2015 was the year rock music turned 50. It was in 1965, in fact, that rock became aware of itself thanks to three milestones in its history: the year Bob Dylan went electric, the year the Rolling Stones wrote “Satisfaction” and the year The Who released “My Generation.”

In order to celebrate this fiftieth anniversary, two living encyclopedias of music such as Ernesto Assante and Gino Castaldo toured Italy, bringing “Rock Lessons” at the theatre. As critics, they have both covered music’s biggest events over the past four decades, interviewing stars from Italy and abroad, writing about records, concerts and historic gatherings, anticipating trends on the domestic and international scene. Here, history and reporting merged in “Rock Lessons”, a guided tour between listening, videos, and words, hosted by the two journalists and showmen who took the public into a theatrical time machine. Audiences turned back the clock and rediscovered, through a series of selected and commented listening, the development of rock, which was never just music, but rather carried the dreams and passions, ideas and projects, images and adventures for multiple generations of young people.

The format is consistent: two-hour lessons full of memorable songs and unforgettable episodes.

Here are the podcasts (part one – part two) of Radio2 Social Club, where Ernesto Assante and Gino Castaldo present the tour.