There are moments in a career that work like a turning point.
Moments where everything you’ve been building suddenly meets an unexpected opportunity.
For me, one of those moments was in November 2013, when I had the chance to open Justin Bieber’s concert in Paraguay.
Before that stage
At that time I was part of a duo with my brother Giuliano called Noi.
The name came from Italian and meant «us.»
Today it makes me smile to remember it, but at the time it perfectly represented what we were living: two brothers trying to build something together.
The project lasted around six months, but they were six months of a lot of work.
We recorded, produced, promoted, and searched for our own identity at a moment when the music industry was going through a huge transformation.
A turning-point era
2013 was a hinge year.
There was still a strong culture around physical albums, radio, and television, but at the same time a new way of consuming music was starting to grow.
YouTube was gaining more and more relevance.
Spotify was starting to change the way people discovered artists.
Social media was becoming a fundamental tool.
We released an album called Imagino, with a pop, ballads, and pop-rock proposal.
At that time digital competition still didn’t have the scale it has today, and that allowed our material to find important spaces.
Songs started playing on the radio.
Press coverage appeared.
The project started gaining momentum.
And that’s where something I’ve confirmed many times over the years showed up:
Opportunity comes easier when you’re already prepared to receive it.
The unexpected call
That year Justin Bieber was coming to Paraguay with the Believe Tour.
The production company García Group was in charge of the concert at the Jockey Club.
And, somehow, our work reached the right people.
We were selected by the production team and the artist’s executive team to be the support band.
It was our first truly big concert.
It wasn’t just performing one song.
It was presenting ourselves in front of a massive audience.
A different format
Something that made that moment special is that we weren’t just a duo with guitar and voice.
We had a full band.
Guest musicians.
Instrumentalists.
A show built to defend the songs live.
And that was one of the first big lessons:
The song has to work outside the studio.
You can have a great recorded production, but on stage you need to be able to sustain it.
In front of more than 20,000 people
Walking onto the Jockey Club stage in front of more than 20,000 people was a feeling hard to explain.
It was the first time I felt something very particular:
Hearing the audience sing our own songs.
That connection you imagine when you write a song, but rarely get the chance to actually live.
Music stopped being something that only existed inside a studio or a computer.
It was happening live.
With real people singing something we had created.
An unexpected moment
The concert also had a fairly unusual situation.
At that time Justin Bieber was going through a very high-media-attention period, and his arrival on stage was delayed.
We had a show prepared for around thirty minutes.
But since he wasn’t ready to go on yet, production told us to keep going.
So we kept playing.
And kept playing.
We ended up doing almost an hour of show.
That’s when something happened that I’ll never forget.
Dan Kanter, Justin Bieber’s guitarist and musical director of his band during that era, stood watching our show from the side of the stage.
He even took a photo with us playing in the background.
For a young band living its first big stage, that gesture meant a lot.
The importance of being ready
Looking back, I don’t think that opportunity appeared just because of one song.
It appeared because of a combination of things.
Having released material.
Having a project put together.
Having a media presence.
Having a prepared band.
Having the courage to accept a huge challenge.
Because an opportunity like that doesn’t give you time to start preparing.
When it arrives, all you can do is show what you’ve already built.
That day I learned something
Opening a concert for an international artist isn’t just about sharing a stage with someone famous.
It’s about understanding that, even if the stage is bigger, the responsibility is the same:
Defend your songs.
Connect with people.
And be ready for whatever situation comes up.
That day was my first experience in front of a massive audience.
And it was also a confirmation of something I still believe today:
Opportunities show up, but you have to be ready to step on stage when your turn comes.
También disponible en español.
Deja un comentario