The Magic Numbers - Rio 07.

For a long time Brazilian fans waited for The Magic Numbers to play live here. The English band composed by two couples of brother and sister played in Rio on the first day of the Indie Rock Festival, going on with the tour of their second album, Those The Brokes. “Cute and funny” are perfect terms to describe the band members: Romeo, Michele, Sean and Angela. Being extremely nice to everyone through where they’ve passed, the band played two concerts in Rio: the first one was a pocket show at Fnac (Brazilian CD Store) on Tuesday July 24^th, and the second was at Circo Voador (venue) as part of the Indie Rock Festival. The pocket show barely had a proper publicity work and when we got there we understood why: there were a few seats in front of a small stage, everything was indeed really pocket. It felt like the performance could have happened at the living-room of your house, quite cozy and intimate. Consequently, the audience had to remain aguishly sitting during the impressive show. Everybody got amazed not only by the vocal quality of Michele and Angela, but also by the interaction between all of them. They played only three songs – “Take A Chance”, “Love Me Like You” and “Love Is A Game” – what made everybody wait anxiously for the “full version” about to happen the day next. In an interview for this blog, Michele talks a bit about the album and their preferences concerning the audience and the concert format:

Michele - Pic By Thais Gallart

Tracks On Stereo: A bit different from other bands, you haven't stopped since the debut album and, according to the press, Those The Brokes has been written mostly on the road. What are the advantages of not breaking the flow as you did?

Michele: “Well to be quite honest, we never needed to stop. Apart from feeling the burn of the road and all it's traveling (that you feel sometimes) we were at our strongest, we had been playing the best ever and were unstoppable, in many ways possible. Romeo had been writing lots of new songs and each of them more and more challenging to play, we were so eager to get them recorded and live the dream again in the studio making a new classic album. There was no need to take months off to try and write, like "other bands" do, we just wanted to continue at the level we were working at, which worked out as a huge advantage to our performances on the record, and to the production also, to get everything sounding the way we heard it.”

Tracks On Stereo: Romeo once declared that Those The Brokes is a "hugely personal" album. Could we assume that everything told in the lyrics is true and that you have really lived all that?

Michele: “Yes. We have always stated that this band is about honest soulful music, and if not in our personalities alone, (the four of us on stage, interviews etc...) but in the music and lyrics also. I sometimes don't know how he does it, (Romeo) wearing his heart on his sleeve for the world to see. It deals with a lot of things we all go through from time to time. So yeah Those The Brokes is personal, and so has everything else we've ever written and said out there.”

Tracks On Stereo: You are used to playing for both small and huge audiences. Which do you think best fits the sort of sound you make? Do you have any preference concerning that?

Michele: “We just love playing live, it's the best part of the day...I've tried many times to put into words that feeling up on stage, that buzz and Adrenalin you get, seeing people singing your songs, from all over the world. So anywhere, be it at a festival or in a small club, we have a great time. If I had to be spoilt in choosing a personal favourite at times, would be when we get to headline. Doing our own shows enables us to show all sides to the band dynamically, and intimately. We like when we can get a crowd to go screaming mad and also so quiet you can hear a pick drop. (heehee!!)”

Angela . Romeo . Michele - Pic By Thais Gallart

Right after the pocket show, there was a signing session and the band could talk to the fans. While we talked, they’ve said they were anxious about the concert at Indie Rock Festival and didn’t know what to expect. On July 25^th, after Lucas Santtana & Seleção Natural and Hurtmold’s, they went on stage making one of the shows that would mark the year definitely. They’ve interacted with the audience all the time. The happiness that came from Romeo and Michele’s smiles as they heard everybody sing their songs was contagious.

The Magic Numbers - Pic By Thais Gallart

The concert had a new song and also some covers, among them the funny “Crazy In Love”, by Beyoncé, showing a sarcastic side of the band. Romeo’s nice sister, Michele, was quite enthusiastic about Beyoncé’s cover and swung just like the hip hop girls type cheering all the audience and asking everybody to do the same. A moment that all Brazilian fans certainly won’t forget was when Romeo promised to come back, he even said when: February. During the pocket show at Fnac, one of the producers of the Festival told a fan about the possibility of a new edition of the Festival in February. Would that be true? Well, at least by now we will have to remain with that doubt in mind.

Angela - Pic By Thais Gallart

Cheers.

Indie Rock Festival

After excessively writing about the European summer fests, we have finally got a Brazilian festival to talk about. The Indie Rock Festival happened on July 25^th and 26^th in Rio, and on July 26^th and 27^th in Sao Paolo. Besides the headlines –The Magic Numbers and The Rakes – the festival also had some wide acclaimed national bands. The first day had Lucas Santtana & Seleção Natural and Hurtmold (both Brazilian) opening for The Magic Numbers. For who have already seen fans queuing all day before the concert in times of Franz Ferdinand in Brazil, Circo Voador (the venue) was even quite empty. Lucas Santtana & Seleção Natural got on stage with a third of the people that would watch The Magic Numbers later that day. The concert was exactly what is expected from an almost alternative-MPB band: calm, simple and quite satisfying for the few fans that were present. Hurtmold concert, which happened right after, really cheered the part of the audience who already knew them and has been appreciating their work from other times, but also annoyed the other part that could no longer stand experimental and instrumental music and were eager to see The Magic Numbers on stage.
Due to Mombojó flautist’s death, there was a change in the line up of Thursday 26^th. The almost-Strokes-cover-band was substituted for Nação Zumbi that ended up opening the second day of festival in Rio. Sometimes it’s quite difficult to understand why Brazilian festival producers love to have national “politically correct” bands opening to the main attractions. Maybe the organization of the Indie Rock Festival is forgiven this time because the substitution was extremely sudden, but even so more attention should be paid to the relation between the headlines and the opening bands; if they don’t match people will certainly get bored. When Nação Zumbi concert was over, Móveis Coloniais de Acajú went on stage, surprising all the audience with their brilliant performance. It has already been said in this blog that the main problem in Brazilian bands is that they try to make perfect copies of the international acclaimed groups and that a new element is always lacking. Well, it could be said with no hesitation that Móveis Coloniais de Acajú does have this new element that generally lacks in other bands.

Móveis Coloniais de Acajú - Pic By Thais Gallart

The concert impressed a lot not only for the technical quality of the band but also for their creativity and irreverence. Their performance is a bit theatrical, with the musicians’ disorderly running from side to side on stage making the entire thing seem a carnival party. By the end of the show everybody got surprised when André Gonzáles (vocal) got off the stage and asked the audience to form a circle. While some musicians were playing in the centre of the circle, André asked the audience to follow his movements. That was a good warm up for the Rakes’ concert that was about to come.The line up in Sao Paolo was a bit different. It didn’t have Lucas Santtana & Seleção Natural, Moptop (almost-Strokes-cover band) played instead. Maybe the festival was a bit harmed in Rio due to the fact that it happened on week days, but even so the general opinion is that it was quite successful.

Track 1 (The Strokes - You Live Only Once)