Sao Paulo Part 3 - The Eminem Show

It's 4 hours before the show. The entire crew is stuck in traffic (imagine that) on our way to the show. One hour and 15 minutes to get from the hotel to the venue, 4 miles away. Derek, the video engineer sitting next to me exclaims, "Oh! Lightning!" Dusk is upon us and we can see storm clouds brewing ahead. Soon after, the rain comes, we're stuck in traffic listening to the rain pound the van like fists. This can't be good.

As we drive by the venue (you have to go past to cross a bridge and cut back) we notice that the main stage where Eminem is to be playing is dark. This can't be good.

We get to the venue at 7PM, the start time for the opening band. We walked through the dressing room area to the stage to discover darkness with 100 flashlights running back and forth. No opening act on stage. This can't be good.

I figure the best thing to do is stay off stage and sit in the lounge area. Eventually, the lighting designer for the festival came by and told me what happened.

The part of the storm we didn't experience while sitting in traffic was the wind. Caio, the lighting designer, was telling me that the wind was so strong, the lighting trusses were blowing around, and the video screen on stage was practically horizontal. The rigging roof was creaking and twisting under the weight and he was sure it was going to fall. Thankfully it didn't.

There was a small explosion and sparks came from the video screen on the left side of the stage, so they were pretty sure that wasn't working. The rain had come in sideways and soaked our center video screen, so that wasn't going to work for sure. Lights sparked, breakers broke, no one knew what would come back when powered up.

There was an hour and a half delay while they sorted and tested to see what was working. We got sound back, we got the side screens back, and we got all but the floor lights back. The first band went on, with a little static in the mikes but all went fine. They cut their set by 1/2 an hour as did the next band, all the while the skies remained quiet.

Eminem's band came on stage, and got into position. The tested their instruments, checked their headsets and were ready to go. Eminem got into position under the stage and got on the elevator that took him to the stage in glorious fashion. All departments checked in ready to go. And then, the sky opened up again, and the rain came down. And when I say rain, I mean, cats and dogs and mice, and cows. No joke, at one point there rain looked like golf balls hitting the stage. It didn't stop until... The end of the show. Like clockwork, as soon as Eminem sang the last notes of his encore (Lose Yourself) the rain stopped.

The video screens worked, the microphones had some crackle and static every now and again. Eminem and all the band got soaked to the skin. The worst victims were the band members who's instruments and gear got soaked. A keyboard was flooded, the backup singer couldn't hear in her headsets, and the bass and guitar players lost their amps.

The lighting rig went down in parts. First I lost the front truss, then parts of the mid truss started doing their own thing. Nothing like having a blue look up and then have 4 lights go white and ballyhoo. By the end, I had 1/2 a rig and 3 out of 4 follow-spots.

But none of that mattered, 50,000 fans stuck around and sang every word to every song. Which sort of amazed me, since they all speak Portuguese as their first language. I can't even rap in English, which is my first language. Have a look and listen:



Not the greatest quality video, but you can hear everyone sing along. Pretty cool. You also get a great idea of the rain that was coming down. That particular song, "Way I am" happens pretty early in the set. Hence, I still had most of my lights.

Here's a better quality video:



Also a song early in the set. But at least that guy wasn't being bumped around, and could focus his camera.

A little side note to the show, The LD before me for N.E.R.D., I don't think quite has the hang of loading his show onto the console because he did something (I won't go into detail here) that basically knocked my user profile out of the console. I had the show, and I had all the cues, but I had no "personal touches" to the console. Anyway, I had to load the show back in from my USB thumb drive, which I forgot at the end of the show, and left in the console. I hadn't realized it missing until I the next afternoon when I started to pack for home. I frantically tried to get a hold of someone who would have seen it, the crew chief or the promoter, but no one was available or answering emails. I guess no one works on the weekend in Sao Paulo.

So I came back to L.A. without any hope of ever getting it back. The real bummer was that I had a number of other shows on there that I hadn't backup up to my computer. The one show I think I was going to miss the most was the file I had for "Million Dollar Mind Game". Only because if that one ever came back, I'd need the file.

Then, a miracle. 10 days after I returned from Brazil, a package shows up at my door with a lot of Portuguese writing on it. It was my USB thumb drive! They found it, got my address from one of the numerous emails I sent to the promoter and crew chief and sent it back!

I wish I could say the same for local companies. I forgot a USB stick in a console for a show here in L.A. and no body at the shop could find it. I think somebody found it and thought, "Cool, a USB hard drive, I've always wanted one." But the joke was on them, it was only 256Mb.

