South America 2014 - a tour "diary"

[jarmo]

Hello, and welcome to a recap of Guns N' Roses' tour of South America earlier in 2014.

Some might call this a tour diary, whatever you wanna call it, hope you enjoy it.


March 18 - Travel day: Home to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

No sleep, get to airport and fly to Amsterdam. Still no sleep.
Have a crappy sandwich for lunch and board the plane to Rio de Janeiro.
Finally get some sleep on the flight over. Don't remember leaving Schiphol airport...

Land in the evening and get picked up at the airport, then driven to Barra da Tijuca where the hotel and venue are located. Get my room key, go up and the door won't open.

Back to the lobby, new room keycard and new instructions. Get an employee to take me up to the other tower.

Door opens, get in and start to open my suitcase to take a shower, before going out for dinner, and notice... Somebody else's things in the bathroom!
Closer inspection reveals clothes in the closet as well. Obviously I got somebody else's room!

Get my suitcase and go down to the lobby, new instructions and new keycard. Back to original room in the first tower, and now the door opens.
Quick shower and go downstairs to meet some friends for a quick dinner (beef, rice & beans - I'm in Brazil after all). Back to hotel and sleep.

Hard to believe this is all in the same day as when I left home....


March 19 - Day before show

Have breakfast. They have Pao de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread), and coffee. 


Pao de Queijo

Then go to the venue. It's only a short van ride from the hotel in Barra da Tijuca.

Spend the day there and we go have lunch at a restaurant that has a buffet and rodizio.

Which means they bring cuts of meat to your table and slice off pieces if you want some. At first they bring all the cheap cuts.Think "chewy"...

Back to the venue before heading back to the hotel.

[GypsySoul]

Door opens, get in and start to open my suitcase to take a shower, before going out for dinner, and notice... Somebody else's things in the bathroom!
Closer inspection reveals clothes in the closet as well. Obviously I got somebody else's room!

That made me LOL!!! 

As many times as your luggage got lost on previous tours, did you consider this a positive omen?? 

[MNGS717]

Would be interested in reading more..  Seems like something is missing?

[nick6sic6]

C'mon Jarmo,this is just a preview of the actual diary.

[jarmo]

March 20 - Show day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Get to venue and hear about some guy selling spots in line. That's not cool...

Coffee machine and great food in catering.

Great first show on the tour. Nice to be back in Brazil again.

Show photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjVnCSrm


March 21 - Travel day to Belo Horizonte.

Back to the airport in the morning.
Staying at the same hotel where we stayed at in 2010, so it's familiar. And I get into my room, and there's nobody else's stuff there! 

Manage to have a in room safe malfunction where it stops working and I can't get it to open before going out for lunch. Great.
Two different service guys later it's working and I can get head to grab some food with my friends G&R.

Walk across the street and grab a quick lunch at the mall's food court. Then to the supermarket to buy water before heading back to the hotel.
Later on in the day I have to deal with a computer related emergency.
Manage to sneak in a little nap before my girlfriend arrives and we go out for dinner. Unfortunately her flight is delayed so most food places around the hotel are closed when we go out....
Get back to the hotel and see fans celebrating Frank's birthday a few days early.

[jarmo]

March 22 - show day in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

It's a warm day in BH. The show today is outside the football stadium, that will eventually host several World Cup matches. It's sunny but there's some clouds in the sky. Hopefully it won't rain.


This VW model was manufactured in Brazil until only a few months ago. The festival paint job is not standard.


After the show, I see a guy run across the GA area diving over the barricade with several security guys after him. Wonder what that was about.

Eat some pasta with the local production team after the show before going back to the hotel. It didn't rain!

Show photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjVrkKhk

[jarmo]

March 23 - travel day to Brasilia

Fly from BH to Brasilia, the country's capital. It's a weird city. It was planned and constructed in a few years in the 1950s/60s. The streets and neighborhoods have a special naming scheme instead of regular names. Numbered city blocks and sectors for specified activities, such as the Hotel Sector, the Embassy Sector and so on.
So for example, the address of our hotel was Conj. A - Lote 01 - Bloco F SHS Quadra 6 - Asa Sul - Bras?lia - DF
SHS means it's in the southern hotel sector. Asa Sul refers to the south side of the main avenue....

Most of the place just reminds me of a mixture of what I think was 1970s Eastern Europe mixed with modern Brazilian architecture. Lots of grey concrete.

It rains in Brasilia. There's a lake on the street outside my window. Not exactly sightseeing weather today.



Head out in a cab to get dinner at Beirute. It's an old bar that's been around for decades serving middle eastern food, and ice cold beers.

[jarmo]

March 24 - day before show in Brasilia

Wake up for my breakfast coffee. Then off to the venue. Which is also familiar from 2010. Except now there's a shiny new footbal stadium next door ready for the World Cup.
Wearing my Gremio shirt today. For those that don't know, Brazilians are pretty interested in football (or as you US Americans say, soccer). I'm wearing the shirt of a team from Porto Alegre, in the south. Wrong shirt in wrong part of the wrong town might mean trouble. But today I should be ok considering this city has no football team in the first division!
Several locals working at the venue give me the thumbs up.

Spend the day at the venue. Luckily there's a coffee machine there.

Take a little walk to a mall next to the hotel in the evening. They got some exotic ice cream flavors!

Cupuacu ice cream. It's is a tropical rainforest tree related to cacao.

We don't have this back home...

[gunsbetterthanever]

Loving this!

