Sunday, October 23, 2016

World tour review: Sao Paulo and Curitiba

In the very end of Brazilian tour I finally managed to find time and get into the mood to review it. First of all why Brazil? The answer is not logic. It's just about a little dream that I had to go there. I knew almost nothing about experimental music scene of this country, but past half a year I was monitoring whats happening there, also saw some European artists touring there, so thought why not. And overall all I feel like a got a decent acceleration on touring and I don't know when will I stop....everything goes fast: cities, people, thoughts, emotions, everything changes quickly and somehow it helps me to think more about who I am and what is all that stuff around. For me for now this is most important.
So, back to tour things, I caught the good flight deal (335 eu Amsterdam - Sao Paulo - Rio De Janeiro - Paris, with a stop in Casablanca) and then started booking tour. So eventually I've got 7 gigs in 20 days, which was enough for me, since I wanted to see not only gigs, but something more. So let's start.

06.10 Sao Paulo, Hotel bar

Brazilian tour started with quite a big stress. Firstly, things with Sao Paulo gig was a real mess. I've agreed with one organizer about the show two months in advance and was pretty sure it will happen, but then I wasn't getting any news and eventually got to know from the other people (!) that it won't happen. And it was just a few weeks left. Man, if you read this you know that things are not happening this way, even I didn't hear "sorry" from you, I hope you care about the other people more.. Anyway, with a help of good people I managed to get a last minute show in, as guys say, the smallest venue in Sao Paulo called Hotel bar. Yes, it's a room for max 10 people I guess. I'm playing alone this night (so as mostly staying alone the whole time in Sao Paulo). Had lot's of technical problems: first I didn't check before that some of my adapters are only 220V, and Sao Paulo is 127V, so I had to forget a few devices and even I thought I burned one by plugging it to the wrong voltage (eventually not! as I checked later). This was a bit of a challenge to play without a few things. Then we had problems with the sound speakers of the venue. So, after all that stress we managed to prepare for the show. Around 5-8 people came to this show (at least!) and the owner was very nice, so overall everything wasn't so bad and I managed to play quite a good show (at least for myself). After the performance I spoke with a few guys, they proposed to go to another event the next day, but since it was late and I had early bus I decided to stay alone. All that time in Sao Paulo I was wondering mainly in one neighborhood, at first it reminded me a bit of Los Angeles. It was hard to speak English on the streets though, so it was not so comfortable time, and I was complaining on facebook. Anyway, deeply inside I was hoping that it's just a stress of the beginning, later I will adapt and things will get better. So, this huge city left me not the best impressions, and right now I don't feel like I wanna return there anytime soon.

08.10 Curitiba, house show

I went to Curitiba with a hope that it will be better. Even though there was a mess with a show too, I didn't get a proper one even if I was telling guys few months before that i'm coming. But got a house show, organized by Meia-Vida, the group of promoters that does DIY shows. In the bus station I was met by the nice guy Ariel who plays in a punk band Caos (together with Gustavo, the show promoter). Meeting is always a nice gesture. No matter how big city is and how far is the bus station from your house, but if you are caring person and good organizer, you will always make the guest to feel not stressed of finding his way to go to the venue or your house.
So we went straight to the house where a bunch of young guys were preparing for the party. This was in a multi-flat house and this could never happen in my country, because of noise and neighbors. So the show started shortly with the same Caos band doing some straight forward punk. Raw and underground spirit, but without mohawks and all the other trendy shit. I was glad to hear Brazilian punk finally! After them the guy called Post Punk Sirios with guitar and electronics made some a bit melancholic and slow compositions that made the energy of the event go down, but it also gave some concentration, which made a good soil for my show after. And I felt the underground spirit, which contributed to the freedom of expression and so my show was quite fun. After me, Aline Vieira, one of the founders of Meia-Vida made a nice electronic drone set in the candle light. Her project is called Exria Reverbera and you can listen it below. There was also another artist called Luma, but I couldn't listen to hear, needed to relax from sounds and stay out of smoked room, although what I heard sounded good.
After the show guys went to continue party somewhere, but I stayed cause needed to rest and the next day I had a bus to Florianopolis. So in the morning were preparing slowly, chatting with guys and having breakfast. I was calmed that the road to the bus station is short and uber cab will do it in a few minutes. But then, suddenly got a trouble - uber isn't coming! it stuck somewhere and time is running. my bus is leaving in ~10 minutes. shit! we ran to the street with Gustavo and we caught local taxi, but the driver showed that it's impossible to be there in such a short time. Anyway I went with him, telling in english - faster, faster, he probably understood not words, but intention. We came to the station, I ran like crazy, my suitcase dropped with all the electronics out. Shit! Ran again, and  I saw that the bus is here! Huh....it was delayed for a few minutes, luckily, otherwise I would miss it.
This was the most intense stress I experienced so far on this tour. I couldn't relax for a long in the bus and was hoping that the stress time is in the end...and it was, but this is about Florianopolis, to be continued soon.
Below some photos from Cutiriba show, more on the event page.







No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.