Perigeo ("The Last Concert") Arena Santa Giuliana in Perugia for Umbria Jazz 2026 on Saturday 4 July ’26 to celebrate the definitive farewell (maybe) from the stage of the band led by Giovanni Tommaso, which returned to perform with the full original line-up after more than fifty years.
All five members of the original lineup were present, in an expanded formation joined by three other top-level musicians who have worked with them on their most recent releases—here they are
Original Historic Lineup
Giovanni Tommaso – Double bass, electric bass (founder and leader)
Danilo "Tony" Sidney – Guitar
Bruno Biriaco – Drums
Claudio Fasoli – Saxophone
Franco D'Andrea – Piano, keyboards
Additional Musicians (Expanded Lineup)
Claudio Filippini – Piano/Keyboards (who has played alongside or replaced D'Andrea on the most recent releases)
Alessandro Paternesi – Drums/Percussion
Giovanni Imparato – Percussion
The event may have marked the definitive farewell from the stage of the legendary Italian jazz-rock/fusion band, fifty-three years after their historic performance at the very first edition of the festival in 1973, but given the quality of the show, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Perigeo at the Arena Santa Giuliana delivered a truly thrilling concert, with an extremely high technical level, able to stop time thanks to the artistic maturity of each individual musician. Everyone left their mark.
Giovanni Tommaso, the true leader and glue of the band, drove the rhythmic transitions with contagious energy, moving effortlessly from electric-bass textures to the pure class of the double bass.
Franco D’Andrea and Claudio Filippini, with their double keyboard setup, delivered one of the evening’s highest moments. D’Andrea’s return brought back the original jazz touch, perfectly blended with the modern electronic sonorities created by Filippini.
Claudio Fasoli enchanted everyone with his historic saxophone solos, confirming his usual compositional depth and great timbral research, key elements of the band’s Mediterranean flavor.
Tony Sidney set the fusion structures on fire with his hard-rock background, unleashing electric bursts on lead guitar that drove the crowd wild, especially during the pure improvisation sections.
Finally, the expanded rhythm section, made up of Bruno Biriaco, Alessandro Paternesi and Giovanni Imparato, literally unleashed Santa Giuliana. Biriaco’s trademark precision, combined with the complementary drumming and the guests’ overwhelming percussion, created a powerful, dynamic sonic bed.
An exciting concert and, at times, moving for dinosaurs like me. Seeing such a concentration of quality and virtuosity is rare and, although many attendees were there mainly to see BEAT on stage the same night, I saw in the eyes of so many young people a special light during Perigeo’s performance, and real amazement at watching musicians who have been playing for over half a century give everyone a memorable concert. Honored to have been there.
