band he’s been with since his inception and which defined the its sound. Which is a little funk, a little folk, a little blues rock. Facets that the lineup embraces in full, with Diamonds on the Inside to heat the opening e Steal My Kisses among the most popular. And it could not be missing the lap steel momentthe guitar that Ben plays while sitting, lying on the legs.

On the lawn, about 4,000 people who “conquered» the concert going up from the lower lake to the upper one, immersed in nature: families with small children, who have spread the towel in the shade of a tree, but there are also those who enjoyed the sun and those who – as a true fan – arrived as close as possible to the stage. Someone waved the smartphonetrying to take home a souvenir photo, but the feeling is that – in a similar location, where Internet physiologically goes into hiccups – the connection is first of all human. Between spectators, with the artist and with the surrounding nature: an interweaving of gazes, some kind of network.

On which the artist can ideally to dive and enjoy the performance. That’s why those who pass by No Borders, he often comes back. Ben Harper as Mannarino, who closed out the weekend with his new show, Ropesin which he strips his songs and he reproposes them naked and rawonly with backing vocals and – indeed – string instruments. Begins with One summer And black river, passes through Sing, Madeleine And Shut upthen tap to Inmatewith a splendid theatrical monologue on the condition of prisoners, e Mary Lou which pave the way for an eventful ending with Tiber Grand Hotel, Choose Vajò, I’m drunk, Rage bar And Living the life.

People dance and sing, the artist as well. The nature around does its part. How to protect, creating a safe space: a magic box of precious intimacy.