“Boa noite, Évora. Aqui é Xutos & Pontapés!” Wohooo! =:-D

OK, I gotta admit that I didn’t really have the slightest idea what to expect. As I wrote in the preview, I hadn’t seen a “real” Xutos & Pontapés concert before, just a few songs at a festival and at an acoustic concert. And the DVD of course, but that one didn’t really convince me – liked the CD version much better, the video was rather lame, in my opinion. Still, I was SO excited to finally get to see Xutos!

I spent the day in Évora, walking up and down all day, feeling dead and incapable of walking when I got back to the hotel to change. *sigh* And on the way back, I had passed a poster that said “21:00” instead of “21:30”, so I decided better safe than sorry and got going right away. As the concert took place a bit outside of town, that meant about 40 minutes walking. *argh* But I made it and found the stage and the entry without problems. They even had my ticket! *yeah* And when I picked it up, they told me: “Comece as onze. Starts at eleven.” – uh, great, it wasn’t even half past eight yet…

Anyway, the doors opened just after I got there. There were two short lines, but only about… hmm… 50 people altogether? So not much of a problem, and I didn’t want to get to the front row anyway (way too embarrassing if you don’t really have a clue about the lyrics, uhem *g*). But the cool part: There was a small “pit” in front of the stage, enclosed by some catwalks that lead out to a small “stage in front of the stage”. And it was no problem getting in there – ok, of course it meant no drinks and no toilets until and during the concert, but that was feasible (with beer prices of 2 Euros for a little sip – which is okay, but not for Portugal *g*). In the end it turned out that there wasn’t even a reason for this: The entry to the “front of stage” wasn’t even closed, and it didn’t get fully crowded either. So cool! And this was actually my biggest impression of the concert: It was incredibly relaxed. No pushing, no shoving, no nothing. Only smiling faces whereever you looked. (Also from the security, which seemed to be well organized as well, something I hadn’t expected, to be honest.) Everybody was having fun, and it was much more of a “together” than “every man for himself”. Awesome! =:-)

Next were two and a half hours of waiting – but it was okay, the weather was nice, lots of people to watch. I spent the time figuring out which of the t-shirts I wanted to buy. Turned out they didn’t sell choice one, and choice two was sold out in my size. *grr* But nobody else wore choice three, so that makes me an individual now, I guess. Or something like that. *g*

And then it was finally time for Xutos! =:-D The beginning was strange – they came through the audience (which of course was hard to see from the “front of stage”, but there were monitors), arrived at the small stage in front, and then they just waved and didn’t seem to know what to do, until they decided to go on to the “real” stage. *g* They started playing – and I spent the first three, four songs wondering how it felt. Was it worth coming here? Amazing? Boring? Hmm… Already in the beginning, they played a lot of songs I didn’t know – that’s something I hadn’t expected, ’cause I thought they’d play about the same as on their “new” DVD. But then, they just released a NEW DVD a few weeks ago, so the other one can’t be THAT new anymore. *lol* It stayed like that throughout the concert, that was a bit of a downside. But then, there were at least two songs that I loved right away, so I guess I’ll have to pay Worten a visit tomorrow to buy some new CDs. *g*

I was absolutely impressed by the professional show – mostly because I hadn’t really expected that. OK, the stage was a clear hint, so I could have guessed it, but still… There was a huge light show, including fireworks and fire fountains, two big monitors, and of course the other stage in front of the stage. “Front” meaning behind me and the other people in the pit in front. In the middle of the concert, the whole band went there to play a few songs. I found that really funny – even though we could only see their backs. Oh, and the occasional mean smile whenever one of them turned around to face us. *gg* Really nice and funny. And again very relaxed: Imagine Die Ärzte doing that at some concert – the fans in the front row would be SO annoyed and hating everything and everybody. Here, the people in front just turned around and kept on having fun! =:-)

Xutos had a few guests on stage that played along on some songs – I didn’t know any of them, so I didn’t really care, but they fit in nicely and they all got a warm welcome from the crowd.

It was great being up front and really getting to see the band. Turned out it’s all the same as always. =:-) Even though I hadn’t seen them before, I noticed when something went wrong, and they were just joking about it and having fun playing the show. Just really… relaxed. (I’m overusing this word, I know, but it’s just so true!) And also “the same as always”: Zé Pedro is an incredible poser, but all the more difficult stuff was played by the other guitar player. *g* Just the way it’s got to be! =;-)

Honestly, I had been expecting a bit more from the crowd. Like shouting and screaming and – yes – pushing and crossed fists (signaling “X”) in the air. There was a bit of it (except for the pushing *g*), but somehow, I had expected more. But it might be that there was more “outside” of the stage, I don’t know. For me, it felt a bit like the fun didn’t really start until the end of the show, when after some fireworks, the sprinklers came on and everybody in the front started dancing in the rain. Or in the “Chuva dissolvente”, rather. *g*

Xutos went off stage, there was some shouting (no “Por-tu-gal” though, shoot, I missed that – now I can’t tweet about how I want the audience to do that at a Ärzte concert once, everybody starting to shout “Deut-schland” before the encores *lol*), and Xuuuuutos came back! Some more songs, and then: “Minha casinha”. Uuuuh – no! NO! Not yet! Come on, you just started… uh, two hours ago. Waaaaah!

They played it, they said good-bye, they took a loooong time to say good-bye… and they came back once more for two final songs. Yeah! =:-) I was desperately waiting for “Vida malvada”, but they didn’t play it. =:-( Too bad, but “Maria” was a nice conclusion as well. They went off, and at the same time some fireworks started, so now it was clear they wouldn’t come back.

I got myself a t-shirt, walked 40 minutes back, fell into my hotel bed and decided that
a) this was not the last time I’ve seen Xutos
b) next time it’s not gonna be only one concert
c) I have to dig out my Portuguese again – I knew it too well to just forget about it
d) a Xutos & Pontapés fansite (or at least “lyrics translation site”) would be a good way to do that, right?

A huge OBRIGADA to Xutos for a fantastic concert – loved it, and I will be back! =:-D