Gojira + Equaleft – Porto, Portugal
Gojira, Equaleft
Hard Club, Porto (PT)
7th July 2016
Promoted by Prime Artists
July and this was the first time this year that I’ve worked with Prime Artists. They’ve promoted several gigs lately but all in Lisbon and I haven’t had the chance to cover those almost 200 mi. And even though it makes sense to promote a show in a more central, strategic city like the capital, after last night I start wondering if it isn’t also related to the conditions offered by the venues. Hard Club, seriously, what the hell happened to you?! After Ghost, last November, I thought you’d realized it was time to do something about the sauna-temperatures that place can achieve. You indeed bought huge fans to help the AC system in its job, but unless you actually turn them on… And you may think that I’m overreacting, that just a couple of lines on the subject would suffice, but when a band like Gojira is playing a sold-out show and it’s forced to shorten the set because the musicians are close to passing out due to the heat, yeah, a whole paragraph on Hard Club’s greed and lack of professionalism is appropriate.
Now let’s focus on the good things – the concerts. There’s always some disregard for local, smaller bands, but this time almost everybody was present when Equaleft got on stage, at nine o’clock sharp. When Gojira headlined Vagos Open Air a couple of years ago, there was a petition for Equaleft to be included in the bill, as their sound is the best match to the French’s. At the time it wasn’t possible but I guess you can’t fight what’s meant to be. This was also the first gig of guitarist Miguel Martins, after a short introduction in December, when he played just a couple of songs (report here), but it was such a milestone in Equaleft’s career that former guitarist Veggy flew all the way from Brazil to take part in it.
I’ve been to too many Equaleft shows to know how good they are and what kind of positive feedback they get from the crowd, but this being their first time playing in front of so many people, it brought me a special sense of joy & pride – there was a fair share of longtime fans, but they were a novelty to the majority and I saw them surrender to their power groove. And to the chocolate butter cookies they gave away in the end of the show, as it’s their tradition, when singer Miguel returned on stage after a little crowdsurfing (also his usual).
In thick smoke, strobe lights and louder-than-hell roars, Gojira took the stage with “Toxic Garbage Island” – and from the very first second to the last, the crowd gave a new meaning to the words enfants sauvages. They were restless ven during the tribal drum solo of Mario Duplantier, clapping their hands to the rhythm nonstop.
When Joe Duplantier addressed the audience, apart from the little pleasantries that he knew how to say in Portuguese, he said they loved our country and compared the city of Porto to a fairy-tale. Later he would mention the UEFA Euro 2016, saying “congrats on the final”, and as France had beaten Germany minutes before the show, he said how the victory would be good to France, given all the social-economical crisis their country was going through. We didn’t take it bad – there wasn’t a single whistle or boo – but the way “POR-TU-GAL! POR-TU-GAL!” echoed through the venue, showed him we weren’t keen on letting them win easily.
“Shooting Star” would end the show after about one hour and a quarter, with Mario stage-diving into the eager crowd. “Explosia” should have been the last, but they couldn’t take the heat any longer, as aforementioned. Still, band and audience left “hot club” (as Joe called it) with their hearts full.
Text & photos by Renata “Pieni” Lino
Full gallery in our Facebook page here.
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