Credicard Roots: Burning Spear lives up to the title of 'living legend' and shakes the São Paulo concert hall!

The question for 2006 was: "Will the quality of international shows from 2005 be maintained?"... to answer this and any other similar question, at the beginning of the year we received the myth of global roots reggae, Winston Rodney, or for many, Burning Spear! This name was already considered a dream due to numerous attempts to bring the great star to Brazil, but hopes were rekindled following the news that Burning Spear would be in the cast of bands of Festival de Verão of Salvador. Once in Brazil, touching São Paulo would be just a detail. The chosen house was Credicard Hall, and has been so due to its rigorous organization, when they received Israel Vibration, Wailers, Steel Pulse, among others. Last Sunday, February 5th, one day after the performance at Salvador, Burning Spear was ready to go down in history as one of the best reggae shows that São Paulo has ever hosted, a shame that Credicard Hall was far from its maximum capacity. After a few minutes of waiting beyond what was stipulated by the production, the lights went out and the heart beat fast. Right from the start, an instrumental introduction with several of Spear's hits left the crowd in a state of ecstasy. People with LPs, CDs, T-shirts... it was almost unbelievable when the star took the stage. The musicians were excellent, especially the brass section that made constant "attacks", accomplices of the merciless bass, the "apple of the eye" of the Reggae. Songs like "Man in the Hills" and "Youth" were Spear's calling card. One of the highlights of the show was undoubtedly "Jah no Dead", a classic sung from beginning to end by the audience, and which is part of one of the cinematographic works most faithful to the true Jamaican rhythm, the feature film "Rockers - it´s Dangerous". This scene is classic in the world of reggae, where Burning Spear sings to the drummer Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, accompanied only by the sound of water. As we talk about the brass section, "Marcus Garvey" couldn't be left out: "Can’ get no food to eat... Can’ get no money to spend"! Simply magical. At almost 60 years old, Winston Rodney was more active than many kids who saw him on the dance floor, and in addition to jumping, dancing and stirring up the audience with all the momento, in almost every song he used his drums to make beats Nyabinghi (watch the video)... that was the signal for “extended mix”, instrumental versions of the B-side songs from the Jamaican compacts. The best extent was "Slavery Days", where bass and percussion gave the weight! After a short break, Burning Spear returns relentlessly with "Try Again", "Columbus" and "Old Marcus". Cecil, the band's lead guitarist, thrilled the crowd by performing with his instrumentmento. In one part of the show, he marched around wielding his guitar as if it were a soldier's rifle! This momento preceded the "Post Man" high. Just like in Salvador, Spear sent messages of Peace to the audience who were endlessly grateful for the almost 3-hour show of the myth! As said at the beginning of the article, this was without a doubt one of the best shows that have ever come to Brazil. Stay tuned to the Surforeggae calendar, as there are rumors that in May we will have the pleasure of welcoming The Gladiators back to Brazil. Let's hope that Albert Griffiths is recovered and can perform with this reggae icon again.

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