There's an epic poem written by a Portuguese writer named "Luís Vaz de Camões" that's called "Os Lusíadas"("The Lusiads"), written in 1500's. This poem tells the story of how Vasco da Gama found the sea route to the East Indies and the poem focuses mainly on a fantastical interpretation of the Portuguese voyages of discovery during the 15th and 16th centuries. Os Lusíadas is often regarded as Portugal's national epic, much in the way as Virgil's Aeneid was for the Ancient Romans, as well as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey for the Ancient Greeks. It was first printed in 1572, three years after the author returned from the Indies. I'm feeling like Camões when I think of writing everything that happaned on these last few days. Ok, let's go!
Tuesday afternoon: I was packing my stuffs to go see Sebastian Bach and Guns N' Roses in Belo Horizonte. I live in Rio de Janeiro, +6 hours on the bus away, it's a pretty fucking long drive. When I was packing my backpack I saw my "ChinDem" and "Angel Down" cds and decided to take those booklets with me, you know, "just in case".
I arrived at Belo Horizonte on the morning of the show and went straight to Mineirinho. I think I arrived at the venue around 10am. Pretty much nothing happaned until the afternoon, when people really started to arrive there.
Something that you have to know in order to understand the events from now on and specially in the end of this post: I'm a member of the staff from the brazilian website
www.perfectcrimegnr.com and we made a special t-shirt for the brazilian tour, and we had one shirt made for every member of the Band and their personal staff (Jarmo, Beta, Vanessa and Fernando) plus one for Sebastian Bach. Ok, let's get back from where I stopped.
When it was around 14pm I went off the line to buy something to eat and someone yelled "Hey PINBALL!!" and when I looked this guy came to me, saying he's from my message board and that he meet the band in the hotel, and that Bumblefoot gave him 2 VIP backstage passes. The guy, edinho256 (his nickname on m board) was pretty excited about it and I was really happy for him!
I asked him if he could delivery the shirts to Vanessa, because she was already aware of it but we couldn't get in touch with her, he said it was ok, that he would deliver them to her. I was really excited about this, because we were worry that we could never give the shirts to them, and we put so much love on them, it was our duty to give the shirts to them!
The doors opened, I met some people, a guy puked beer in my hand (I didn't smash his face with the vomited hand because I didn't want to cause any trouble to myself, like being thrown off the venue because of fighting) but I was having a good time! Right before the Baz concert I got a phone call from edinho256 saying that he might get a backstage pass for me, "chances of 80%", he said. I was speachless! Then Baz's gig started.
Everyone here who attended to one of any Bach's show knows that he is truly a gifted musician and a great performer. It was my 3rd show and I was happy as a kid on a "toys made of candy store"! He's really energetic and he's better than ever! The crowd went nuts on his show! It's a shame that most people there didn't know his solo stuff, but they loved them anyway! I'm sure that Baz got out of there with a bunch of new fans!
The setlist was killer! I wasn't expecting "Slave" as the opener! The sound was a little confusing, but it didn't spoil the mood, that's for sure.
The show kept rolling and I was tweeting it for you guys. I was having a great time! Screaming my lungs off! Then "I Remember You" started and I cried like a little baby. I can't express in words what that song means to me (it was with that song that I got for myself the heart of the only girlfriend I ever had for whom I could honestly say the words "I Love You" and, one year after we were forced to break up (she was moving for another state, now she doesn't live in Brasil) I was on the stage of Bach's gig in Porto Alegre (the year was 2005) and I saw her on the audience when the band played what song? Yes, "I Remember You". I'm not lying about it, it HAPPANED!). So I cried, and I cried so hard that I was hiccuping for breath! It was pretty emotional, and I can't understand how Bach can do this, I honestly can't! He's amazing.
The show ended with Youth Gone Wild and it was amazing to see the whole venue raising their hands and screaming "We are the YOUTH GONE WILD!", awesome!!
I'm not gonna go through the guns' show. It was amazing, I love the band, Axl was in a really good mood! They stopped Knocking on Heaven's Door in the middle to sing Happy Birthday to Beta! Axl also talks about getting to the hotel at 4am, the bar being open, the band being there, girls being present and how there was a pool in his room. In other words, he was fucked.(
from htgth). It was an amazing show!
So the show ended and I called Edinho256, and he told me: "I got you in". And I was like:
We ran to get in and we saw Richard Fortus, Bumblefoot, DJ Ashba (he signed my Chinese Democracy booklet), I remember seeing Rob de Luca and Johnny Chromatic, but I didn't have the chance to talk to them.