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Sao Paulo Part 2.

I'm already back in L.A., and back to work today. I'm at Jimmy Kimmel, working on the main stage show. Which usually affords me some spare time. That means I can finish my Sao Paulo blog. At least, post the rest of the pictures.

One more shot from the hotel...Here's the view from the window by the elevator. You can see in the foreground the very nice outdoor pool for the hotel. Just over the wall is the main drag into the heart of the city. Beyond that is a river. I think it's called the Tiete river. It stinks. Whenever I stepped out of my hotel room (even standing in the hall while I took this picture) I could smell the river. Words fail me at the moment to describe the smell. It's almost easier to just refer you to this show called "Vanguard" that did a documentary called the "World Toilet Crisis". You could almost smell that show. This river is black, and runs through the city. It even ran by the venue we played at. I think I know what was causing my headaches. I suppose if you live there, you probably get used to the methane stench, but I did find this article talking about an attempted clean up.


The second day we were in Sao Paulo, a few of us went over to the venue to see how the load in was progressing. The nice lady who sat in the lobby of our hotel (mentioned in this blog) arranged a van for us, and off we went. Above is a picture of the load in I took. They were starting to hang the video wall (the black grid in the middle of the picture) and were moving around some of my lighting trusses. As we were leaving the venue, we met up with the woman who was to be the "handler" for the band. More of a translator than anything, so we kidnapped her, and she translated to the van driver to take us around the city.

Our first stop was one I was anticipating for about three days before I left L.A. for Sao Paulo. I discovered the store, Decathlon, when I was touring Spain with Shakira. There was one near the venue in Zaragoza, where we rehearsed, and needless to say, I was hooked. It's like a supermarket of sporting goods, and cheap. They have their own lines of clothing and sporting goods. Even with the exchange rate of Euro's to dollars, the price was still better than similar items in the U.S. I even convinced Nicole to go to one when were in Paris in 2008. The best part of Decathlon? Cycling clothing! In addition their own line of clothes, they have pro gear cheap!

Alas, the Decathlon in Sao Paulo was a huge disappointment. I guess in a country not known for it's cyclists, I shouldn't have expected a good cycling department. They did have great soccer, volleyball, and table tennis departments.



It never really surprises me when I see a McDonalds or Burger King, or even a 7-Eleven when I go over seas. You see 7-Elevens all over Melbourne Australia. What you don't see there are Burger Kings. There, they are called Hungry Jacks because Burger King was already taken.

Imagine my surprise when I saw an AM/PM at a local gas station! As a matter of fact, while driving around the city, I saw several AM/PM's. I was able to snap this photo because we were at a stand still in traffic.



And speaking of traffic... There's lots of it in Sao Paulo. Everything gets stuck in traffic. We were touring through the garment district (That's what I called it because many of the store fronts were selling mannequins or were lines of people on sewing machines working away) and pulled up to a stop light. No sooner did we stop than a couple of motorcycles pulled up next to us and then this guy pushing a hand cart. He didn't have a horn, so he kept slamming his cargo on the road in an attempt to get the motorcycles to move forward. When they finally figured it out, he pulled up to the light, and turned right. Yes, he was in the street and not on the sidewalk. Go figure.



We asked our kidnapped "handler lady" to take us to a place that she goes to. So she took us to the farmers market.

The "Mercado Municipal" is a huge building, with stained glass windows and glass ceilings to let in natural light. Each section of the building had vendors selling similar products.

There was the spices and sauces section.


The salted and cured meats section. Butchers, fruits and vegetable sections. Even a section for cheeses and sausages. Upstairs was a food court of sorts, with four or five restaurants with open sections of seats. The "handler" (I wish I could remember her name!) recommended a sandwich place that she always eats at when she comes.



I ordered the most popular sandwich on the menu (so she says), the "Bellisimo" which as you can see is a mountain of mortadella and ham with melted cheese served in a flaky bun. Mortadella, if you don't know is like a baloney, but very salty. I guess it's a favorite of the Brazilian people. The restaurant was running a special of two beers for the price of one, so we took advantage of that.



After lunch we exited the Mercado Municpal and headed back to the van, on the way we noticed there trees, potted and suspended by guide wires above the stinky river. And it wasn't just this one, as we followed the road along the river there was a tree every 100 yards or so, suspended above the river. I couldn't figure it out, I chalked it up to some sort of modern art.

