Text by Patricia C. Figueiredo
Sepultura recently kicked off their final tour, Celebrating Life Through Death , and passed through the capital of Rio Grande do Sul on the 21st with an eloquent show that drove the audience wild. Tickets had been sold out for several months since the band announced the end of their career.
Many fans must have wondered if the show would actually happen, since Porto Alegre was once again hit by a strong storm that left about a million homes and businesses without electricity, but the day passed and the show was confirmed at the Araújo Vianna Auditorium. The venue gradually filled up; the city's chaotic traffic on rainy days was certainly a problem, but by around 8:30 pm the place was already packed with eager fans.
The opening percussion of “Refuse/Resist,” accompanied by the rhythmic flashing of strobe lights and the sight of only the band members' silhouettes on stage, was a perfect combination for the climax of the wait for the show. The audience vibrated euphorically and greeted the band with shouts of “Sepultura! Sepultura! Sepultura!” between the opening tracks “Territory” and “Slave New Word.”.
Due to the auditorium structure with rows of seats, most of the audience had assigned seats, but a space was made available for those who wanted to stand in front of the stage, including in front of the gold seating area. This space could be occupied by anyone, regardless of the ticket purchased. Certainly, these were the ones who enjoyed the show as a Sepultura show should be enjoyed: jumping a lot, moshing, and there was even crowd surfing in the small space.
Despite the limited seating, the Araújo Vianna stage was ideal for the tour's setup, which features six large screens. The images displayed vary between close-ups of the live show with visual effects such as video borders or animation effects, and scenes illustrating the songs, such as the face of an apparently mutant creature in "Attitude," and soldiers on a chessboard in "Mind War.".
American vocalist Derrick Green uses some breaks between songs to liven up the crowd with his excellent Portuguese, and Andreas Kisser introduces Greyson Nekrutman on drums as a replacement for Eloy Casagrande , who unexpectedly left the band days before the start of the tour. Greyson has truly impressed by seeming so integrated with the group during the show and by completely mastering his role on stage, not even seeming like he only had a week to learn the songs on the setlist.
Among the big hits sung in chorus by the audience, such as “Kairos,” “Cut-Throat,” and “Choke,” there were also beautiful moments. In “Guardians of Earth,” a spotlight highlighted Kisser on the guitar during the acoustic introduction, and an intense atmosphere took over with the lyrical choruses in the melody. The instrumental “Kaiowas” is so dynamic, and live it also brings a lot of vigor to the show, with all the members playing percussion. With “Sepulnation” and “Biotech Is Godzilla,” the show seemed to reach an even higher level of energy and fury. And the classics “Troops of Doom,” “Inner Self,” and “Arise” were not lacking to get the audience going.
The encore consisted of “Ratamahatta” and the Brazilian flag with the 's' of Sepultura in the center, a visual that filled fans with pride for the greatest Brazilian metal powerhouse in the world. And of course, “Roots Bloody Roots” closed the setlist, although at that moment, the feeling was that there could have been a few more songs, as if the two-hour show was just a small part of everything that Sepultura has to offer.
This may have been Sepultura's last show for many of those who were there, and now there's a glimmer of hope that there might still be an opportunity to include the city once more on this farewell tour that has just begun. Their 40 years of history will certainly never lose their relevance, and no matter how this farewell may unfold, Sepultura will always be one of the biggest names in world metal.
Our contributor Sophia Velho was also at the show and captured the evening. Check out our photo gallery below.
The tour is produced by 30e and tickets for the shows in São Paulo are available on the Eventim website.
