At the penultimate show of his career in Sao Paulo, Milton Nascimento highlighted some special performances. On Thursday night (3) he invited singersongwriter Seu Jorge to the stage at Espaço Unimed, a packed house in Barra Funda, west of the city, to see “The Last Music Session”. The tour marks Bituca’s departure from the stage, now 80 years old.
“I want to invite my great friend who has had a problem down south recently,” announced Milton, referring to the racist attacks Seu Jorge faced at a concert in Porto Alegre in October.
Together they shared three songs “Clube da Esquina”, “Crença” and “Tudo que Você Podia Ser” which were not included in the original farewell tour script.
Seu Jorge took the opportunity to announce that “Crença” will be the opening track of his next album “Otherside”, which is planned for 2023.
“You have no idea what emotion and honor it means to be on stage alongside this man,” said Seu Jorge, unable to hide the tears that escaped his sunglasses. “You are the great inspiration for me to do what I do. You are everything that is most beautiful.”
The turnout, which came as a surprise, took place about 40 minutes into Milton’s show.
Another guest, less surprising, was the singer Simone, who had already performed in shows in São Paulo from “A Última Sessão de Música”. She shared “Nada Sera Como Antes” with Milton and Zé Ibarra, Bituca’s trusty young squire on recent tours.
In front of the guests, most of the Minas Gerais of Cariocas had already briefly mentioned Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in last Sunday’s election (30). After singing the final lines of “Pai Grande” “These are my people now / If I’m here, I brought it from there / A love so far from lies / I want everyone to love me “, he changed the sentence “particularly after the day before yesterday”, which leads to a slight confusion of the dates.
Even before the show, the 6,300 people present at Espaço Unimed had experienced a political clash. While a large part of the audience sang for Lula, another, smaller one, responded with “Lula thief”. Last Sunday’s winning part was then supplemented with “Lula, Thief, Stole My Heart”.
The performance in a solemn tone rather than a farewell lasted two hours and twenty minutes and had about 35 songs.
Much of the repertoire stemmed from Bituca’s musical output between the late 1960s and early 1980s. Milton Nascimento made his mark in history with albums such as Clube da Esquina (1972, with partner Lô Borges), Minas (1975), Geraes (1976) and Milagre dos Peixes (1973). of world music based on how Minas Gerais, the state where he grew up, sang.
So he condensed the best of his unique musicianship, playing flirts with rock (The Beatles), jazz, blues, bossa nova and Latin rhythms with the right to pay homage to Mercedes Sosa in “Volver a Los 17”.
Despite having to count on the luxurious help of Zé Ibarra, 25 years old, from Rio de Janeiro, a member of the Bala Desire group, Bituca’s vitality surprised him. He tried to keep the notes as good as possible, had fun with the audience and with his stage mates, and even played the accordion his first instrument as a child in the show’s opening number. Ponta de Areia”.
In “A Última Sessão de Música” Bituca still celebrates his great life partners the brothers Marcio and Lô Borges, Ronaldo Bastos and above all Fernando Brant. “Wherever you are, I love you,” he told his late friend after singing “Meetings and Farewells.”
On the audience side, emotions took over several generations in classics such as “Para Lennon e McCartney”, “Cais”, “Maria, Maria”, “Caçador de Mim”, “Nos Bailes da Vida” and “Travessia”, which closed the show in the early hours of Friday morning.
“Long live democracy!” Bituca shouted in the final sprint to the delight of the audience.
Milton Nascimento officially bids farewell to the stages of São Paulo this Friday (4) in the same Unimed Space. The tickets are sold out. The final show of the tour will be held on the 13th at Mineirão Stadium in Belo Horizonte, also with closed sales.