We headed back to the hotel, it was already late in the afternoon, and jet lag had caught up to most of us. It took us a while to get back, again because of traffic.

I think Sao Paulo is to South America what Seoul, Korea is to Asia. Both are economic centers for the regions, but neither are really touristy. Lots of businessmen doing business things. No one goes to Sao Paulo for vacation, not even the Brazilians. That's what Rio's for.

One more blog about Sao Paulo... Gotta talk about the Eminem show...

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My First Days On The South American Continent.

In 1995, I started touring. In 1996, I made first trip south of the border to Mexico City. In 1998, I made my first trip to Europe. In 2000, I made my first trip to Australia. In 2004, I made my first trip to the Middle East, South East Asia, and well, all of Asia really. In 2007, I made my first trip to Africa. In 2008, I hung up my touring shoes and have since then made efforts to stay home, having never toured in South America.

I considered myself lucky. I heard many horror stories about South America. None as bad as my time in Nigeria, but still wore it like a badge, telling other roadies, "Nope, I've never toured South America."

It took me retiring from the road to finally make it to South America. Not really for a tour, but I'm here for work on a concert none the less.

Sao Paulo, Brazil. The new capital of, well, capitalism in South America. I think I read somewhere that Sao Paulo has usurped Mexico City with the number of it's billionaires.

Huh, I remember when to be a millionaire was a position of affluence. Now, billionaire.

I've been in Sao Paulo for 5 days now. We landed on Tuesday after an all night flight from Los Angeles (connecting through Miami). I didn't think I'd be terribly jet lagged since it's only a 5 hour difference to home, but even today I'm a bit foggy and waking up at strange hours. No matter, I'm flying home tomorrow in time to suffer jet lag in reverse. Which is fine, since I have an Xbox game I still need to play and being awake at 4 AM, it may help to put me back to sleep.

I'm here for an Eminem concert. He's the headline act for the Formula 1 Rocks show. I guess on Sunday they have a Formula 1 race somewhere in the city. To bad we fly home tomorrow (Saturday) and miss the event. They've been taking really good care of us here. We're in a decent hotel, the Grand Hyatt, and there always a woman from the local production team sitting in the lobby. She has access to transportation for us if we need to go anywhere, and even if there's no where we really need to go. She also has a clipboard with a list of all of our (the crew) names. She checks it every time one of us leaves and returns to the hotel. Kinda creepy.

Here's some pictures of my adventures so far.


No trip would be complete if I didn't take pictures of my hotel room. Nicole always likes to see what my hotel room looks like. The rooms at the Grand Hyatt are admittedly "cozy", but what they lack in space in the bedroom, the more than make up for in the bathroom.


One day, I'm gonna have a separate tub and shower in my bathroom. But until then, I'm gonna enjoy this one. I love the downpour shower head. What I don't love, is the fact that I can't get a comfortable water temperature to stay. It always seems to run suddenly hot or cold.


The maids at this hotel are very tenacious. I've had my "Do Not Disturb" sign on my room every day and yet they still knock every time and ask if I want service. Yesterday, I was working at the venue, I think the maids took this opportunity to steal my "Do Not Disturb" sign so I can't put it out anymore. And they don't just come once a day, they come, THREE TIMES. The first time they come, I tell them "No Thank You", then they come again later in the afternoon, I've not been home for this visit usually, I've been out doing stuff, and then a third time in the evening for turn down service. On the plus side, they always line up my toiletries nicely on a wash cloth by the sink. I even think they wipe down my tooth paste and deodorant. Not sure how that pack of Extra gum ended up there, But I should check to see if the maids are stealing a stick or two.

This is the view from my hotel room. The building across the way is a local TV station. This means that they land their traffic helicopter on a helipad near by in the morning. I love the sound of chopper blades rattling my window while I try to sleep. I'm assuming the bridge in the background is a landmark of some sort. More importantly, on the other side of the bridge is a Decathlon store. Although I was very disappointed in this one. No cycling clothing!


Here's the view in the other direction from my room. It's a pretty typical view of Sao Paulo. Lots and lots of apartment buildings and sky scrapers every where. It's a very modern (and congested) city in that respect.

There's more pictures to come, but I'll post them in a second blog... Right now, it's time to go to work. It's show day here in Sao Paulo, but we've been delayed because we've just had to waves of a pretty awesome storm blow through. The lighting was orange. I think it's because of the pollution in the air, but that's just me speculating...

More to come...

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