At the premiere of its tenth edition, Best of Blues and Rock mixed themes and included new and classic artists. In the end, nostalgia won
A typical event on the São Paulo concert calendar, the Best of Blues and Rock began the celebration of its tenth edition this Friday (2). The public on the first day of the festival, which began to occupy the back lawn of the Ibirapuera Auditorium in the middle of the afternoon, would have an eclectic cast ahead of them, to say the least: the Brazilian’s roots blues Nanda Mourathe female quartet’s heavy rock Evilthe hard rock of the 90’s extreme and the caustic, politicized guitar of Tom Morello.
Nanda Moura prevailed with her old-fashioned blues
the guitarist Nanda Moura took the stage shortly before 4 pm, well accompanied by Otávio Rocha (guitar), Cesar Lago (down) and Gil Eduardo (drums) – the three have a history together: they are all or were part of Blues Etilicos, one of the most revered names of the genre in Brazil. “I’m going to show a little of my blues”, she said, giving hints of the presentation of just over 40 minutes that marked the opening of the festival and offered the audience that still arrived an interesting sample of the blues of the 1920s and 30s.
Dressed in a black suit and hat, Nanda he played and sang with personality, drawing attention to his powerful timbre and privileged vocal range. She also exhibited one of her trademarks: the performance on a three-string cigar box guitar, an instrument that imitates an old cigarette box. It is also worth highlighting her interpretation of the classic “Let The Good Times Roll”a highlight of the only day one show to take the “blues” in the festival’s name seriously.
Malvada impresses with weight and tributes
Entering the sequence, the Malvada quartet played with the audience partially won and in the best possible scenario: the sunset that painted the stage in front of the Ibirapuera Auditorium with beautiful lights. Despite the star-studded line-up of headliners, it was not uncommon to see people wearing T-shirts from the female band formed in early 2020.
angel sberse (voice), Bruna Tsuruda (guitar), Marina Langer (down) and Juliana Salgado (drums) played their metallic-toned rock with visible confidence, even more so when they realized that part of the front rows were there just to see them. Fans responded well to tracks like “One More Go”from disk the night will boil(2021), in addition to the recent single “Perfect Imperfect”.
To conquer the portion of the public that did not know the Evilthe tributes came in handy – first, to Rita Lee. “I know it’s cool to pay tribute after he dies… But Rita is a woman who represents women”, explained vocalist Angel, before the cover of “That Roque Enrow” (from the album forbidden fruitfrom 1975).
The other honor went to Janis Joplinwhich gained a heavy interpretation of “Summertime” with the inspired performance of angel earning cheers from the crowd. Technical issues caused the show to be interrupted for five minutes, but the girls made it easy, interacting with the audience while the problem was resolved.
Extreme recalls hits and makes festival sing with eyes closed
With 15 minutes of delay, the guitar of Nuno Bettencourt echoed stridently to mark the arrival of the extremein the band’s first performance in Brazil since 2015. With its classic line-up almost intact – which also includes Gary Cherone on vocals and Pat Badger on bass (drummer Kevin Figueiredo has been in the band since 2007) –, the veteran quartet faced a receptive and lively audience, opening with “Decadence Dance”initial range of Pornographyalbum that took the extreme to the top of the charts in the early 1990s.
With evident technical competence and favored by the good acoustics of the place, the band formed in Boston risked new songs like “Rise”, “#Rebel” It is “Banshee”all from the album Six, which will be released next week. Audience reception was lukewarm, but it warmed up with the best-known tracks from albums released between 1989 and 1995, such as “Rest in Peace”in III Sides to Every Story (1992).
With an energetic performance, cherone (who sang in front of the Joe Perry in the last Best of Blues and Rock) surprised with an intact voice and good technique, but there was no doubt: the center of attention was Bettencourtan old-fashioned guitar hero that’s still going strong – he recently appeared on the halftime show of super bowlplaying with Rihanna.
With his unmistakable rasping timbre, the Portuguese born in the Azores displayed his virtuous technique whenever possible, whether in his solo number, “Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee”whether honoring idols such asJimi Hendrix It is jimmy page (before hit “Hole Hearted”he even played with the fingering of “Stairway to Heaven”).
