"What if I made you sing it in Sardinian?" Paola Iezzi's playful idea sends the Mad-Dog into a tailspin, already anxious about their first performance on the X Factor stage in Italian. During rehearsals, they even try to humor their judge, but no: Gianni Morandi's "Scende la pioggia," an Italian adaptation of the Turtles' "Elenore," in limba "just doesn't work." But the little sketch is enough to reawaken their homesickness.
The fourth episode of the Sky talent show is a spicy one: we're at the halfway point, concluding with a triple elimination, and more painful than ever because we're just one step away from the coveted goal of having unreleased songs. The evening opens with the spectacular "Giostra" heat. Renato Marchisio, Davide Dore, Jacopo Sale, and Luca Pintus perform Kasabian's "Club Foot," dressed in sailor suits, the song that brought them luck in the first Live show. And they already stand out among the ten contestants: their performance is one of the five most voted.
And here we are at the second performance: for the first time since their Milanese adventure began, the four Moors from Sassari are performing a song in Italian. Paola Iezzi has chosen for them a mashup of The Turtles' 1968 classic "Elenore" and "Scende la pioggia," the Italian version with which Gianni Morandi won Canzonissima that same year, scoring one of the biggest hits of his career.
Leather jackets and scarves around their necks, Mad-Dog have little left to prove. With Luca and Davide providing backing vocals, while Jacopo unleashes his energy on the drums, they confirm their increasingly solid connection, and for Renato, it's a chance to showcase another nuance of his voice: yet another testament to their maturity.
From an evening of barbs between the judges, who were ready to trip up the group more than once to further their own agenda, the four Sardinian musicians emerged almost unscathed: "You have a very harmonious sound," compliments Irama. Gabbani really likes the Italian part: "I saw a certain something." And even Jake La Furia is "forced" to promote their performance: "You rocked it again tonight."
The most satisfied, of course, is Paola Iezzi, who proudly acknowledges the growth of her boys: "I'm proud of Mad-Dog." They've achieved the goal they set for themselves from the beginning: releasing their own original material and playing their most important card: presenting their music and fully showing who they truly are.
