LIVE REVIEW: FINNEAS AT FESTIVAL DEL VITTORIALE TENER-A-MENTE 09/07/25
Close your eyes and picture this: a breezy summer night, a classic amphitheatre in an extravagant villa, on a beautiful hill looking out onto Italy’s biggest lake. AND, your favourite artist is about to perform live right in front of you and a little over a thousand other lucky fans.
This dreamy scenario is where we found ourselves in the small town of Gardone Riviera, on Lake Garda, as we eagerly awaited for Finneas O’Connell and his band to make their appearance.
As the sun went down, singer songwriter Sydney Ross Mitchell, a last minute addition to the tour, opened the show barefoot with only her airy vocals and acoustic guitar to accompany her. A pink moon disappeared between the clouds as she walked off stage and the buzzing crowd held their breath for the main event.
Class of ‘97, FINNEAS already has two Oscar and eight Grammy awards under his belt, thanks to his longtime collaboration with younger sister and world renowned artist Billie Eilish, with whom he writes and for whom he produces all her records. Although he often performs with Billie, he is currently touring the UK, EU and Australia to promote For Cryin’ Out Loud, his second studio album as a solo act.
He strolled in with his touring band members, Lucy Healey, Miles Morris, Aron Forbes, David Marinelli and Ricky Gourmet, who all contributed to the making of the album. Marinelli and Gourmet have also joined the recently announced band that Finneas founded with longtime friend and artistic collaborator Ashe, called The Favors, whose first single ‘The Little Mess You Made’ came out June 6th and has already gathered over a million and a half views on YouTube.
Their debut album, The Dream, is set to come out 19 September 2025, and already has a lot of buzz around it, partly due to the cover art and chosen font being a clear tribute to the legendary Rumours album by Fleetwood Mac.
Ashe and Finneas had already famously released a song together in 2021, which quickly became a favourite for both artists’ fanbases, titled ‘Til Forever Falls Apart’, which O’Connell has his keyboardist and backup singer Lucy Healey perform with him on stage to a roaring crowd singing the words and even the poignant notes of the chorus back at them.
The setlist not only included both songs, to the fan’s delight, but alternated the soulful, softer sounds of tracks like opener ‘Starfucker’ and ‘Little Window’ with Finneas’ more groovy repertoire, including songs like ‘Cleats’, ‘What’s it Gonna Take to Break Your Heart’ and ‘The Kids Are All Dying’. ‘Til Forever Falls Apart’ is followed by ‘I Lost a Friend’ and ‘Family Feud’, which the singer stopped to dedicate to his sister, citing how he often thinks of her when they’re apart, and if the songs weren’t enough of a tearjerker on their own, his speech was the nail in the coffin of our emotional state.
Omitting the usual fake exit, Finneas, now bathed in moonlight with a glittering lake which looked almost too good to be real framing the stage, announced the end of the show and closed with title track ‘For Crying Out Loud!’, getting the diverse crowd of teen girls and 50 year old fans alike to dance it out, before strolling out just as serenely as he walked in, to the notes of Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’.
Words by Bia Vismara
Full setlist below:
Starfucker
Lotus Eater
Cleats
Sweet Cherries
What’s It Gonna Take to Break Your Heart?
Angel
The Kids Are All Dying
A Concert Six Months From Now
2001
Little Window
Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa
Only a Lifetime
Till Forever Falls Apart (Ashe cover)
Family Feud
I Lost a Friend
Break My Heart Again
Let’s Fall in Love for the Night
For Cryin’ Out Loud!