Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
Last night Sergio Mendes played to a sold-out Paramount Theater here in Austin. This was my first time seeing Sergio in concert and for the most part he did not disappoint. They played for just under 90 minutes. Among the band members were Hussain Jiffry on bass and Michael Shapiro on drums (from Herb & Lani's group, as I see it). I didn't catch the names of the others, outside of Gracina, of course. The other female singer was named something like Rosie. All I remember is that she wore a tight, white skirt that she admirably filled. 
There was also a guitarist, a keyboard player who also played sax and flute, and a very energetic percussionist.
They opened with "Waters Of March". After that I lost track of exactly which tune was next, but I remember the following titles:
Berimbau
The Look Of Love
Fool On The Hill
Promise Of A Fisherman
O Samba Da Minha Terra
Girl From Ipanema
One Note Samba/Spanish Flea
There were some other Brazilian titles composed by Milton Nascimento and Chico Buarque de Hollande that Sergio mentioned, but I can't recall the names. The band was tight and lively and had a great groove going on.
One of the more interesting parts of the show was the percussionist who came out front and did some kind of break dance routine while the band was playing this vamp. It was a little on the weird side seeing this, especially when he tripped over a mic wire at one point. He then went back and started doing a solo on the congas, then on timbales, then he came out front again with a multi-tiered cowbell and a tambourine, doing quick rhythm breaks on both, then started chanting and had the audience repeat his chants, then had the audience repeat the rhythms he was playing on the tambourine with our handclaps until he did an impossible rhythm that has the crowd laughing with a "are you kidding?" look.
Now for the downer of the show - there was a rapper named H2O who did his thing on about 4 or 5 songs. Keep in mind that the majority of the crowd was my age or older (junior geriatrics) and the rap thing just didn't go over very well. He tried to get the crowd to do this one-hand waving thing, and it seemed the women tried to do it, but most of us guys just weren't into it. Unfortunately, he rapped on a couple of my favorite Sergio songs, such as "Agua De Beber". It was interesting hearing some comments after the show about "that guy was kind of annoying". It just didn't fit with the rest of the show, even though I know the past couple of CDs of Sergio has this stuff on it, but it's just not my thing.
Joe Pizzulo came out to perform "Never Gonna Let You Go". Again, this just didn't fit right with the rest of the show even though it was a big hit for Sergio. I never cared for the song myself but it was well performed.
They did an encore of "Mas Que Nada" (which H2O kind of ruined with a rap in the middle) then finished with "Pais Tropical", which had the crowd on their feet. Despite the rap thing it was a fun show to see and worth the money. I was glad to see a packed house for Sergio. The sound inside the Paramount was great. Some of us tried to get a few pics via our cell phones but the Paramount had camera Nazis out telling people to put 'em away. I did manage to get a couple of shots but they didn't come out very well because of the lighting. Oh well...
There was also a guitarist, a keyboard player who also played sax and flute, and a very energetic percussionist.They opened with "Waters Of March". After that I lost track of exactly which tune was next, but I remember the following titles:
Berimbau
The Look Of Love
Fool On The Hill
Promise Of A Fisherman
O Samba Da Minha Terra
Girl From Ipanema
One Note Samba/Spanish Flea
There were some other Brazilian titles composed by Milton Nascimento and Chico Buarque de Hollande that Sergio mentioned, but I can't recall the names. The band was tight and lively and had a great groove going on.
One of the more interesting parts of the show was the percussionist who came out front and did some kind of break dance routine while the band was playing this vamp. It was a little on the weird side seeing this, especially when he tripped over a mic wire at one point. He then went back and started doing a solo on the congas, then on timbales, then he came out front again with a multi-tiered cowbell and a tambourine, doing quick rhythm breaks on both, then started chanting and had the audience repeat his chants, then had the audience repeat the rhythms he was playing on the tambourine with our handclaps until he did an impossible rhythm that has the crowd laughing with a "are you kidding?" look.
Now for the downer of the show - there was a rapper named H2O who did his thing on about 4 or 5 songs. Keep in mind that the majority of the crowd was my age or older (junior geriatrics) and the rap thing just didn't go over very well. He tried to get the crowd to do this one-hand waving thing, and it seemed the women tried to do it, but most of us guys just weren't into it. Unfortunately, he rapped on a couple of my favorite Sergio songs, such as "Agua De Beber". It was interesting hearing some comments after the show about "that guy was kind of annoying". It just didn't fit with the rest of the show, even though I know the past couple of CDs of Sergio has this stuff on it, but it's just not my thing.
Joe Pizzulo came out to perform "Never Gonna Let You Go". Again, this just didn't fit right with the rest of the show even though it was a big hit for Sergio. I never cared for the song myself but it was well performed.
They did an encore of "Mas Que Nada" (which H2O kind of ruined with a rap in the middle) then finished with "Pais Tropical", which had the crowd on their feet. Despite the rap thing it was a fun show to see and worth the money. I was glad to see a packed house for Sergio. The sound inside the Paramount was great. Some of us tried to get a few pics via our cell phones but the Paramount had camera Nazis out telling people to put 'em away. I did manage to get a couple of shots but they didn't come out very well because of the lighting. Oh well...
