Damasceno, deixe de ser incitador da baderna! Se o povo quer Rush, terá Rush (e não Ruch!!!! Você quer ser deserdado??? E perder direito à herança de todos os meus bootlegs do Rush?)
OK, isso supostamente era um blog, e por isso vou postar meu interessantíssimo dia de férias hoje. Após muita encheção de saco por parte da minha mãe, finalmente resolvi tomar vergonha na cara e fazer meu exame de sangue semestral de controle (controle da mastocitose, e etc, etc, aquele monte de coisas que vocês já sabem). Pasmem minha gente, acordei às 6 horas da manhã!!! Após ter encarado a agulha, dei um pulo rápido na academia antes de almoço (às preocupadas com a minha saúde, não, não era exame de sangue que exigia jejum, então estava limpo). Depois do almoço liguei para a menina secreta que a Laly tanto quer saber quem é e marquei de encontrá-la depois do dentista de hoje à tarde. Pra dizer que as coisas não estão dando erradas desde o início da semana, bom, o dentista atrasou e acabou que eu não encontrei com ela porque já tinha dado a hora de ela ir para o curso de francês, que graças a Deus acaba amanhã. Mas tudo bem, sou um cara paciente, quando ela chegou hoje me ligou e a gente vai fazer uma trilha na 5a feira à tarde... e sim Larissa, está chegando o dia de você saber quem ela é.... e pela sanidade mental da Aninha, pare de pentelhá-la acerca disso... ela já está tendo problemas o bastante com aquele gringo....
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH
Eu não podia me esquecer de uma coisa, isso só de sacanagem, para que o Damasceno NUNCA mais censure a Santíssima Trindade do Rock 'n' Roll nesse blog.
OK, a história é a seguinte, há alguns dias atrás um editor de um site norte-americano de vendas de CDs/DVDs na Internet me pediu para escrever as minhas impressões acerca do show do Rush no Rio, pois ele estava montando uma espécie de "seção promocional" do DVD a ser lançado, tipo uma matéria de jornal pra divulgar o DVD e tal. No início ele me pediu para escrever "quotes", mas eu falei que isso era meio complicado, era mais fácil eu fazer uma espécie de "review" do dia e aí ele selecionava o que ele quisesse. Enfim, sentei e escrevi o que eu me lembrava daquele dia. Ah, me desculpem por estar em inglês... eu definitivamente NÃO vou traduzir um texto desse tamanho... Larissa, bom divertimento! E Damasceno... SSSHHH.... heheehehehehee
"Hi Brad,
Oh, now I got it!
OK, here's my description for that wonderful Saturday. Then you use what you think it's appropriate. Now I'll try to get back in time and "relive" that day again :)
I arrived back in Rio at about 11:30AM (the São Paulo show was the day before, on Friday), and went straight home to have lunch and a quick shower. Then I quickly went to Maracanã, which is actually very near my appartment. The show was supposed to start only on 9:30PM, but I happily got there somewhere between 2:00 or 3:00 PM. This time I had to be in the first row!
If my memory serves right there were already about 50 Rush maniacs in the line. There was a couple from São Paulo in front of me, who had lost the gig in São Paulo and was catching the Rio one, and I also met a person behind me that came from Juiz de Fora, a city in another state in Brazil. That afternoon was extremely hot, I remember that at some moments I was sweating like hell. Gee, I was probably stinking a lot too, but I was going to see the Rush for the third and last time, who cares in an hour like this :) ? Thank God some hours later some friends of mine arrived and joined the line, and I can't forget to mention that they brought some food and water too ;-).
The interesting thing is that, as the São Paulo show was the night before, they only started to get the stage done in that afternoon too. So everybody was almost sure the show would be late.
You couldn't help smiling when the gates opened, the first fans to get inside the stadium were shouting with joy, running and jumping with smiles on their faces. It seemed like everyone was finally reaching heaven!!!!! I couldn't help smiling too. Heck, I was not the only one who felt that way, I was exactly like them in the first show in Porto Alegre! Well I was also running this time, but I was shouting less because I "had been there" twice before ;-). Hum I was also running because I wanted to get the best possible place too, there were no marked "seats" in this show!!!
