The realization of the concert seemed to receive widespread praise from the people devastated by the floods.
In the Emilia-Romagna region in the northern part of Italy, the warning of dangerous weather has remained in effect on Friday.
Even though the floods have eased in the past 24 hours, the risk of landslides in the area is still high. New rains are also arriving in Italy for the weekend, which has raised concerns among both residents and rescue authorities.
Earlier this week, the Imola F1 race had to be cancelled, as the organizers felt that it would not have been possible to organize the race weekend safely. In Italy, the worst floods of the beginning of the week hit the area between Rimini and Bologna, between which the Imola race track is located.
About 50 kilometers north of Bologna in Ferrara Bruce Springsteen despite everything, it was decided to organize the giant concert on Thursday. The realization of the concert has been considered disrespectful to the victims of the floods, but the decision also seemed to be widely praised by the 50,000-strong audience.
– In the midst of all the suffering, we need additional strength to deal with the matter and move forward, said a man interviewed by the Italian broadcasting company Rai outside the concert area.
– Despite all the mud, it’s great that the concert is happening. The most beautiful thing about this is that all my friends came from very far to see him [Springsteenin]. I heard that the Ferrara concert was initially going to be cancelled, but that would have been a great shame. We simply could not undo this, another man interviewed by Rai said.
Mayor of Ferrara Alan Fabbri regrets that certain people have found organizing a concert in the middle of a crisis offensive. However, Fabbri states that canceling a large-scale event at the very last minute is not possible.
Springsteen himself did not mention the floods during the concert, but No Surrender, which was selected as the opening song, was perceived as a statement of encouragement to the people devastated by the floods.
In northern Italy, thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes this week due to floods caused by heavy rains. As a result of several days of rain, dozens of rivers have risen above their banks and caused floods and hundreds of landslides. So far, at least 14 people have died in the floods.
According to the Italian public broadcasting company, more than 10,000 people have lost their homes in the floods, and almost 30,000 are said to be without electricity. The damage caused by the floods is said to be several billion euros.