Brazilian-born, N.Y.C.-based artist Late Again (aka Rafael Melo) told us about his Los Hermanos experience...
Late Again: I have this stubborn opinion that the best things in life are not necessarily the nicest, but rather the ones that cut deeper. So I'll tell you about the time I had a bad trip at my favorite band's reunion tour.
I must've been 19 and one of the few Brazilian bands I cared about as a teenager, Los Hermanos, was getting back together after a long hiatus. If you're not from Brazil, you might know Rodrigo Amarante from Little Joy or the Narcos theme. If you are, you know they've been packing stadiums since the '90s. I went to the concert with my girlfriend at the time. We too had just gotten back together after years and Los Hermanos was one of our things.
Anyway. I didn't smoke much pot. But my girlfriend did. And after someone we befriended in the front pit offered us a joint and each of us took one hit, she looks me in the eye and says "this pot is off". We didn't have time to discuss though. Los Hermanos started their first song, "O Vencedor", and the crowd went wild as Brazilian crowds usually do. I'm hyped. But a couple of songs later, they play "Todo Carnaval Tem Seu Fim" (translation: Every Carnaval Has An End). And I guess the carnaval really ended for me.
My girlfriend's face starts melting before my eyes. I stare at her and say "this pot really is off." Everyone's faces are melting now. "I need to get out of here", I tell her as I drag her out of the crowd, desperately pushing our way through 30,000 people. We get to the first aid station. I tell them I'm dying. They laugh at these two stupid high kids. A kind lady says "you guys should chill under that tree." She gives us some water and lets us be. We took a 30-minute nap and when I woke up the bad trip was gone. I was still out of it, but sober enough to remember you don't die from that stuff, so we made our way back to the show.
Sometimes we mistake relief from pain for happiness. And I gotta say dude... I was happy. We got back to the pit in time for the last song, "O Último Romance," which was one of my favorites. Sure, I missed 90 percent of that concert. But that final moment, hearing my favorite song along with the blissful realization I was not gonna die that night and that my girlfriend was not melting anymore, made it the best gig I ever saw.
Late Again's "All My Exes Moved to the Countryside" single is out now. The I Dreamt I Was Awake EP is out September 4.
Photo by Gabriel Rollinos
