The stage of the Leoncavallo has hosted nearly everyone over the years. Regular fixtures included acts like Subsonica, Afterhours, Africa Unite, and Modena City Ramblers, alongside groups such as Public Enemy, who drew a crowd of eight thousand people in 1999. Other notable performers have been Carmen Consoli with an orchestra, Max Gazzé, rappers Salmo and Emis Killa, Fedez and Gué, as well as bands like Verdena, Baustelle, and Marlene Kuntz, and American stars including Michael Franti.
Furthermore, as recalled by Matteo ‘Flipper’ Marchetti, the former artistic director during the venue’s golden years, the space also featured “DJs like Goldie, cultural icons like Dario Fo and Franca Rame, Paolo Rossi, and Fabrizio Bentivogli.”
“Today,” emphasized the cultural organizer, “is not just a sad day for the counter-culture movement, but for culture in Milan as a whole. Over 50 years, the Leoncavallo and its antagonistic counter-culture have profoundly influenced the city’s artistic choices; it has been a vector and generator of high and alternative culture.”
For several years now, guided tours have been conducted in ‘Dauntaun,’ the basement of the Leoncavallo. “Over the years,” explained ‘Flipper,’ “a succession of graffiti artists and creators worked there. Their pieces are exceptionally well-preserved because the space was sealed for 15 years and placed under the protection of Milan’s municipal fine arts authority. It has been restored and is now opened to visitors once a month. It is a fragment of Milan’s artistic history, featuring graffiti from 1996 to 2005. These works are testaments to the first writer jam sessions, where artists would all draw together, interweaving one ‘piece’ with another in a collective effort.”