I'll never forget the fraction of second that I finally got INSIDE Maracanã, and looked at the stage and the "fence" (I don't know how you call that piece of metal in English). There was an empty space in the fence, and in the right side, just where our friend Geddy Lee would be! Then I really started running, jumping and shouting, I couldn't believe my eyes. I was going to see one of the people that I mostly admire, about 3 metres away from me! Man...I had spent endless nights with my bass trying to play like this guy... Even in my best dreams about seeing Rush live, it WASN'T anything near that!!!
The hours that I spent there, with the fence in my hands, seemed endless. I kept looking at the stage for a long, long time, and not believing I was actually so near it. It was also interesting because we had the opportunity to watch most of the stage being set, including Neil's whole drum kit. At 9:30PM, the time that the show was supposed to start, one of the producers went to the stage and announced that the new Rush DVD was going to be recorded in Rio.
The show started a little after 10:00PM, the lights went out and we heard the "3 Stooges Theme"... A lot of noise everywhere in the stadium. Anxiety, anxiety, anxiety... Then "Tom Sawyer" starts and everybody goes nuts, you could feel Maracanã shaking with it, and thousands of people singing the verses along with Geddy... You're gonna see it in the DVD, it will probably bring tears to the eyes of the most devoted Rush fan... If you looked around you could also see people crying, people thanking God, people on their knees praying to the skies... Well, it may be something ridiculous for the ones who are not fans of the band. But most of us were all waiting for this day for years, some for more than half of our lives (even though some were only 18 years old at that time and that wait was of "only" 10 years... Hehehehe).
They followed with the usual songs of the tour, many times surprising the old fans, "Distant Early Warning", "New World Man", "Roll The Bones", etc. After this last one Geddy thanks the crowd, gives a try on Portuguese (he was not that bad ;-) ) and announces a song from "Vapor Trails", "Earthshine". Then "YYZ" follows... The whole stadium goes completely nuts again... people were jumping, crying, shouting and actually SINGING ALONG with it!!!! It was something spectacular!!! I hope we can all listen to that on the DVD :)
Geddy announces the next song, "The Pass", as one of their favorites, which is followed by another instrumentally lighter tune, "Bravado". Then comes "The Big Money" and after that one Alex picks up an acoutic guitar and starts playing "The Trees"... I remember that a woman who was somewhere behind me said something like "Oooohhh I loooove that song, it's soooo beautiful..."... Hehehehehe... These are one of those little things that happen in concerts that stay forever with you :)
"Freewill" followed, lifting the stadium again. Then, our special treat, "Closer to the Heart"! Many people were crying on this one too, a lot of singing along and cigarette lighters everywhere... At moments like this, you could really FEEL there was something really special going on, a strong sensation coming from everyone in Maracanã. By looking at people's faces, I could once again realize that I was not the only one who had anxiously been waiting for this for years. In a weird way, Rush seems to give us that sensation of "isolation". I remember that when I first started getting into the band, I had this feeling of being the "only one". Just when I hit the Internet I realized that there were thousands and thousands of Rush freaks everywhere in the world, many of them more fanatic than me! This is somehow relieving too, maybe I'm not that strange after all :).
Anyways, they closed the first set with the wonderful "Natural Science".
We all had our break, band and crowd. After some time, we heard some cricket noise and watched a slow daybreak in the screen. Once the morning arrived dragons appeared in the screen and one of them lighted a cigar, dragged it and spelled fire in the direction of the audience. Real flames lighted up the stage, Neil started destroying both pedals of the drums and the heavy "One Little Victory" began. It was followed by "Driven". The stadium went crazy again in Geddy's bass solo.
Next came two more songs of the new album, "Ghost Rider" and "Secret Touch". I'm not 100% sure right now, but I think there were even fireworks in the stadium in "Secret Touch". They followed with "Dreamline", with the inclusion of a ressurection of the lasershows of the 80's. Then they played the "synthy" "Red Sector A".
After that we had one my favourite instrumentals, "Leave That Thing Alone", followed by the long awaited "The Rhythm Method". Everyone couldn't take the eyes off our Professor and the people who had never heard one of his solos before were simply astounded. Well, actually, everyone was :). I think that out of the 3 drum solos in Brazil this was the best one. When Neil finished, everyone in the seats and benches standed up and applauded, and the people on the field revered the Professor. One of the most touching moments of the concert.
