Articles by Beatrice Labonne

The Rolling Stones and the Rolling Food Carts  

 

 

On February 18, Rio kicked off in style the Carnival season. I must admit that the Marvellous City, as Rio de Janeiro is affectionately known, outperformed itself. For once, the big bangs were on the Copacabana beach and not in the neighbouring favelas. On that day the Rolling Stones had hoped to enter the Guinness Book of World Records and out perform fellow Brit Rod Stewart. Well not quite: the four geriatric rockers' mega performance only drew 2 million fans, far short of the 1994 Stewart's Copacabana extravaganza which attracted a crowd of 3.5 billion. The Stones show was part of the promotion of the band's new DVD A Bigger Bang.

 

As expected, the bigger bang took place on the beach and not on the stage, the size of which may gain an entry in Guinness! The stage had the height of a seven-story building.

 

Anyway, as I did not go to the show, my purpose here is to give you the other side of the gig. I have never been a Stones fan. For me, "Satisfaction" came from hearing the Beatles. Actually, it is a gross exaggeration to claim, as the media did, that fans crowded the Copacabana beach and Atlantica Avenue. The majority of the local youths had never heard their music. They came out of curiosity for a free gig.

 

It was not free for the sponsors which spent US 4.5 million on the beach extravaganza. The Stones didn't sing for nothing. Their fee is a well kept secret. Brazil had always been on the Stones' itinerary. Mike Jagger has a fondness for Rio. He has a 7-year old son who lives here. A son fathered during a one-night-stand with a C-class Brazilian model. She has since made a business out of her fleeting relationship with the star.

 

The mega show epitomizes Brazil's brash dynamics and chutzpah. On February 18, opposite but complementary forces were in action. Brazil's rough and tumble economics was at play. The city administration provided infrastructure support, and two multinational corporations sponsored the show. However, it was left to the streetwise informal sector to feed and satisfy the thirst of the crowd. In spite of city interdiction, from early morning unlicensed street vendors had occupied the grounds. They were selling their wares with bravado, offering tee shirts and beach towels, pushing their food carts, and hauling ice boxes full of beer cans. Notably, vendors were passing through the crowd in order to offer caipirinha, the Brazilian iconic rum and lemon drink. After the show, the informal sector was again at work: An army of people was collecting discarded beer and soda cans and plastic bottles.

 

Binge drinking is not a Brazilian custom. During the four-hour show, the crowd was on its best behaviour. The only notable stampede was towards the sea and back. In the absence of a sufficient number of portable toilets, bladders had to be relieved, and the ocean became a convenient lavatory.

 

The programme was a well lubricated mass production, a rehash of oldies, with only two new compositions of the soon to be released A Bigger Bang album. Over all, it was the mother of all publicity stunts for the Stones. The glowing Copacabana beach and its 2 million curious and enthusiastic fans provided a grandiose backdrop for the forthcoming DVD of the four ageing and robotic rockers.

 

Six hundred kilometres north, near Brasilia, Bono was being entertained by President Lula in the presidential ranch. The Irish group U2 is performing in Sao Paulo. Lula and Bono talked hunger reduction and bio gas promotion.

 

Beatrice Labonne, Feb, 20, 2006