This gig was still part of the tour I’ve attended late last year (see here), but you know me – when the show’s good, there’s no such thing as “seen-it-too-many-times-already”. 
Plus, while Hard Club is that glorious big-shot venue, Canecas is your precious underground bar, with rock posters on the walls and a cabinet with bottles of Jack Daniels… a lot cozier and friendly. So I think I ended up liking this gig a little bit more than the one at Hard Club.
The parade of hits was pretty much the same – “Hallelujah”, “How”, the ballad “Alone” (which singer Rui Duarte dedicated to his mother), “Anjo da Guarda”, “Black Tie”, “Thoughts” (after asking the crowd who had been born after 1992, as the following song had been written when they were still “jumping from the left one to the right one” – meaning as a spermatozoon, from the left ball to the right one. Portuguese – we have such a way with words 
).
When referring to the epic speech that Dee Snider gave almost 30 years ago (proving that rockers and metal heads aren’t schlubs) and listing some “illustrious” professions such as lawyers or doctors, Rui highlighted “law enforcement agents”, as Pedro Melo Preto, owner of Canecas, is a cop. Obviously, TWISTED SISTER‘s cover of “We’re Not Gonna Take It” followed suit.
Then came the song which R.A.M.P. had taken “twenty philosophy degrees” in order to write it. to include the meaning of life in it (or something like that – Rui said so much about it that only the twenty degrees stuck to my memory 
) – the subliminal message of… “Fuck You”.
There was no need to tell the crowd to sit on the floor for the other ballad “For A While” – everybody knew that was the procedure. The BANGLES‘ cover of “Walk Like An Egyptian” came in honor of “Pop In Rio”. Yes, the correct name is Rock In Rio, but the true nature of the festival is much more pop than rock – even if R.A.M.P. themselves had played there, as Rui reminded. And “Try Again” was set to be the last song, but the band surprised us with an awesome cover of MOTÖRHEAD‘s “Ace Of Spades”.
Look at Rui‘s smile of satisfaction on the last pic in the gallery and you’ll get an image of everybody’s faces by the end of the show.
Front Row Forever 