Brazilian closest equivalent to an indie stardom CSS performed their ultra dancing gig at SWU, Brazilian equivalent to Glastonbury. It was the first time in decades Brazilians could experience an open air festival in the countryside - in their own fields. Differently to what goes on in Europe and United States, big audiences are concentrated in metropolis such as São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro. Not for a chance, most of international concerts take place in less than half a dozen venues from September on when most of the festivals in Europe and US are over. But this year an advertising guru called Eduardo Fischer decided to change the way Brazilians consume music festivals. Boosted by the force of Brazilian economy, production companies strengthen their offers and now can do it more easily – but not smoothly. Headliners such as Rage Against the Machine, Kings of Leon, Pixies, Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Matthews Band, The Mars Volta and Pixies were around and teamed up by the teenage appeal of Linkin Park, Incubus, Avenged Sevenfold and a good selection of Brazilian independent artists. Regardless a clear disrespect with the public (i.e. transport and food), the festival ran well. Almost 150 thousand people attended to Fazenda Maeda (Maeda Farm) during the three days of the festival while thousands of others boosted their news on social media networks. It has to be said, though that whereas Glastonbury has its roots in the hippie movement, SWU was created up to be a regional super brand. Its owner has a strong career in doing the same with beers and cars and maybe has failed in some aspects of this so called "green festival" (SWU stands for Starts With You). But certainly did not fail in making commercial arrangements with advertising agencies and the giant Globo TV network. By the way, during the RATM concert, a inflamed crowd tried to put the barrers (then dividing the vip area from the rest of the public) down and Zac de La Rocha announced his support to the leftist organization MST, a traditional comrade of Lula and a supporter of his pupil to be first Brazilian woman president, Dilma Rousseff. The audio system in the arena went complete down two times for over a couple of minutes (the band never noticed) and the part was cut off by Globo TV.
SWU - Fazenda Maeda - 9 - 11October

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