The first bars of Just Like Heaven sounded and, like a spring, the 50,000 people gathered to see The Cure hummed the tune in chorus while Robert Smith outlined a shy smile that he repeated three times with his eyes on the sea of arms at the side. air. It was the last concert of Primavera Sound São Paulo, and everyone seemed happy to be there after two days of lots of music and little rush that brought together 115,00 people.
Satisfaction is the word most repeated by the organization when evaluating this second edition of the Barcelona-based festival, which has fit like a glove in the Interlagos circuit, an ideal space for its breadth and accessibility, with the necessary infrastructure to grow. in coming years both in public and at conferences, an idea alive in the minds of the organizers. This was certified by the co-director of the festival and its Barcelona arm, Alfonso Lanza, when highlighting this Sunday the success of the Primavera Sound brand in Latin America with the consolidation of Buenos Aires and São Paulo as new spring stops. Two cities that function as strongholds to continue growing, either with the recovery of the festival in Santiago de Chile or with the celebration of concerts in other capitals that also serve as a hook to drag the big bands to the South American continent.
To achieve this, they have in the city of São Paulo an audience eager for this type of festival, a population around 30 years old as well as the LGBTI community, and they are right there, as certified by the presence of 65% of the local public, while 35% The rest comes from the rest of Brazil.
Local audience with an appetite for global music, as they demonstrated on Sunday, where The Cure emerged as the great – although not the only – protagonists. After 10 years without setting foot on the South American continent, the expectation was great to see Robert Smith and company, as demonstrated by the numerous band t-shirts that were seen from early in the afternoon. While waiting for the English to fulfill their promise and present a new album, they include in their concerts songs from the new crop such as Alone, with which they open the concerts of the current tour, where they also play And nothing is forever and Endsong.
This is what happened last night, when Smith wore a t-shirt showing lips painted with the Brazilian flag, a nod to an audience that enjoyed a two and a half hour concert where many of the band's classics were played along with songs intended for the staunchest fans. Along with the festive High, Push or In Between days, long instrumental sequences unusual in this type of festival could be heard, such as Pictures of you, Plainsong or Disintegration, a combination that discouraged a (small) part of the audience, leaving for the rest the reward of a last burst of hits, among others Lullaby, Friday I'm in love and Boys don't cry, with which they said goodbye after Smith received a prolonged ovation.
As happened on Saturday, people took it easy arriving at the venue, illuminated by a sun that was still stinging when Carly Rae Jepsen appeared after 3 in the afternoon. It was the first visit to Brazil for the American composer, who offered an energetic concert with all the sounds of her repertoire, from the vibrant pop of Lets sort the whole thing out to the funky disco of Shy boy, without forgetting Call me maybe, the hit that catapulted her back in 2012, and that the audience remembered well, as she demonstrated by singing almost all the songs while the Canadian artist, with blonde hair and cowboy boots, danced between explosions of confetti.
At the same time He Killed a Motorized Policeman was riding on the slow rock guitars that they have been playing for two decades, an appropriate warm-up for Beck, who returned to Brazil 11 years later to review all the mutations of his long career. With psychedelic images happening on the screens, the Californian musician traveled from the rock of Dreams to the funky choruses of Up All Night with a stop at the folk of Lost Cause, all dressed in seventies clothing very appropriate in songs like Gamma Ray. Of course there was no shortage of hits like Everybody has got to learn something, Where it's at or Loser, which began with a slide solo sitting on stage.
After Beck's show concluded, many stayed on the big stage to be as close to Robert Smith as possible. The rest was divided between the dreamlike music of Tokimonsta and the classic punk of Bad Religion. Gregg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz and company offered a seamless performance to make the thousands of punk and hard rock fans who were present at Interlagos this Sunday jump.
On the other side of the venue, the North American DJ was in charge of bringing together club music lovers for a session that had its climax with The Blessed Madonna, who already demonstrated at the last Sónar the ease with which she makes thousands of people dance. people. The same one that Róisín Murphy has, who hours before appeared with a boater hat and a plump blue suit with red ruffles opening the concert with Can't replicate. He soon undressed to stay in a black jumpsuit, the first of his multiple metamorphoses in a concert that brought together the large LGBT audience to dance with CooCool, Ramalama and of course Sing it back.
The Brazilian dose was provided by the sensual Marina Sein, from São Paulo by adoption, who performed accompanied by a corps de ballet and a classical band (on one side of the stage) with a pop musicality that ranges from trap to reggae with sambero rhythms. Local rhythms that certified in the best possible way a union between Primavera Sound and São Paulo that points to a broad and long-lasting future.
