The day Carlinhos Brown used rock and metal to promote himself.
By Daniel Dystyler
"I am for peace. I don't throw anything at anyone, I only throw love. You can throw whatever you want, I am for peace and nothing affects me."
"It's no use liking anything when the person is ignorant, when they lack judgment, when they don't think, when they don't reason.".
Okay...
Yes, everyone saw and heard that.
We saw on Fantástico and Jornal Nacional all of Carlinhos Brown's fiery speeches in response to the shower of bottles he received during his performance at Rock In Rio in 2001.
The headliner for the night was Guns N' Roses, and therefore the audience was primarily composed of Rock and Metal fans.
However, despite the image of the flying bottles having gone viral, the vast majority never had the opportunity to watch the entire show and understand how we got to that point and what actually happened that day.
There is an explanation that does not appear in the edited articles of the newspapers that covered the event at the time.
So, since we're in the middle of Carnival, it seemed fitting to tell this story... in its entirety...
It was the middle of January in Rio de Janeiro, and the temperature easily exceeded 40 degrees Celsius on almost every day of the festival. On the dance floor, the crowds and the excitement of the people further increased the perceived temperature, and there were numerous cases of fainting and people feeling unwell and having to be helped.
The event organizers then devised a strategy to help minimize the effects of the heat on the audience: Hoses were installed at the base of the stage, pointing towards the crowd, and firefighters sprayed water on the audience to help cool them down and reduce the scorching heat, precisely on the day that recorded the highest number of people at Rock In Rio III (along with the day of Iron Maiden), totaling 250,000 people.
The band Pato Fu, with their somewhat indie/alternative sound, had already performed without any problems or interference from the Rock and Metal audience when Carlinhos Brown took the stage.
The show was also going smoothly and was about halfway through when Carlinhos Brown decided that this would be the day that would go down in history as "the day he used Rock and Metal to promote himself."
For no apparent reason, Carlinhos Brown interrupted the show and, using the microphone, began asking the firefighters to stop spraying water on the audience by turning off the hoses.
Obviously, this generated discontent among the audience, and some boos arose, to which the artist argued that "these water hoses were distracting the audience, who were unable to fully appreciate the show ." He added, . "
The show went on and despite the disgruntled audience, some shouting "Water! Water!" , surprisingly there was still an atmosphere of respect, allowing the show to continue.
During the next song, a small bottle was thrown onto the stage floor without hitting anyone. Carlinhos Brown, who was in the aisle that runs through the middle of the venue, saw the bottle being thrown, stopped the music, walked over to the stage, picked up the bottle from the floor, and said that it was a huge lack of respect.
And then, after finally managing to provoke the discontent of 250,000 people, he positioned himself again in the corridor dividing the track, a strategically chosen location so that, and only there, the rain of bottles would begin, generating the images that would go around the world and promote the artist.
The rest is history, as everyone knows, with all the media outlets and "on-call commentators" condemning the Rock and Metal audience, saying they are intolerant and violent. And Carlinhos gained international recognition.
The curious thing is that, despite it being easy to find practically all the shows that were broadcast in their entirety, this particular show is strangely not available online. We only found edited excerpts, specifically from the moment the artist managed to infuriate the audience. And it's in these edited excerpts that we can even see one of the speeches made by the self-proclaimed advocate of peace and love (see videos below):
"You rock fans have a lot to learn in life: learn to respect humanity, to say 'no' to violence and 'yes' to love, believe in life. Now you can stick your little finger up your ass.".
During last year's Carnival, exactly 15 years after the event, Carlinhos Brown invited Angra and Sepultura to participate in his Carnival parade in Salvador .
Perhaps it was an unconscious way of apologizing or thanking the style of music that indirectly promoted him to a much higher level than he had achieved.
Yes, it's true that water bottles thrown by the Rock and Metal audience went flying on that January 14, 2001.
But the flight plan was very well orchestrated.
Click here to see other texts written by Daniel Dystyler.
