Armazem Liquid Show!

On July 19, 2008, I performed at a venue in Tres de maio, Brasil called Armazem Liquid. A bunch of local musicians formed a band to learn my music and play with me. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical, but turns out that everything exceeded my expectations.

We rehearsed every night for a week. The band was prepared and ready to work to improve on the music. Only one guy in the band spoke a little bit of English, so communication was not the best, but somehow we managed with his small English vocabulary and my small Portuguese vocabulary!

As far as the band is concerned, they really are young and fabulous musicians! A little guy called Jura played drums. He is so humble and kind, you would think that he would be scared to hit a drum. On the contrary, he ROCKS! I have never heard a drummer do some of the things that Jura was able to do with ease! The bass player, Samir, started off very quiet and simple, but by the end of the week, I truly believed I was on stage with Jaco Pastorius! Elisandro played keyboards and he never lost focus. I have never seen anyone concentrate so hard on making it perfect! The guitar player, Felipe, and probably the youngest member of the band is not only a great talent, he is a character. He kept me laughing and kept me on my toes the entire week. I was impressed with the way they all worked hard and worked with happiness.

Our set list included a lot of country music and some classic rock most of which the Brazilian audience was familiar with. Throughout the week, I did interviews and radio spots to promote the performance. The local radio stations had been playing my music throughout the past month to make sure the local audience was familiar with my voice.

On the night of the show, there were four local journalists there to cover the performance. Many of them were backstage taking photos with me and getting autographs! It was pretty cool!

I was very impressed with the band before the show as they all congratulated each other on all the work, and wish each other good luck before going on stage. With hugs and high fives from the band, I felt like I was a part of a team!

As I waited until my announcement, a couple of audience members spotted me and wanted photos with me very quickly! I could not believe their excitement over getting a photo with me! I could really tell that all the promotion had worked!

When I went on stage, the fans in the audience overwhelmed me. They were shouting my name and screaming for me! It was incredible! I was told that there were roughly 700 people there. I felt it when I started my first song…and the excitement was the biggest high I have ever had on stage!

The show of an hour and fifteen minutes went by way too fast! I was impressed by the way the audience sang and danced throughout the evening. They knew many of the words and sang a long to the choruses. There were a couple of magical moments on stage that could have never been planned!

After the encore, I picked up my guitar to exit the stage. I glanced over to the steps where I needed to be and saw security guards forming a human chain to hold back the fans. Wow! That was pretty incredible! I do not believe I could ever find the words to describe the feelings of that evening. To play to a foreign audience and feel such warmth and appreciation from them was truly one heck of an experience! All I know is that I am looking forward to playing again at Armazem Liquid in Tres de maio!