The first week of the Obama administration has been our chance to really discover South America as we made our way from the celebratory spirit of Santiago, traversed through a nice stay in Porto Alegre, a short one in Rio de Janeiro, with rocking, boisterous shows in both cities, alighting here in Sao Paulo for a four day residency– on this tour, four days in one place is a long time! We are all enjoying our stay in the capital of Modern Design, seeing friends, exploring some of this massive place–and last night was the first of two shows at one of our favorite venues anywhere–the Via Funchal. It has the intimacy of a Greek or a Fox, but with sort of a square low-rise room, that is set up for all standing, which means every person in the house has a great view of the stage. And Brett Eliason always does an amazing job with the audio mix, whatever the challenges of the night. Last night’s set included a sparking “She Just Wants to Be,” “Rockville” for the first time in awhile, and a cool change of pace early in the set with “Fall on Me,” some people’s favorite song ever. And “Let Me In,” as always, was an emotional center of the set. The crowd was tremendous even by South American standards, which are quite high, and they sang so loudly at times it was hard to hear the instruments– not a problem!
From here we get to go to Lima for the band’s first visit to Peru, then same story in Caracas, setting up the final night of the tour at the exceptional Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City a week from tonight–it’s hard to believe Vancouver and the Gorge were not even six months ago. The year has definitely flown by, and we have had fun most every minute of it.
Thanks to our new internet-savvy colleague in Peru, the indefatigable Oscar, we have many links to share from the recent shows, all in Spanish or Portuguese. . . .so have at it if you want to follow along from the reviewers perspectives:
(UPDATE) Globo.com
(UPDATE) Estadio.com
(UPDATE) Slide Show 2
Living Well Is The Best Revenge
Ends of tours always seem to produce memorable shows, so as we head into the last few of this year, I expect a few special nights ahead. . . then homeward bound.
Happy transition everybody,
Bertis
p.s. sorry, some politics for a minute–one funny, one serious…