So, you guys remember that I had a bag full of tshirts for the band, right? So...I was on the backstage and I saw Beta and Vanessa. I said to Beta: "Hi! Happy Birthday! I'm not gonna hug you because I'm all sweaty and you're all dry! I don't wanna do this to you!" she said: "C'mon! Don't be silly, hug me, it's OK!".
Then I started to talk to Vanessa and, when I shaked her hand, she said: "Why are you shivering?", I said: "And you still wonder why?". She was really nice! Then a guy walk pass us (he's from my board and he tried to help me get the shirts in, but I lost contact with him) and said: "So did you deliver the shirts?" and Vanessa said: "You have the shirts here? Do you? Where's my shirt? I WANT MY SHIRT NOW!" in a kidding cute voice. She is really nice!! I gave the shirts to her and it was like having the weight of the world off my back. Mission accomplished! I remember saying to Beta: "Look how things are...something on this universe happaned and made me giving you the shirts right on your birthday! What a crazy coincidence!" and she said: "What a great gift!". They are all really nice! Axl is in a really great company and well cared with this brazilian family!
We talked to DJ Ashba, I said: "Hi, remember me? I was up there in 'Big Jesus' with you last friday" then he smiled as if he just reminded and said: "Yeah! Cool! How are you?", he's the nicest guy! He signed my Chinese Democracy cover! I'll put all the backstage pictures at the end of the post, don't worry.
Then Edinho said: "Sebastian Bach's there! Sebastian Bach's there!", so we ran to meet him, and, as usual, he was being really nice, chatting and laughing with everybody. When I got to talk to him, he started to look at me with a weird expression on his face, like he was trying to remember something. I said: "Hi Baz! I'm Rafael, you probably won't remember me but I worked for you in 2005." and he said: "I KNEW I REMEMBERED YOU FACE!!! I REMEMBER YOUR FACE!!".
Sebastian Bach remembered me after almost 5 years!!!
I said: "Do you Remember 'Macaco Business'?", and he started to laugh and we started to sing 'Macaco Business' together! 'Macaco Business' is a little thing that happaned in Porto Alegre in 2005. We were at e barbecue restaurant and he asked me "How's Monkey in Portuguese?" I said "Macaco", and he started to sing "Macaco Business". Then he said "And how is 'Jump' and 'Fire'?", I said: "Pular and Fogo", then he sang: "Him to PULAR into the FOGO!", we all laughed and he sang 'Macaco Business' on the 2005's show!
I told Bach the following sentence: "You probably won't remember, but I told you in Porto Alegre, in 2005, how I cried with Wasted Time when you played it in Rio. Today I cried with i Remember You!" and he was all "awww dude!" and gave me a hi5. Then someone said something about "In a Dakened Room" and baz said that they decided to play that song because people here love it and asked him so hard for him to play it. Then Edinho said that "In a Darkened Room" and "Wasted Time" are beautiful songs and Baz said "I love them too!". I asked baz: "Dude, you wrote Wasted Time for Steven Adler right? Because people don't believe it when I tell them that!", and he confirmed the story and said: "You know what song I love too? By Yourside." and I said: "And Falling Into You!!" and he was all "awww dude" and gave me another hi5, and said: "What about Battle with the Bottle?" and I said: "Incredible!". Baz was really nice to everybody, as usual! I handed him my Angel Down booklet and said: "The best album you ever sang on!".
You gotta love Sebastian! Somebody gave him a shirt with "Tião" written on it. "Tião" it's a short name for his portuguese name, "Sebastião". And Baz kept saying everytime for everyone to hear there that his name in Portuguese is "Tiãããããããão". He loved that! The guy have such a great sense of humor!! You can't be disappointed with him, you just can't! I don't know if it was possible, but I got off there an even bigger fan of him! Baz, if you read this: I LOVE YOU!
Then the security threw everybody out. And baz said good night to everyone and we left.
Now, the pictures!
Angel Down signed:
Chinese Democracy Signed:
Edinho's shirt signed:
Me and Sebastian!!!
We were singing "Macaco Business" at that very moment, that's why our faces look weird! hahaha
Edinho and Sebastian:
Edinho and DJ Ashba:
Edinho and Vanessa:
Me and Vanessa:
Edinho, Beta Lebeis and Myself:
That's all, folks! Any questions you might have, I'll be happy to answer!