Then Geddy and Alex came to the stage with two acoustic guitars and Geddy announces "something different". It was "Resist" in an unplugged format. When they finished, the 2112 synthesizers began, and the Red Star on the screen announces "2112". There were people screaming everywhere and Geddy and Alex were doing some goofy faces and positions in front of the screen, I remember Alex immitating the Starman position. The stadium was once again in ecstasy. Imagine 40.000 people singing along "Hey!" with the song! Geddy couldn't stop smiling all the time, you could tell how happy he was and how he probably couldn't believe in what he was seeing there.
Another classic comes next, "Limelight", followed by "La Villa Strangiato". As in the previous shows, Alex also stepped up to the microphone to make his "special rant" of the evening. The rant in Rio was a kind of "enhanced" version of the São Paulo one, firstly he grunted something in the microphone and then introduced the band members, Neil as "Milton Banana" (Milton Banana is an old brazilian drummer who Neil admires) and Geddy as "The Man From Ipanema", who immediately played a part of "The Girl From Ipanema" on bass.
"The Spirit Of Radio" followed and one more time the whole stadium claps along with song. It was kind of magical, simply beautiful! You had to see how happy Geddy was!!! Sometimes I think Rush did not know they had so many fans here in Brazil, I don't think they were expecting such an enthusiastic reception.
Finally, they played the "By-Tor & The Snow Dog / Cygnus X-1 / Working Man" encore. The crowd went nuts, jumping and singing along with the rhythm. At some moment in "Cygnus X-1", Geddy went to the front part of stage and started jamming along with the crowd. He was so happy with it that he got distracted and forgot to go to the back again and step in the pedals that would hit the "stellar effects" of that part of the song... when he realized it, he did an "OOOPPSSS" face and quickly run off to the back to step on them! Hehehehehe. I love those three songs, especially Cygnus X-1, and I was happy and sad at the same time, because I knew the concert was near the end. When it finished, I couldn't avoid staring at the stage for some more minutes, watching the crew getting it undone. I had one of the most unforgettable weeks of my life, crossing the country after the band. Above all, it was a very personal experience that I don't think anybody besides me will ever understand, even other Rush fans, specially because each fan has his own type of passion for the band. It's not a matter of being more or less fan, it's a matter of being different, simple as that. It's hard to explain. Anyways, suddenly, at that moment, I realized that the week was unfortunately over.
That one was a magical night, and I think even the Gods of Rock 'n' Roll knew that. Immediately after the concert, it started to rain very heavily in Rio. Even the rain waited for the end of the show ;-).
I hope that helps. This ended up getting a lot longer than I expected, but it was extremely healthy for me to sit down and write all those things, I had some sweet memories getting back to my mind. Thank God you asked me to write something only about that Saturday, and not the whole week! LOL
Best brazilian wishes,
Marcelo Bahia
----- Original Message -----
From: Parmerter, Brad
To: Marcelo Bahia
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2003 9:24 AM
Subject: RE: Rio show
Good morning Marcelo!
Yes, I agree with your comments – I think I mis-worded my description to you. I would love a review and by all means, intense feelings are welcomed! Rush fans are passionate and I can tell that your attendance at all three shows means you hold passion for the boys. A full review would be wonderful!
What I was getting at was that although I’d love to I may not be able to print the full review but would take quotes from your review. As I wasn’t there I can only add info from the shows I saw but to have a number of direct observations and feelings from fans who were there would be great. For example I could be talking about the number of fans in attendance and the dedication of the fans in Brazil and then lead into: Marcelo, a long time fan of the bands music traveled across the country to attend all three Brazil shows and after 10 long years of waiting to see the band live said “My Geddy’s thinner than on the old videos…” LOL – obviously your quote it fake in this example but that’s the kind of thing I’d be doing.
If I have the room to do full reviews I will definitely do that, but if I don’t then I will be taking excerpts like above.
Thanks so much for your interest and help on this project Marcelo!
Brad"
ESSE POST GIGANTE É PRA COMPENSAR MINHA AUSÊNCIA DO BLOG NOS ÚLTIMOS DIAS!!!