#tsfe

Honestly, I don’t know where to begin. Every time I think about what to write I get super emotional and start crying. Brazil, you are amazing. Thank you for your hospitality, I enjoyed my time in Rio and Sao Paulo and I wish I could have experienced more shows with you. I will be back. As long as John keeps coming back I am too.  Special thanks to Camila and her friends for taking care of us. Even though we don’t speak the same language, we speak music. Hearing some of you guys talk about your favorite songs and seeing you express your excitement brought an endless amount of joy to me. You are truly some amazing and special John Mayer fans. It was an honor to watch a show with you.

I wish I could go into detail about John and the Band but to be honest I was paying more attention to the crowd. I wasn’t front row. I was in the middle of the first general admission section and I was taking it all in. Every song, every word, every tear, I watched you guys have the time of your life. Seeing a show in South America is not like it is here. I didn’t experience anyone not paying attention, drunk or obviously looking like they came to see John Mayer Twitter/Instagram Star, everyone was there to see John Mayer, the singer/songrwriter/musician. You sang every single word to every song at the top of your lungs, danced the night away and truly enjoyed the music. I’ve never experienced anything like that at a concert. It brought tears to my eyes.

As soon as John stepped out on stage and began “Helpless” everyone started singing and dancing. During “Changing” you could barely hear John sing because the crowd was singing so loud, it was beautiful. There was a moment during “Why Georgia” we’re all singing “’Cause I wonder sometimes about the outcome of a still verdictless life, am I living it right?” and I turned my camera to Camila and I singing b/c I couldn’t believe after 5 years I was seeing a show with her in Brazil and I had to capture it. I cried quite a bit during that song. I’m crying now, writing this. You could barely hear John go into “No Such Thing” because of everyone singing the next verse of “Why Georgia.” “This is the first time we’ve played this song since we lost Tom Petty and we play this with all the love in the world for him. I wish this song was mine, I play it like a little kid dreaming he had the song and it’s forever Tom Petty’s and I get to sing it for you guys tonight,” John said as he and David Ryan Harris broke into “Free Fallin’.” I’m fortunate to have seen Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers back in April. I think Tom was looking down on Sao Paulo Wednesday night. Everyone sang the song with love in their hearts. I won’t complain about hearing this song live anymore because we will never get to hear Tom play it again. All we have now are musicians keeping his music alive, including John.

Many of the fans I met were excited about seeing the Trio. They never thought they’d see the Trio perform live. John, Steve and Pino were on fire. During “Who Did You Think I Was” the screen behind them had electricity flowing and that’s how I felt the Trio performed, electric.

Back to Full Band, during the break in “Queen of California” Mayer strapped on his electric guitar and started dancing, saying he had just learned this dance, which Camila explained to me was dance originated from funk music. It was quite comical and the fans loved it! I know hearing “In the Blood” live for the first time was special for a lot of the fans as well. I loved hearing the first chords to “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” and hearing the cheers from the crowd; even in America, it’s one of my favorite moments. I love it. Everyone goes crazy! “Who Says” featured “It’s been a long night in Sao Paulo too” and “Who says I can’t get stoned, plan a trip to Brazil alone.” Larry‘s solo was beautiful as always.

Ever since 2013, “Dear Marie” has been Brazil’s song. I couldn’t wait to hear this one! I’m so glad he played it! The “ohhh” parts are amazing. “Thank you guys so much for coming out this evening and sending so much love and appreciation from afar, when I’m in the States I see it every night that I’m laying in bed on my phone, I read it every morning somewhere, you say ‘Come to Brazil.’ And I have come to Brazil because I love you and I’d like to come here for the rest of my life,” John said.  

Before he launched into the song Uncle John gave us some words of advice about turning 40.  “I want to tell you something that I learned. The only thing I would ever have to tell someone about being 40; watch out how much time you spend waiting for stuff to be over. Watch out. You know, we all got flights, and we got jobs, we got traffic that we gotta wait through, but watch out for waiting for too much stuff to be over. Never wish for less time. Waiting for something to be over is just wishing for less time. ‘I wish there was less time right now. I wish there was less time on this flight. I wish there was less time in this car. I wish there was less time in this week. I wish there was less time in this year.’ And before you know it, you’ll be 40, and that’ll be beautiful, but from that point forward memories take on a whole different life and the future takes on a whole different life. Never wish for less time. And that’s what you do when you wait for stuff to be over.”

During the beginning of “Gravity” the stage lights were on and everyone held up their phones for lights and I took a moment to video it near one of his solos b/c it was truly a sight to see, as this was one of the largest venues John has played in his career. That’s when I noticed the stage lights were off, but you could still see the stage, it was still illuminated in the lights from the phones. “Chapter 5: Epilogue” popped on the screen, but then the theme to “The Search for Everything” started playing and the credits rolled through. It was 11:15 p.m., the show was over.

If this could be nothing but tears, it’d pretty much sum up how I feel about the show and the love I and Brazil have for John Mayer.

Daniel Prakopcyk Photography