You’ve heard of Pink Money, but have you heard of Brazil Money?

When I was growing up, the bands and pop stars I admired were always very far from where I lived, and the idea of their tours actually reaching my country, Brazil, was an outlandish teenage dream. If pop stars did venture south of the equator, it was an anomaly, and the Brazilian fans of any given artist knew they wouldn’t have the opportunity to see them perform any time soon if they missed out on the event.

This dynamic started to change—at least in Rio de Janeiro, where I lived at the time—in 2011, when the Rock in Rio festival made a comeback and brought international pop stars and bands to the city, offering a relatively affordable (compared to festival tickets nowadays) opportunity to see globally acclaimed acts. I went to see Rihanna and Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the festival hosted other amazing headliners like Shakira, Coldplay, and many, many others. 

I was 21, and it was my first festival experience. It felt like this was my one and only chance to hear the music I loved so much live, and obviously, I had the time of my life. I remember climbing on my friend’s boyfriend’s shoulders to see a shirtless Anthony Kiedis running up and down the stage behind a sea of people, singing along to some of my favorite songs. 

It really did feel like a dream come true, especially because I had heard of this kind of exhilaration before and I was finally experiencing it. Growing up, my dad had always told me about the Rock in Rio concerts he attended, especially Freddie Mercury’s performance of “Love of My Life” on the festival stage in 1985. It was the third and last time Queen would ever perform in Brazil, and Mercury was so surprised by how many people knew the lyrics to his song that he stopped singing to listen to the crowd. That audience-singer exchange became so legendary for Queen fans in Brazil that it almost felt like I had lived it. And at that festival in 2011, I witnessed memorable performances too. It felt like an echo of the past, but in the present.

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