“Over the years, this song has become a duet between me and Nuno and you”, said cherone, anticipating the most awaited moment of the set. “I know you know the words”, he invited before the first chord of “More Than Words”an omnipresent hit in 1991. Amid hundreds of lit cell phone screens, many people closed their eyes to sing the lyrics, practically imprinted in the DNA of anyone who was a teenager at that time.
At the end, the presence of an unexpected guest: the Brazilian guitarist Matthew Asato (known for accompanying stars like Bruno Mars It is jessie J) had his moment of brilliance, playing side by side with Nuno the solo of “Get the Funk Out”.
With politicized riffs, Tom Morello revisits his career and calls for unity
Tom Morello made up for Extreme’s delay and took the stage almost by surprise, at 8:35 pm, with “One Man Revolution”from his solo project The Nightwatchman. Accompanied by Freedom Fighter Orchestrathe trio that accompanies him on tours, Morelloalways with the guitar in hand, did a bit of everything: he sang, made hypnotic solos using all parts of the instrument (including the end of the guitar cable in the palm of his hand), told stories and made speeches full of good intentions.
For almost an hour and a half, he walked through his decades-long career, contemplating each of the projects he was involved in, especially the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave It is Prophets of Rage. Appropriately dressed as “Tom Morello” (cap, red scarf and his iconic blue Mongrel with the phrase “Arm The Homeless”), the 59-year-old guitarist seemed equipped for his usual politicized show.
But unlike the appearance he made in best of blues of 2018, Morello this time he didn’t name names or point fingers, preferring instead to utter slogans drenched in Boas vibracoes (“fascism sucks!”, “we’re in this together”, “let’s play for love and rock and roll”).
“Ready to get the party started?” The rhetorical question was the green light for a medley of riffs from Rage Against the Machineas “Bulls on Parade”, “Guerrilla Radio” It is “Sleep Now in the Fire”. The band that made it Morello famous in the early 1990s, he returned to the repertoire twice more: in another medley, with excerpts from “Testify” It is “Freedom”; and in the classic “Killing in the Name”, in full and in instrumental version. So embedded in the popular imagination, the protest banner was exclaimed verse by verse by the audience, giving the moment the air of a gigantic karaoke of unrestrained energy.
“I made 21 albums in my life. And here I’m going to play music from 17 of them”, he listed, when presenting a song from his teenage band, Electric Sheepas a tribute to a deceased friend. Rage Against the Machine and the Audioslave.
a show of Tom Morello it is a “best of” that is far from boredom, since variety is also one of the (many) watchwords. In this case, that included songs from his recent solo album. The Atlas Underground Firea faithful cover of Jimi Hendrix (“Voodoo Child”) and even a version by the Italian group Måneskin, “Gossip”in which Morello made a recent appearance. Even with such a large musical assortment, each track prints the typical and very tasty sound marks of one of the most iconic guitarists of his generation.
The homage to the short phase with the Audioslave came in “Like a Stone”sung by guitarist Carl Restivowith the right to an imposing image of Chris Cornell to the bottom. The late vocalist earned another bow for the powerful voice of Gary Cheroneof extremewhich was called together with Nuno Bettencourt for a celebrated version of “Cochise”which spurred lively pogo circles in the crowd.
The stage filled up once more for the finale (besides the extremealso emerged steve vaiwhich will be performed this Saturday at the festival), with a lively interpretation of “Power to the People”political anthem written by John Lennon in 1971. Imposing conductor of the masses, Morello demanded that the entire audience crouch down for a moment and jump at the appropriate time, yielding a curious image to say the least and ending the first night of the festival in high spirits, punctually at 10 pm.
O Best of Blues and Rock 2023 continues this Saturday (3) with concerts by Dead Fish, Artur Menezes, The Nu Blu Band, steve vai It is buddy guy. On Sunday (4), there will be Day Limns, Will!, Goo Goo Dolls and again, buddy guy It is Tom Morello.
*With reporting by Dimitrius Vlahos
Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
