The Zen Circus

On April 22, 2026, The Zen Circus will take the stage at Le Chinois in Montreuil, 6 Place du Marché. Formed in Pisa around Andrea Appino with Massimiliano “Ufo” Schiavelli and Karim Qqru, the trio has been carving out a path between alternative rock and folk-punk since the late 1990s. Initially sung in English, their repertoire shifted to Italian in the mid-2000s, without losing the tension inherited from punk. The collaboration with Brian Ritchie (Violent Femmes) on the album Villa Inferno opened a more acoustic direction, where the songwriting focuses on everyday stories, provincial towns and social perspectives.

On record as well as on stage, The Zen Circus delivers direct, unadorned melodic tracks, from Andate tutti affanculo to L’ultima casa accogliente and Il fuoco in una stanza. Their appearance at the Sanremo Festival in 2019 with L’amore è una dittatura broadened their audience without altering the group’s rock backbone. At Le Chinois, you’ll find that tight guitar–bass–drums setup, crisp backing vocals and no-nonsense songwriting, balancing rhythmic urgency with choruses that stick in the memory.