PURE ENERGY! Wailing Souls shake SESC Pompéia with their arsenal of hits — check it out!

It took a while, but it arrived! Wailing Souls, the legendary Jamaican vocal group, made their debut on Brazilian soil with historic shows. The band performed on SESC stages, starting in Ribeirão Preto, Piracicaba, and wrapping up with two shows at SESC Pompéia in São Paulo. On March 15 Surforeggae went to see these reggae giants up close, and the impressions could not have been better. A magical performance both in terms of the vibe of the show and the technical execution, not to mention, of course, the incredible structure that SESC provides.

THE SHOW

Starting punctually at the scheduled time, at 7:15 p.m. Lloyd "Bread" McDonald and Winston "Pipe" Matthews took control of the situation. In the audience, various personalities came to witness the historic night up close, such as the guys from Cidade Verde, bassist Douglas Earl and even the great Horace Andy, who is also on tour in Brazil. Pipe and Bread exude charisma, and with an relentless sequence of hits they shook the structures of SESC, which even presented a good crowd, but compared to the legends who were there and for the modest 50 reais entry fee, they deserved much more. "She Pleases Me", "No Big Thing", "Ishen Tree", "Casey Jones", "A Day will Come", in short, it was impossible to stand still. The groove, the trademark of Wailing Souls, was extremely well executed by their competent band, especially bassist Jonzie Mann and the insane drummer Scorp Omari. At the first notes of "Firehouse Rock", SESC trembled! Everyone in one voice strolled through that striking harmony, which was followed by the heavy "Kingdom Rise, Kingdom Fall", "Diamonds & Pearls" and the thunderous hit "Jah Jah Give us Life to Live", where "Pipe" Matthews greeted fans at the edge of the stage at every moment. With the vibe sky-high, "What a Feeling", "Sweet Sugar Plum Plum" and the fantastic "Act of Affection" preceded that "strategic exit" from the stage. Of course the encore was demanded with force, besides various song requests being shouted from the audience. The return was killer! The heavyweights "Very Well", "Bredda Gravalicious" and the classic "Shark Attack" contrasted with the fun "Picky Picky Head", which put the finishing touches on the impeccable performance. Pipe and Bread left the stage, but we still had the pleasure of witnessing an absurdly sensational instrumental, where Scorp Omari showed all his dynamism on drums, being greatly cheered as the spotlights went out. May this be the first of many Wailing Souls performances in Brazil, which deserves to be applauded standing by many other Brazilian states that love their rich and extensive body of work.