The Conga Spot!

Wow. I have just gotten back from one of the coolest concerts of my life. It was just nuts. I was very skeptical going in because I wasn’t excited to see some show I wouldn’t understand, but it was only five reais, so my cheap tendencies allowed me check it out. The final act was supposed to be this congo band with special guest Carlinhos Brown, who is a pretty big, influential songwriter and musician here (from what people tell me at least, I have no idea), so five reais was supposed to be an amzing deal. I still wasn’t impressed. We took a bus to the lower city which can be a picture perfect model for urban decay. The venue looked like all the other dilapidated buildings around it, but when we went inside it opened into a huge courtyard that was wildly painted all around. It was fixed up really nice on the inside with the different colors splattered all over the walls contrasted against the exposed brick and dirty gray of the building. It was a very cool looking place. Then the first band came on with all 20 of its members marching out on stage with their instruments wearing bright white tuxedos. They had everything from bongos to tubas going and put on some great samba(from what people tell me at least, once again nothing). The were even doing a Temptations like shuffle while they were playing. It was pretty impressive for having so many members. I was starting to come around. Then the next act was a three person band playing terrible love songs. They already seemed weak coming out with only three crappy instruments, no tuxedos and no dances resembling Motown acts from the 1960’s. Once they started to play, the crappiness was confirmed. We were speculating that they were probably given the gig to make the final band seem super good, but once the Conga band came on, I only needed 30 seconds to know they would have killed it anyways.

Before they conga drummers came out, the stage was set up with two full drum sets, a bass and a straight up log that was hollowed out and fashioned into a drum for back up. That ensemble started jamming and then about 8 dudes with huge bongos ran out dancing and just started going off. After the awful, slow love songs, the up tempo African style music had everybody going. They brought so much energy the whole venue just starting going nuts. They were wailing like I’ve never seen before all while dancing and doing flips; it was unreal. All the while, clouds had gathered and a drizzle had begun. I didn’t think their show could get anymore intense, but then Carlinhos Brown came on and it went to the next level. He just walked out with four other musicians in white body paint and everyone went crazy. He was wearing a studded jean hat, what seemed like a white army jacket and jeans that had crochet flowers running along the seems. I knew that if a dude can wear this and have everyone show him respect when he came on, he must be the real deal. And then I found out why he can wear those outfits. Once Carlinhos joined the show, it turned into one of the wildest things I have ever been a part of. The immediately started this up tempo jam that everyone knew (even me believe it or not) and it seemed like on cue that the rain began to pour. The rain got harder and harder but they only continued to bring it. As the rain pounded on, there playing and dancing got more intense and the crowd was going off. When the stage was flooding, Carlinhos got down on one knee and started to splash the puddles up to the rhythms with his hands like he was a rain god. All the while the drumming and dancing where getting more and more intense. I know I keep saying this, but it just got more and more crazy. We got pretty close to the stage and when I turned around I was shocked to see EVERY person dancing and getting down while it was dumping rain. The entire venue as pretty big and I didn’t see one person just not dancing and jumping all over the place. I have never been a part of something with so much energy before. At the height of the show, Carlinhos ran from one side of the stage to the other and the crowd would stampede and follow in a giant wave. When he left the stage, the rain almost instantly cleared up. You may be reading this thinking it really doesn’t seem that cool but I would like to emphasize that this was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done. Its hard to put in words, but the energy of the whole place just seemed unreal. The band was so talented and able to make these awesome jams while working and dancing together. They just seemed like they were having the best time. I went on a whim and know I can’t imagine my trip without this big jam in it.