Text by Nando Machado, co-founder of Wikimetal.
March 15th, Saturday night in São Paulo. I had been anticipating this day ever since the Graveyard was announced in November 2024. Unfortunately, I couldn't arrive early enough to see the bands that opened for the excellent Buena Onda , a festival promoted by Xaninho Discos, but I did arrive in time to see the excellent show by the Canadian band Danko Jones .
Led by Danko himself, the Toronto trio was truly emotional and happy, delivering an hour of pure "Hard Punk," a style that blends KISS with Punk Rock. The band, active for over 20 years, had only been to Brazil once before, in 2009. They put on a truly impeccable show and were genuinely thrilled to see so many fans singing along to their songs. The highlight for me was "My Little R'n'Roll," the last song on the setlist, probably the band's biggest hit, from the album Wild Cat (2017). I just won't forgive them for not playing "Forget My Name" from my favorite album of theirs, We Sweat Blood (2003).
At 9 PM sharp, the Swedish band Graveyard , straight from Gothenburg; the band I was most looking forward to, who had only performed in Brazil once before, in 2019. The group really sounds like they came straight from the 70s with their "Heavy Blues Rock". One of my favorite bands of today, they finally returned to Brazil, delivering an impeccable, albeit short, show.
The show began with “Twice,” a single from their latest studio album, 6 (2023). They followed it with “Birds of Paradise” – from the band's penultimate album, the excellent Peace (2018) – the only song sung by bassist Truls Mörck . After “Cold Love,” came my favorite song by the band, “An Industry of Murder.” A heavy riff à la Black Sabbath (drummer Oskar Bergenheim , by the way, reminded me a lot of Bill Ward ). In this song, the band showcases all its quality and versatility in creating dynamic arrangements and dissonant melodies. Joakim Nilsson is a giant, with his red Gibson 335, a hoarse and screamed voice, far from perfect, which makes the band extremely human and genuine. No overdubs or pre-recorded tracks, as a good Rock'n Roll show should be.
In “Hisingen Blues,” the band showcases their heaviness at its best, with a well-defined, broken beat, riffs, and Joakim's signature vocals. The first part of the show ends with the sensational Blues Rock “Uncomfortably Numb,” from the album Hisingen Blues (2011). The band returned for the encore with a series of hard-hitting tracks: “Walk On,” “No Good Mr. Holden,” “Ain't Fit to Live Here,” and a long jam of “The Siren.” These last two are also from Hisingen Blues .
Graveyard is one of those bands that makes you think that Rock is still alive and that 70s Rock really had a huge impact on several generations. References to Black Sabbath, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple , etc. For me, there was no better decade in Rock and these guys seem like they arrived straight from 1973 onto the VIP Station stage.
Shows and events like this festival produced by the folks at Xaninho Discos and Caveira Velha really fill me with hope. While it's great to see a huge band in a stadium, lately I've felt more comfortable seeing bands like Graveyard and Danko Jones on a club stage with about 1200 people, truly connected to the bands' sound, who know their repertoires inside and out and who make that connection more realistic and genuine. It's great that there are concert promoters in Brazil who care about bringing these bands; they really deserve praise. I hope the tour was a success and that we can see these and other great bands, but not so big, again in Brazil, and many times.
