REVIEWS
Focus in South-America, 2002
(Thanks again to Rodrigo Werneck for this update.)
(14th Nov) Just in from Caracas, Venezuela... the gig happened with almost no
problems, despite the current (difficult to say the least) political situation there.
400 people attended the concert, and although the Leslie cabinet was
kinda tricky, the Hammond organ responded positively on Thijs' commands. ;-)
The audience loved Focus, so yet another great gig.
(15th Nov) In Panamá they played for 250 excited fans, as part of the 1st
PanaProg festival. The concert was reportedly very good, and the attendance
was good for the Panamá standards (let's not forget that "only" 2.5 million
people live there! ;-) The band played with a lot of energy, and filled
the hall completely! A lot of new fans were made, taking the CD sales
afterwards.
Next day it was time to fly to Mexico. After an autographs sessions
in a local CD store with the presence of (70!) fans, warm reception and so, the
day after it (17th Nov) was time for the last gig of this leg of the tour. 850
Mexican fans attended the concert, which gives a good impression on how
successful the next visit to the country will be, in March, when they'll
return to play at the famous Baja Prog Festival in Mexicali.
That's it for now... I hope that Focus had a nice trip back to Holland...
welcome back soon!!
Cheers,
Rodrigo Werneck
FOCUS gig in Brazil - at Belo Horizonte, state of Minas
Gerais,
Minas Centro Theatre - Thanks Rodrigo Werneck!
So here I am, back from Belo Horizonte with news! ;-)
On Sunday, one of the most amazing things happened: after a really nice
barbecue in a sunny day (making justice to a "Sunday" anyway! ;-), where
Thijs mentioned that he "would like to never leave Rio de Janeiro!", we
went to the "Orquidea" bar in Niterói. Some famous Brazilian players
(Marvio Ciribelli, Marcio Bahia, etc.) were playing instrumental jazz
music, and invited Focus for some jam sessions. Initially Thijs joined
them on flute, mesmerizing everybody with an outstanding improvisation!
After a while, the others (Bobby, Jan and Bert) took their places on the
small stage, and played several jazz tunes, causing a very positive
surprise and reaction in the audience. Of course, that was only the
beginning: they played a small selection of Focus tunes, "House Of The
King", "Focus 2", "Sylvia" and "Hocus Pocus". The public didn't seem to
believe their eyes, but this was really happening at a small traditional
bar in a small city! The music went on and on until 3 in the morning, but
then it was time to sleep as the next day would include a trip to Belo
Horizonte.
Monday afternoon, and after some "phone interviews", Focus was packed and
ready to travel. The trip actually lasted for 8 hours, but this wasn't a
problem at all as Thijs keeps playing his flute all the time, so we got a
sort of classical, Brazilian, and Focus songs. At 3am (yes, already
Tuesday) we arrived at the hotel in Belo Horizonte.
Yesterday, the day started with a press conference and photo session, for
the main newspapers in the state of Minas Gerais (where Belo Horizonte is
located). After that, soundcheck time and at night, the gig itself. Once
again, success! 1,300 people attended the concert. OK, not a sold out
venue this time (the venue fits 1,700 people), but we can't expect that
happening in all gigs here, can we? ;-) The crowd reacted instantly to
the music, and again an awesome gig happened. As I was involved with some
production tasks, I couldn't actually see the whole gig (shame on me, I
know!), but I believe some songs were dropped this time ("Focus 5" at
least). But the good thing is that 3 encores were played, due to the
enthusiastic response from the crowd: "Brother", "Neurotika" and "Sylvia".
One small detail: during his bass solo in the middle of "Harem Scarem",
Bobby Jacobs was so excited that he actually fell on stage, but kept on
playing! The audience reacted with a big "roar".
After the gig, the band make time to sign as many CDs, LPs and magazines as
were brought to them, so everyone was happy. Many "Focus 8" CDs again
sold, of course. Another long day ended at 4am of Wednesday, after we got
something to eat.
Today (Wednesday), we had to wake up very early so the band together with
Leo Nahoum (the Latin American tour organizer) could arrive at the airport
in time for their flight. The rest of us (the Brazilian crew) got the bus
back to Rio, as the Brazilian leg of the tour is now over! We're tired but
extremely happy with the results. The band is right now on their way to
Caracas in Venezuela, where the next gig will happen!
More news as I get them... cheers,
Rod (Rodrigo Werneck)
Focus in Brazil - a consolidated success
- 2002 / 11 / 11
Hi friends of Focus!
Last week I spent a lot of time beside focus in Rio and Sao Paulo.
The band was very happy in to be in Brazil and there was a fantastic
atmosphere. I taken a lot of pictures and will publish along this week.
Kind regards
Rodrigo Mantovani
There´s no words to express the feeling last
night, november 8th, in Sao Paulo. From the begining to end, they played songs
that made me cry. Yes, I cried specially when then played ERUPTION, whose
presentation included a coment from Thijs like a "B SIDE from Moving
Waves album". He could not finish the presentation, because one guy at
audience guess the name and anticipate. Thijs confirmed: "Yes,
Eruption".
In other moments, for example in FOCUS 3, I looked to the audience and I saw
people crying, or simply enjoying the "trip" with closed eyes or
even playing guitar with hands in the air.
But the DIRECTV MUSIC HALL exploded when they returned three times and
finished the show with a replay from SYLVIA and HOCUS POCUS. The maximum
ecstasy was when Thijs presented the band, at middle part of HOCUS POCUS, as
he had done (and recorded) in "AT THE RAIMBOW ALBUM". AMAZING!
Thanks to Thijs, Jan, Bert and Bobby to gave us the opportunity to listen and
saw their music. We all made certainly a very nice trip to one world where
only exists peace, love and harmony.
Best regards!
Newton Borelli
Sao Paulo / Brazil