[Gunsguy]

I love this Jarmo, great stuff

[MNGS717]

March 24 - day before show in Brasilia

Wake up for my breakfast coffee. Then off to the venue. Which is also familiar from 2010. Except now there's a shiny new footbal stadium next door ready for the World Cup.
Wearing my Gremio shirt today. For those that don't know, Brazilians are pretty interested in football (or as you US Americans say, soccer). I'm wearing the shirt of a team from Porto Alegre, in the south. Wrong shirt in wrong part of the wrong town might mean trouble. But today I should be ok considering this city has no football team in the first division!
Several locals working at the venue give me the thumbs up.

Glad you didn't have any trouble!  I was reading the news last week and saw the article about the poor man who was killed by a thrown toilet bowl at Brazil stadium.  Many of these riots probably involved massive alcohol drinking.  At Penn State college there are times when the city has tried to pay all bars to stay closed on certain weekends to avoid rioting.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/soccer/brazilian-soccer-fan-killed-toilet-bowl-thrown-stands-article-1.1778364

I like your other stories so far.  I like to learn about the foods and also see more photos.  I forgot about seeing photo of that GN'R mini bus!  It's cool!

[jarmo]

Thanks.


Yeah, there's certain things down in South America that reminds me of how things used to be back here in Europe. Hooliganism is one of those things. I really hope they manage to keep people in check during the World Cup. I mean those who are there to start shit at the games....

Anyway, one of the nice things about traveling is that you get to try foods that you might not see elsewhere. Or something that is originally from there. 




/jarmo

[Reinaldo]

Great diary, great read, Jarmo!!
Good to know you always have a great time here and enjoy our culture (even when awkward things happen).

MNGS, that case has nothing to do with alcohol. That was pure hooliganism nonsense act, as Jarmo guessed right. But I don't believe these two things will be problems during the World Cup.

The real concern is more about security (thieves, as always), "black blocs" and violent protests (allegedly against corruption and huge amount of public money spent on stadiums instead of hospitals, schools, etc - Brazil and its eternal social problems and "great" politicians).

[MNGS717]

Great diary, great read, Jarmo!!
Good to know you always have a great time here and enjoy our culture (even when awkward things happen).

MNGS, that case has nothing to do with alcohol. That was pure hooliganism nonsense act, as Jarmo guessed right. But I don't believe these two things will be problems during the World Cup.

The real concern is more about security (thieves, as always), "black blocs" and violent protests (allegedly against corruption and huge amount of public money spent on stadiums instead of hospitals, schools, etc - Brazil and its eternal social problems and "great" politicians).

OK I understand now.  In America sometimes fans have a small fight but never entire gangs of fans declaring war against gangs of other fans.   

[jarmo]

March 25 - show day in Brasilia, Brazil

Was thinking about going out sightseeing, but wake up and it looks like it'll rain. Sleep more.
Wake up for breakfast later.

As I mentioned earlier, this venue is familiar from 2010. Except the offices are now in another building outside the venue. Maybe it's a temporary thing.

Before the show a TV crew interviews the whole band. Frank is wished a happy birthday on TV, as well as during the show.

Show photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjVAqpC8

March 26 - travel day to Sao Paulo

Get to the airport, it seems like a different terminal than where we arrived. Because when we arrived, it was not this terminal, something off to the side. Have a coffee and wait.

Land at Congonhas airport. Which is always pretty cool since it's kinda in the middle of Sao Paulo. Stuck in the middle of the urban jungle. You fly over high rises as you are landing. Then once you land, the runway is short so it's an abrupt stop compared to most other airports.
Then walk outside and jump in a van to the hotel. Not bad traffic at this moment. Which is surprising!

It's a very nice hotel. Nice neighborhood too.
There's a bunch of fans outside and in the lobby bar.

Walk around the neighborhood and get a sandwich in a local bar. I manage to get my sandwich and a beer with my limited Portuguese. And then a coffee.....


March 27 - Day off in Sao Paulo

Meet a friend from Rio Grande do Sul and we take a cab to the (food) market.
I have a mission and it is to eat the famous Mortadella sandwich at Bar do Mane. I've failed at this every time I've been to Sao Paulo in the past. Not this time!



After the huge sandwich, I wander around the market and try all kinds of exotic fruits. Also get some cupuacu juice. Then once we're done, we wander outside and take the subway back to the hotel.



Go out for a walk in the neighborhood and have a coffee with my friend G.

[Shiratamaniax]

 :love:I love your diaries! 

[slane92]

Terrific. Very interesting.

Thanks Jarmo.

[nick6sic6]

Dumb question,
how was your stomach after this sandwich and mostly after those juices ? 

[Sillything]

Axl Rose is one of the most intriguing and mysterious rock stars of all time. He's like Jim Morrison, a little older and heavier. And you get to hang with him, sort of or whatever. And the tour diary is about your coffee breaks. No criticism really. You do a lot for Guns and for the fans. But man! The frustration you know. I mean there must be so much more to tell! Not gossip shit like witch toilettpaper Axl uses, but like real insight.  Maybe an interview Del James-style like the b-side of the Patience 12" from 89??

[14 Yrs Of Silence]

Axl Rose is one of the most intriguing and mysterious rock stars of all time. He's like Jim Morrison, a little older and heavier. And you get to hang with him, sort of or whatever. And the tour diary is about your coffee breaks. No criticism really. You do a lot for Guns and for the fans. But man! The frustration you know. I mean there must be so much more to tell! Not gossip shit like witch toilettpaper Axl uses, but like real insight.  Maybe an interview Del James-style like the b-side of the Patience 12" from 89??

I think we all wonder about this.  I get it, I get why he doesn't want to or feel comfortable talking about Axl.  But given the forum Jarmo has, it would be cool to get a little insight once in a while. Instead we get the same line that he basically knows nothing more than we do.