Tim Festival

The São Paulo edition of the 2007 TIM Festival was a pretty interesting experience. And that is because I was there and jotted everything down just so I could share it with you right here. I went to the festival just for one day, which was October 28th. Well, Sunday’s set list was made up of an interesting combination: Iceland’s Björk, Hollywood’s Juliette Lewis together with The Licks, UK’s Arctic Monkeys and Sam’s Town, The Killers. Björk, just as expected, was the real deal of the night. Wearing a colorful and wide dress, she “awed” the public with hits such as Independence and Hunter. Not only that, I do have to acknowledge her high-pitched voice, the magic she spreads over the crowd and how she charms every single person. I got to admit that I’m not a real fan, mainly because I know so little of her work, but I was truly amazed by her concert. Amazed to the point of having a hard time keeping my eyes off stage or drifting off my attention. Live performance and high-tech equipment are a couple of reasons why the world loves Björk. Well, taking it down a notch, those are a couple of reasons why the world has to admire Bjork. I could add more elements to that list, such as her incredible up-beat attitude, her undivided attention towards the audience, her unique dance moves across the stage, and the undeniably adorable way she thanks her fans in Portuguese: something similar to “obrigatô”. Ladies and gentlemen, hats off to Björk.

Moving forward across the set list, let’s welcome Juliette & The Licks. Under a storm of applauses, they entered stage about an hour after Björk. Wearing tight red-leather pants and a black see-through blouse, Juliette rocked the audience. She danced, spun around, threw herself on the ground, managed a couple of somersaults, audaciously moved across stage and entertained the fans, who had red feathers on their heads, just as the lead singer. To be honest, I didn’t appreciate her music all that much. In fact, not at all. I have to agree with the on-going comment that I heard several times that night: she should’ve settled for Hollywood. Even though, as a musician, she has a wide circle of admirers, her talent is limited to acting. But her charisma and sympathy gave her away. The public enjoyed her apparent satisfaction of being in Brazil, which she declared love for.

For the next act, I’ll try to be subtle. One of the most expected bands of the night was, without a doubt, the Arctic Monkeys. I must admit I was pretty anxious before they went on stage. The disappointment, however, hit me from the very first minute of performance. It struck me so bad that I really feel like tearing and breaking down every ounce of decent reputation they acquired. First of all, the fame went to their heads. A bunch of arrogant English kids, who strongly believe they’ve got it all. Please forgive me if I’m offending you in any way (who knows, you might love them), but it really got to me. And you know what? I felt sorry for the fans who drooled over that bloody-sand box-group. It goes beyond the fact that all their songs sound exactly the same: it goes into political matters. It goes into social and cultural matters. I want to point out, and I wish I could do that to their faces, the audacity and disrespect of those boys. And the worst thing is that they only did what they did because they see this country as third world, and entitle its population as ignorant. You know I question and defy this country, but I can, because I live here. I can expect and, to say the least, demand change and improvement. I can criticize, if that will help Brazil grow and become a little better. Now, I do not allow, I do not accept that a bunch of spoiled and arrogant English babies come to my country and offend my people in a language that most of them cannot understand. I cannot like and enjoy somebody who comes to my country and affronts its ways and population. The Arctic Monkeys insulted everyone who was at the Festival in English so that nobody would understand. I wish I didn’t have to repeat what they said, but if I don’t, you might believe I’m judging them simply for their music. The lead singer, whose name I really don’t care, said a loud and clear “F*** you”, as the crowd cheered, probably (and hopefully) having no idea what was being said. Whenever he’d say “Brazil” or “São Paulo” (practically the only two words 97% of the people there could understand) the crowd got of their feet and screamed as loud as they could, praising and worshipping a band who just told them to f*** themselves. And if that hadn’t been enough, the vocalist said in these exact words: “I wish I could play all night, but I can’t – now I’m just being a liar”. Now tell me, who is most wrong? Somebody who comes to our country and insults its people or the actual people who would die just so that one of those pricks would look at them? I don’t know. All I do know is that the Arctic Monkeys lost all the prestige and respect I had for them. But why would they care? For all they know, I’m just another lame and stupid person who’s in love with them. Oh, and for the grand exit: after their last song, they simply looked at each other and left – under another storm of blind applauses.

About an hour later, the stage looked pretty different: lots of flowers and Christmassy lights decorated it with a huge sign on the back that read “Sam’s Town” – The Killers’ latest album title. The crowd was pretty tired and booed the long wait. The Killers came on stage at 4 AM (when they were actually scheduled for 1 AM), and made the entire wait worthwhile. Brandon Flowers’s band was pretty faithful to the crowd’s expectations and really made the place shake up. Hits like “Read My Mind” and “Bones”, drove everybody insane – and when I say everybody, I do mean it cause why else would they wait up to 4 AM? Around 4:30, some people began to leave but came right back when they heard the first chords of “Mr. Brightside”. If bringing satisfaction and real emotion to the crowd was their goal, they achieved it. They played with passion, sang with grace and strength, and enchanted their fans. They didn’t feel the need to be arrogant or to be rude. The three-hour wait was forgotten - completely. They talked to the audience, they exchanged energy and magic. And for the first time that night, I got off my feet.