The May 1st concert It is a musical event that is held every year a Rome since 1990 on the occasion of the workers’ party in Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano. Conceived by Maurizio enlightenedthis is the largest live music festival in Europe. In 2000, for the Jubilee, he was held in Tor Vergata, while in 2020 and 2021 he was held without public at the Auditorium Parco della Musica and last year he was at the Circus Maximus due to the works in Piazza San Giovanni – in collaboration with the three confederate unions CGIL, CISL and UIL. Said “The concert” For its long duration – he begins in the afternoon and ends late in the evening – he aims to combine the protest with music, to bring the attention of the young audience social issues and also linked to work policies. Every year, in fact, the concert has a different theme and, over the years, there have been no rare episodes of complaints to which they have followed complaints and disputes. This year, Concertone 2025 will have the theme “United for safe job“Dedicated to safety in the workplace, conducted by Noemi, Ermal Meta and Bigmama will see himself perform among others Achilles Lauro, Lucio Corsi, Giorgia and The Kolors
The numbers of the May 1st concert: spectators in the square, record and minimum listening
“And that’s okay: let’s do it. But it is the first and last time”: It seems that, in 1990, the then Secretary General of the CGIL Bruno Trentin thus welcomed the proposal of the concert. And instead today, in 2025, we are at 35th Edition of the event.
Broadcast live in full on Rai 3 and Rai Radio 2the concert of May 1 is always very participated, both in the square and in television connection and radio: being a free and free event, it is not possible to have exact numbers, but it is estimated that there are always at least among the public present in the square 500 000 peopleand touched himself The million participants in 2006 and 2014.
Record ratings were in 2011, with 2.5 million viewers connected for the second part of the concert. The edition with less listeners, however, was that of 2014, with just over 900 000 connected people.
The broadcast of the event is, as a rule, full: the television connection and Rai begins in the afternoon and ends with the conclusion of the concert. Still, there were editions in which the TV connection is interrupted before the end of the performance: happened to Litfiba in 1998, to Premiata fornia Marconi in 1998, a Cristiano De André In 2013, a Bennato in 2017 and to Extralism In 2021, and always for the same reason: to leave the line to the night edition of Tg3.
The complaints and disputes during the concert in Rome of May 1st
The Concert It was often – and by its very nature – a stage that lent itself to complaints and disputes that, in several cases, met Rai censorship. Famous the performance of Elio and the stories tense in 1991 with I love you championshipwhere the group began to list the names of corrupt politicians, who was interrupted by an improvised interview by Vincenzo Mollica to Ricky Gianco. In 1993 it was the turn of Piero Pelù who imposed a condom on the microphone to bring attention to the importance of prevention. Also Daniele Silvestri he made his voice heard in 2003 by introducing a cover of Piero’s war by De André in 2007 with My enemy. Always in 2007 Andrea Rivera he hurled himself against the denial of the funeral a Piergiorgio Welby.
Rai, precisely because state television has always tried to mediate too sudden position, until drastic measures: in 2004 the event was broadcast in 20 minutes deferred For time, if necessary, to cut inappropriate parts and, in 2011, near the referendum on nuclear power, had all the artists on stage a liberating for Avoid treating the topic live.
