Sometimes, in Brazil, things end in Rock too.

I don't care for Rolling Stones or U2. They both performed in Brazil these last few days and only here the concerts would get first page coverage in all major newspapers. I think it's sad: a sign of Brazil's subjugation to cultural imperialism.

Stones free beach concert had one of the biggest crowds ever: 1.2M people (Rod Stewart's Copacabana concert, however, drew a crowd of 3.5 million in 1994). Philipinas has a great account (with pictures) of what was like to be among the regular people watching the show (there was a VIP section with about 5.000 - a lot of VIP's for a poor country). It sounds horrible. And E agora, José??, like myself, tried to watch it on TV but gave up: it was really boring.

U2's concert brought in 70.000 paid fans to a stadium in São Paulo yesterday (there is another concert tonight) and I wish they would stick to the music: Bono, earlier in the day, helped give President Lula a popularity boost by meeting him for some photo-op. Is he aware of the political situation in Brazil right now?

Cartoon: President Lula, hitchhiking on the popularity of the RS: "Does anyone know 'Satisfaction' by heart?"