The Rugby Sound Festival was founded in the early 1980s. It was created as the Parabiago Rugby team's end-of-year party. The festival became accessible to the public from 2000 and has become one of the most important festivals in northern Italy. In 2012, the festival organizers decided that the increasing popularity required professional management and started a collaboration with Shining Production. The organizers began collaborating with external professionals from diverse fields including communication, sponsorship, advertising, and street food. This allowed the festival to gain attendance and popularity.[4] The Rugby Sound Festival held in 2023 had the largest number of visitors in the festival's history and became known as the "record" edition. The event was attended by 70,000 individuals and tickets sold out in 12 days, establishing it as one of the most popular festivals in Italy.[5]
Chi non avanza, retrocede.
-Rugby Sound founder Pietro Dalu's motivations when starting the Rugby Sound project
The Parabiago Rugby Team
The Parabiago Rugby team was created in 1948 by Pietro Dallù with Nino Cataldi as the first president. In two years the team was promoted to the first division (Serie A). Over 200 members of the Parabiago Rugby team, including men and women, subsequently formed a group named "Squadra dei 200" to promote sport and teamwork, and continues to actively contribute to the Festival by participating in security.[4]
From 2000 - 2007 the Rugby Sound Festival was held at the Libero Ferrario Stadium, a football stadium located at Viale Guglielmo Marconi in the city of Parabiago. The stadium was originally opened in 1933 in honor of the cyclist Libero Ferrario and hosts Parabiago's home games, with a capacity of 700 seats.
"Venegoni - Marazzini" sports court
From 2008 to 2016, the Festival was held at the Parabiago Rugby team's sports center, "Vengoni - Marazzini" Sports Court in Via Carso in the city of Parabiago.[6] The centre has been home to Rugby Parabiago since 1985 when the club relocated from its previous headquarters, the "Libero Ferrario" Sports Centre. It is a conceptual modern construction that has been regularly updated and improved. It has spread across an area of approximately 38,000 m2 to the southwest of the municipal jurisdiction.[7]
From 2017 - 2023 the Festival has been held at the Visconti Castle (Legnano) (also known as San Giorgio Castle) in Lombardy.[8] The castle is located on raised ground to the south of Legnano (part of the Metropolitan City of Milan) and is situated on a small island created by the Olona river. [9] The precise location of the 'Rugby Sound Festival' is P.zza della Concordia, 1, 20025 Legnano (MI).
Organization
Since 2016 the Rugby Sound Festival has been organised with the collaboration of Shining Production, the Comune di Legnano and Parabiago Rugby, who provide volunteer support.[10]
International and local artists are contacted in October and continue through November, with a concentration on international artists and groups until December. Italian artists are sourced immediately after the Sanremo Music Festival, which puts a hold on activities until February. The final names of the various artists are finalised between February and April.[1] In response to increasing numbers the organisers developed a VIP experience and enhanced checkout procedures to shorten wait times.[11]
The Festival organization includes maintaining rules aimed at discouraging inappropriate behavior, alcohol abuse and violence.[13]
Street Food Parade
The Street Food Parade is organized by "Associazione Culturale Le Officine", a cultural organization that operates mainly in the provinces of Varese and Milan.[14] The event consists of numerous food trucks coming from all over Italy, with particular regard to traditional Italian street foods. The event was held in Legnano for the first time in October 2016, and more than 30,000 people attended. Because of the unexpected popularity of the event, many food trucks ran out of food.[15]
The success of the 2016 event led to cooperation between Shining Production and "Associazione Culturale Le Officine" to combine the music festival and food parade to realize "an event inside the event"[16] In 2019 a portion of the island was assigned to the Street Food Parade for the duration of the festival. This allowed the visitors of the festival to try the different street foods while attending the musical events of the festival.[17] The initiative was continued for successive editions of the festival.[18]
The 2023 Rugby Sound Festival at Legnano Castle island ran from 29th June to 10th July and included concerts, performances and free DJ sets at the end of the night. It had a record attendance of 70,000 people, with a total of six sold-out performances, two of which sold out three weeks before the start. [5] The event achieved The festival was structured as follows:
29th June: performance by Planet Funk, an Italian electronic band, followed by the Motel Connection
30th June: performance by a pop and punk band Finley, followed by a music party called Teenage Dream. This date is one of the two that sold-out three weeks before the start of the Festival
1st July: the lineup featured the dance-pop band Eiffel 65, followed by a dance-themed music party named Zarro Night.
2nd July: the singer Cristina D'Avena along with the band Gem boy
3rd July: performance of a young rapper known as Rondodasosa, followed by 4 other rappers: Neima Ezza, Medy, Neza, and Artie5five
4th July: started with hip-hop band Articolo 31, composed of singer J-Ax and DJ Jad, followed by dance, pop, and hip-hop DJ Wlady
6th July: Sfera Ebbasta, the rapper with the highest number of streams (on Spotify) in Italy
7th July: two rappers performed, Salmo followed by Nitro
