The Mutants came on stage wearing long colorful robes that may have been some kind of traditional or religious outfits, bringing sunshine on stage with their familiar combination of bossa nova, psychedelic pop, and rock’ n’ roll.
Bia Mendes, the only woman on stage, was also the only one wearing pants, black spandex pants, assorted to a sort of black conductor’s coat, and black heavy boots, having only colors in her hair and tee-shirt.
It was like a weird blast from a past I had not lived, with the colors of the cover of ‘Sgt Pepper lonely hearts club band’, and kind of the music too. The last time I had seen a band wearing long colorful robes, it was The Polyphonic Spree and they did a cover of ‘Sgt Pepper’, so go figure!
But the tropicália band is really back after a long absence from the music scene, as they have released ‘Haih Or Amortecedor’ last year on ANTI- Records, their first studio album since 1974.
‘23 shows!’ said Sergio Dias at one point, talking about the tour and jubilating about been so well received everywhere. Yeah after 35 years, they may have been anxious about touring again… ‘But look at your age!’ he continued looking at the young crowd.
May be the young crowd was there for Ariel Pink, but they were enjoying Os Mutantes so much, you could not have decided whether it was really the case.
Why wouldn’t they be well received anyway? The music is joyful and exuberant enough to wake up the dead and all their songs mix with so much ease Brazilian rhythms and psychedelic rock you would sometimes swear you are at a Beatles reunion if Lennon would have been more into Latin rhythms, and McCartney would have ever gone into some 15 minute crazy guitar solos. This seems like a lazy reference, but this is just how they sounded. But there was also more than the Beatles’ shadow, as Sergio Dias and Bia Mendes went into many territories vocally, from opera tenor for their switching tempo melodies, to sweet pop voices for ballads.
Everyone has praised the Brazilian band and has recognized their big influence from Kurt Cobain to Talking Head’s frontman David Byrne, to Beck whose ‘Tropicália’ is a tribute, and, it was easy to understand why their contagious sound could rally everybody when seeing them live, full of energy and not sounding outdated at all.
They played old songs and new songs, in English and in Portuguese, with the same energy and infectious happiness, although the new songs sounded different, less psychedelic may be, but still politicized. Like ‘Bagdad Blues’, a song about Rio de Janeiro because, explained Sergio, the city turned recently a little bit like Bagdad with the recent events regarding the police and military operation to take control of a drug trafficker stronghold.
At 59, he may be the only original member of the band, but you would not know when looking at his enthusiasm and spontaneity on stage, but also his humor, yes I heard a lot of humor in the music,… sometimes I thought he was looking like a Monty Python dressed up for his Brazilian flying circus and playing like Jimi Hendrix.