THE DOORS of the 21st CENTURY

Credicard Hall, São Paulo, Brazil

Friday, October 29, 2004

fan review, submitted by Fabio

This is my personal review of the Doors of the 21st Century concert in 
São Paulo, 10/29/2004. I'm sure I was one of the few people there that 
had the opportunity of seeing them on another occasion. In my case, I 
saw a concert at Tower Theatre, April 22, 2003. It's really something 
different when you a basis for comparison.  One of the best things I 
remember from the concert I attended in USA was that Ray acted 
wonderfully. Always talkative, laughing all the time, and commanding 
the concert. Although Ian was energetic and wonderful, as always (I've 
seen the guy with The Cult twice), Ray was the spirit of The Doors. 
Robby is always a gentleman.

With that in mind let's talk about the concert in São Paulo. 
Unfortunately, I missed the first six songs because I had to work (!). 
When I arrived, Five To One was being played. The first thing I noticed 
is that there wasn't a screen with the "crazy" videos and animations 
being displayed while they played. First thing, no screen. But it's ok, 
the visual effects (lights, etc.) were much better than in 2003, I 
think. I heard Ray said something about Kerry, before Five To One. 
That's good! Anyway, the band then started People Are Strange -- not the 
semi-acoustic version they play sometimes, but the full version, with 
drums and bass. Very nice, indeed. Robby didn't sound so comfortable 
with Spanish Caravan this time, as he did at the Tower. But, I have to 
say, the music was played perfectly. Wonderful, as always.

Break On Through: it started as usual, but suddenly a bunch of guys got 
onstage with some percussion stuff. They played together with the band, 
in the middle section (she gets high...she gets high...). Ian didn't 
sing the Dead cats/Dead rats. My opinion? Most people that went to the 
concert DON'T like samba, as strange as it may sound coming from a 
Brazilian. The experience was ok for me, as I saw the "rock" version of 
Break once. Well, this is not a criticism, but in my opinion they 
should have played it twice, if Ray and the band really felt like 
including samba in the middle.

The Changeling was amazing! When I saw my first Doors concert, they 
were not playing LA Woman. I really love the song, and it was a 
wonderful surprise to hear it being played. I expected something else 
from LA Woman, but except for the "classics" (Riders, LAW), that's all 
from the album. Touch Me was also played very nicely, and very 
energetic too. The audience went crazy.

LA Woman started, and something went wrong in the middle, in the "I see 
your hair is burning..." section. It sounded a bit strange, but they 
managed to keep the music going. But I missed seeing Ray's video on the 
screen.  They went offstage, and after a while, the thunders started: 
Riders was wonderful, with an additional sequence of keyboards played 
by Ray. The band left the stage again, but came back for Light My Fire. 
In the solo, a guy with a tambourine went back onstage and did a sort 
of solo-competition with Robby, Ray, and Ty. While he was playing with 
Ray, they did something similar to Break On Through again, but it was 
not the music itself, just a fast bossa-nova. Then the concert ended.

It was very short. I know I missed the beginning, and that's not the 
point. Besides, that'll probably be the last and one chance of seeing 
them in Brazil. Ray didn't look comfortable with the audience. He 
didn't interact as much as he usually does in USA or some European 
concerts I heard. I think he wasn't prepared for the Brazilian 
audiences. People threw some t-shirts on the stage. Not so many, but a 
few. One of them went over Ray's head, not hitting him. He got a little 
upset, made a not very friendly face, and asked people not to throw 
things at him, because all they would get was to have the keyboard 
broken! Not very nice.  The problem here is that, different from 
concerts in USA or Europe, there are much more young guys attending the 
concert, really nice people that love the Doors music. The band and the 
audience are separated by dozens of security guards. This creates a 
mood where the only interaction the audience can have with the band is 
throwing things! But I've never seen anything dangerous being thrown. 
Nothing similar to what happened to David Bowie in Europe, by the way. 
Well, that was his first time in Brazil, so it's ok. 

I heard also a story about the next night (10/30) in Rio de Janeiro. It seems people 
in the audience started begging for The End, after the concert ended. 
Ray said "we don't play that without Jim", but people still begged. Not 
everybody here understands English, and less than that know the reasons 
why they don't want to play The End without Jim. I heard he got a 
little upset, and then he said "Father, yes son, I want to kill you. 
Mother, I want to fuck you, now GO HOME!". Not very nice of him. 
Anyway...

Ian, on the other hand, was AMAZING. That was the fourth time I saw him 
in a concert (I saw two of The Cult's), and by far, this was his best 
performance. He dominated the concert, jumping, dancing, talking, and 
most of all, feeling very comfortable with the audience's response to 
what he was doing. I'm sure many people that didn't think he could fit 
Jim's leather pants went home loving the band and, most of all, Ian. He 
rocked!

Final words: I loved the concert. The band was wonderful. The songs are 
being played in a much more energetic tone. Ian was...I have no words. 
I hope they come back here someday, but I don't even know if Ray would 
like to come again! God know his reasons.

Pictures from the concerts are being shared in many Doors communities 
at orkut, and some of them can be seen at 
http://www.fotolog.net/thedoors_cover and also 
http://www.fotolog.net/kamal_

Set list (as it was played):
Intro:O Fortuna
1 - Roadhouse Blues
2 - Peace Frog
3 - Love Me Two Times
4 - Not To Touch The Earth
5 - Alabama Song
6 - Back Door Man
7 - Five To One
8 - People Are Strange
9 - Spanish Caravan
10 - Break On Through ("samba" version)
11 - When The Music's Over
12 - The Changeling
13 - Touch Me
14 - LA Woman
15 - Riders On The Storm
16 - Light My Fire


(thanks to Fabio Di Dario)